What makes an excellent logo?
Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths for 10 seconds…
Now open your eyes, look around you. Look, in details, around you. What do you see?
Of course, every individual takes note of different things. But today, take note of the design that is everywhere in our lives. Just by sitting on my desk, at every turn, I see designs, typography, graphics, illustrations and logos — The water bottle that stores my drink, the container that stores my supplement and the books on my desk, etc.
Now, if you’d like, stop and look around you, notice the designs, typography, colours, logos and graphic elements around you.
Many different companies and their products surround us. Every one of them went through a process of creating their logo and its placement on their product. Each of them is fighting for a pie of your attention.
But what truly makes an excellent logo? What is it that designers or brand builders think when they design a logo?
To answer that, it is important we first understand the purpose of a logo.
A logo is the face of your company. Like a profile picture on your Facebook page. It is a compact design that conveys the essence of your brand in one single visual.
It can come in many different forms, some of which are Lettermarks and Monograms, Monoline, Word Mark, Symbols/Icons, Combinations Marks and Emblems/Crests.
If the logo is for us to identify a specific brand, how do we humans identify things?
As I was thinking about this article, I realised humans have this innate ability to recognise shapes, colours, audio, etc.. Just take everything around us, we do not need a text “BANANA” on the fruit to recognise that yellow-curved long shape fruit is a Banana. Likewise, when we see a tree, we know that is a tree without a doubt!
Now, to expand it further, ‘chairs’ come in many different shape and sizes, but why are we still able to identify them even without a fixed form? I believe it is because we are expanding our visual vocabulary daily. Our eyes have soon simplified what it takes for us to identify a chair and that natural simplification is key to designing a logo.
So going back… what makes an excellent logo?
A great logo is simple
In this modern era, where everything around us is so noisy, brands need to strip all complicated elements on their logo and let the brand speaks for itself.
Like how our brain strip all creative and odd shapes from uniquely designed furniture, logo designers should strip all external redundant elements from the logo and leave only the necessary. Scale it down and see if the overall shape is still clear, and if it’s not, there are too many elements in the design.
It is the audio, visuals, colours, experiences, shapes etc. that makes people recognise the brand, not just the logo anymore, so work let the logo be at the purest form and focus on the other elements.
Let’s do a simple study and look at a few of these silhouettes. Can you identify which company does these products belong to?
I’m sure many of these shapes are easily recognisable to you, even though it just shows silhouettes of the product the Brands carry!
(The above silhouettes are products from Starbucks, Lego, MacDonalds and Playstation respectively)
Therefore, logos should not be too detailed.
A great example is Conservation International’s ‘before and after’ logo
Okay, I think you get what I mean, there are a ton of examples throughout the internet but let’s move on.
A great logo is memorable and distinctive
So you’ve cut down all unnecessary elements in your logo, but the problem right now is that it may look too dull and boring for people even to notice it let alone, remembering it. Now, balancing a simple look yet still making it memorable is the magic that logo designers can create. (So the next time you think you can just hire anyone who understands ‘photoshop’, think again!) Finding a great designer for your Logo and Brand is crucial.
It is essential to understand your competitors in the same field and position your Brand and logo uniquely. You don’t want your customers to mistake other Brands to yours, trust me. Great designers have the skillset to understand your target market and the visuals that will speak to them, making it more distinctive for your audience.
A great logo is timeless
Creating a timeless logo is essential. Continually seeing a particular logo makes it easy for the audience to remember it’s overall form. It will be challenging for someone to have an instant recognition to something that keeps on changing. Let’s take people, for example.
Can you recognise who these people are, just base on these descriptions?
- Red Tie, Blonde Hair, White Shirt, Dark Blue Blazer, White Man
- Black Turtle Neck, Blue Jeans, Sports Shoe, Glasses
- Black Shades, White Pony Tail, Black and White Suit with Necklace
- Shiny Gloves, White Fedora Hat, White Blazer with a band around the arm, White Socks, Black Loafers.
These people continuously wear the same thing over and over again that it makes them so easily recognisable. I am sure some of you can identify to them quite quickly. (The people mentioned above are Donald Trump, Steve Jobs, Karl Lagerfeld and Michael Jackson respectively)
Same goes for businesses; Brands need to continually have interaction with audiences for them to be easily recognisable. It is like forging strong relationships, isn’t it?
However, Businesses and Markets continuously evolve, and sometimes too quickly — It’s Branding and Logo needs to stay relevant.
Look at the logo evolution of some of the most iconic brands in the world today. Which of these logos are timeless in your opinion?
Now, if a logo is well designed, optically balanced and visually stunning, yet at the same time is simple, memorable and it withstands the test of time, to me, it is a great logo.
However, my honest opinion, there are a ton of logos around us that are great. Designs have been improving around us, and the world is starting to be a tad bit better looking, don’t you think? Hahaha!
But how do designers create a World-Class logo that is better than ‘Great’, that is.. better than most of the logos we see out there as we cross the street or even walking down the aisle of a supermarket?
What is the difference between World-Class and Great logos?
- A great logo is an immediate and honest impression of your business philosophy, conveying why your brand is unique. (Appropriate)
- A World-Class logo is scalable and versatile. (Applicable)
Many logos are created just to be visually stunning, accompanied by the different graphical elements or iconography on the company’s product or collaterals. As designers, sometimes we get too addicted to creating beautifully crafted visuals and blow our clients’ mind with impeccable composition and illustrations.
More often than not, we fail to create a logo that is tied in with the company’s philosophy.
World-Class Designs always meets Business and with a solution.
These fancifully drawn logos are honestly not as important if the tone of the logo is a mile away from what the company tone is.
As Famous Logo designer, Sagi Haviv says “ Appropriate doesn’t mean expressive. It shouldn’t try to say a whole lot. It should just be appropriate in the feeling.”
The logo needs to support the company’s overall branding, and it needs to align.
We need to understand the purpose of the company, what is it solving, what are the few possible products. With that information, the design of the logo needs to align with the company’s tone.
The logo needs to be able to be scaled down to a small-sized thumbnail and still be visible and recognisable. A good practice that I always do is to put my logo beside a bunch of sponsorship logos side by side (just like they do in the newspapers or some posters, both greyscale and coloured) and see if it stands out.
If the design passed all the test that was mentioned above, it is time for application. It should be able to be applied unto all the company’s collaterals and merchandise.
One great example is Nike. Nike’s swoosh, in my opinion, is so well-drawn and its application on its merchandises are amazing. The ‘tick’ is so simple, so unique and memorable, it is timeless, and it aligns with it’s “Just Do It” so appropriately.
That is, in my opinion, an example of a World-Class Logo.
Let’s talk about Design and Branding or start-ups! Connect with me via Linkedin.
