An Introduction to Logo Design
An introduction to Professional Logo Design Daniel Evans
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An Intro to the Author
I’m Daniel Evans. I am a freelance graphic artist from the North-East of England with a speciality for logo design, branding and corporate identity. As well as operating my own graphic design business "Webcore Design", my past (and current) experience has involved working remotely on behalf of Hewlett Packard in Utah and design agencies in Seattle and New York and various agencies in Britain. My recent work is featured in the publications: IHeartLogos Season 1, IHeartLogos Season 2, IHeartLogos Season 3, Damn Good, Logos 2 - Bright Ideas in Logo Design, LogoPond Vol 1, Logo Nest 02, Logo Lounge 7 and Logo Creed by Rockport Publishers. I hold a Wolda '10 award for 5 logo design pieces as well as a Mazie (Amazing Pixels) Award, and Silver Hiiibrand Award in the Professional Logo Design Category appearing in the magazine publication; New Graphic 30.
Types of Logo Design
We can break down logo types into the following categories:
Iconic Logos This type of logo features the logo text (personal / company name) and a complimentary icon usualy displayed at the left or above the logo text. This type of design is particularly suited to those who wish to brand without its associated text. You may for instance wish to display an attractive picture throughout your website elements to build brand awareness without having to advertise your company name in every instance. Examples of iconic logos include Pepsi, Adobe and Adidas. Enclosure Logos An enclosure logo is one that features text and a picture (or any of the two) contained with a tidy badge shape. This type of logo is useful for those who wish to advertise the company name / brand in a visually pleasing manner which can also be easily and neatly applied to a wide range of applications. Examples of enclosure logos include Starbucks, NBA and Burger King. Incorporated Logos An incorporated logo features text with a prominent logo picture / icon embedded within. A "O" for instance in the company name "Solar" might feature a glowing sun or the "i" in the word "idea" might be portrayed by a figure with a lightbulb above their head. Type Logos A type based logo design is useful to place emphasis on the company name rather than distract with both text and a picture. Text logos are usually primative in form although some can be very decorative with highlighted text features. Custom type logos usually have their characters drawn from scratch - sometimes handwritted, or they are heavily modified versions of existing fonts. It is common for large corporations to have text drawn from scratch to establish uniqueness. Examples of text based logos include Coca-Cola, IBM and Sony.
Take the Test!
See if you can identify each of the four categories in the logos I’ve designed. First try to identify iconic logos, then enclosure logos, followed by incorporated logos then type logos. I will go on to colour code the answers in the following pages.
How did you do?
Iconic
Enclosure
Incorporated
Type
Results
I’m sure some of the result surprised you? Namely, you thought that some logos that you thought were ‘iconic’, turned out to be ‘incorporated’ logos? If truth be told, there are no hard and fast rules. The terminology for some logos is subjective. I’ll explain my own reasoning for regarding some logos as ‘incorporated’ using two logos as examples:
Whilst I was designing this logo, I had the option for the spear to be peircing the letters but I decided that this would make the graphic look too busy. Instead, I placed the spear above the text and although it’s a seperate element, it is always meant to be used alongside the text. That is to say, the spear element was not specifically designed to be used as a standalone, for the fact that it’s shape (to name but one reason) isn’t compact and brandable. The entre logo, its colours and its arched shape is dependant upon the two elements (text and spear) being married. Naturally, what’s in the designers mind shouldn’t be a factor in judgement. Afterall, it’s the end product which stands as the object. It should be obvious to many that this logo works as a whole and its components of it should not be split. Needless to say, the client in this case did not state that they wished to have a brandable, standalone, icon.
This logo design, which was also regarded as an ‘incorporated’ logo, sees a bird to the left hand side of the text which could be regarded as a standalone icon, thus rending this graphic an ‘iconic’ logo. The clincher however is the shape beneath the ‘O’ which represents the shadow of the bird pulling the icon closer into marriage and complimantary fusion with the text. The bird still has the potential to be separated and used as a standalone icon, however the two peices separated (bird and text) would lose their aesthetic quality and the shadow would perhaps have to be altered in its position so that the offset doesn’t appear exagerated, or it would have to be removed negating easthetic appeal further. Therefore, as this logo stands the icon of the bird with its shadow is depedant upon the text and I regard it as an ‘incorporated’ logo design.
Simplicity in Logo Design
It’s often instinctive for a client to demand that their logo boast the bells and whistles – inclusive of an expansive colour scheme and a range of gradients or effects. What’s overlooked is the beauty of simplicity and above all, it’s legibility to be used across all forms of medium, which may, in some cases, require the logo to be composed in basic form and colour. Businesses who trade both online and offline require simplicity in their brand. Their brand needs to be so simple that it can be recognised and registered mentally by a mere glance. It needs to be so simple that a person could doodle it within seconds from the memory they pull it from. This isn’t to say that the designers job as as simple as a quick doodle. The most difficult task a designer faces is to make something simple – yet effective. Any talented designer can spend weeks developing an intricate illustration of a horse but the creative, simplistic designer might have to spend weeks thinking. There are literally hundreds are brands out there in the world that people have seen, registered and used, yet they have little concept of why the brands are working as effectively as they are on a subliminal level.
K.I.S.S. ‘Keep it simple Silly’ is a well known term.
..which should be followed with ‘K.I.M.’ Keep it Mindful.
The Nike “Swoosh” (developed in 1971 by Carolyn Davidson) functions brilliantly on so many levels which are only brought to the concious surface when we analyse. The Nike “Swoosh” can depict:
* A tick – An assurance of doing something correctly or making a positive decision. * A speed trial of a person or object accelerating into the distance. * A corner of a racetrack. You might wish to consider more, but those are the primary qualities of the logo which spring to my own mind when I “stop and look”. The peice serves as functional brilliance on the most basic of levels. The functionality of the mark stands so strong, coupled with the past / current strong marketing campaign, it can even stand prominently without the associated “NIKE” type. Through the means of brand association and a strong mark, the company has whittled away their design further and still it stands tall. In addition, the logo mark can be seen sported in a variety of colours and in some cases, even flipped to suit the flow of their footwear shape and it still doesn’t lose it’s identity!
“Simplicity is not the goal. It is the by-product of a good idea and modest expectations.” –Paul Rand (August 15, 1914 – November 26, 1996) “Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication. “ –Leonardo da Vinci (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519)
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