A logo is an identity of a brand. It represents what the brand or company stands for. It’s your unique mark in the world. To understand what kind of logo suits your brand, we must understand the different type of logos.
1. Wordmark
The first type of logo is one of the most widely used type - the wordmark logo. Wordmark logo is a text-based logo of a company’s name. As these type of logos don’t have any supporting graphics or symbol, it is important to use the right font style, shape and colour. You need to show your brand’s personality through the font as these are standalone text. You cannot use a simple font that can be easily lost in the mix. Sometimes wordmarks can have a visual in the text itself like Le Tour de France logo that shows a person cycling. Text logos can be dynamic like Google’s logo. These logos can also be more personal like Disney whose logo is inspired by Walt Disney’s signature. Word mark logos must be treated as a visual rather than a text. This kind of logos can be used when your company is still growing or just starting up and needs to build a brand name.
2. Lettermark
If your company has a long name or the initials make a cool word, lettermarks are the way to go. Lettermark or monogram logos are made of a company’s initials or just their first letter. These consists of just alphabets. The right colour, shape and font style are important here as well. If you straight up use a simple font, your brand could easily be forgotten. But since the letter mark makes use of fewer alphabets, you have a chance of playing around with the typography. Logos like London Symphony Opera shows a clever use of the letters. A closer look reveals the hidden orchestra conductor holding a baton in his hand. FedEx is another great example of letter mark with a hidden meaning. Lots of fashion brand tend to use monograms for their logo and extend it further as their brand identity like Louis Vuitton. That LV pattern is one of the most easily recognisable patterns. Letter marks can be fun but it is not very healthy to use a lettermark if the company isn’t very known yet. Using a wordmark along with the monogram helps.
3. Pictorial Mark
Not all brands need to say their names out loud. For some, the visual speaks for itself. These are brands that use Pictorial mark. Pictorial mark is a logo consisting of only a graphic or a symbol. There is no text involved in this. The icon itself needs to stand out. Brands like Target and Apple have such an iconic mark that the symbol is enough to recognise the brand. But these brands are established so it works for them. The most important thing to keep in mind while creating a pictorial mark is the shape and style of the graphic. These logos have to evoke an emotion and understanding of the company in the symbol itself. Like Nike’s swoosh. It’s quick and tells us to just do it. It is advised to use the text along with the symbol until the brand is recognised enough to drop the name. Twitter didn’t start with a lone symbol but as the brand grew, the bird was enough to recognise Twitter.
4. Combination Mark
One of the widely used types of logo is a combination mark. Combination logos are formed when pictorial and wordmark comes together to form a union. The symbol and text can be combined in numerous ways. The first way is to use the text alongside the visual. The text can be placed on the side, top or bottom of the symbol. The text and symbol can be used separately as well if required and these type of combination marks can transform into the pictorial mark as well. While the other type is where the type and symbol are integrated to form a single graphic. The type of logo is treated as one and therefore the icon can’t be separated from the text and vice versa. Few examples are Burger King, PBS and Chuppa Chups.
There are various things to keep in mind while designing a logo. A logo show work across all media. It should be easily understood. It should be scalable. And it should be timeless. So think wisely before choosing and creating any type of logo.
Go ahead and leave a mark in this world.
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