I don’t like any of the samples I have received! This company must be terrible! Sometimes you can receive a group of samples that just don’t appeal to you, it happens. Most of the time a client doesn’t know or can’t precisely describe what kind of logo he wants or what image he is looking for. For that reason, a good designer will try to question the client as much as possible regarding their preferences and tastes in logos, but this is not always sufficient. Also note that sometimes an idea may seem good at first thought, but looking at the results on paper you could realize that you don’t like them at all. It is natural to get upset if you have received a package of samples that don’t suit you, but it`s important to understand that since you are not buying a premade product, bad surprises are not impossible nor improbable. Look at a batch of bad initial samples as just another step towards a great final design. It is highly unlikely that you will utterly hate everything about the samples presented. You can pick and combine different elements from them - font, color, object, layout – into one great logo. Even if the samples are really terrible, you could tell the designers precisely what you don’t like about them, which will help them avoid similar mistakes in the next samples. A bad batch of samples, depending on your view of it, can be a glass half empty or a glass half full. It’s a setback, perhaps, but the second round has a much greater chance of success.

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In this article, I wish to discuss some issues with abstract logo images and identifiable ones. We often get requests from clients asking to create an image that identifies their companies’ business. It is a perfectly proper request. But the client also wants it to be unique, something that no one else is using rather than a common and overused symbol. However, this creates a problem. What do you consider an identifiable symbol? A red cross, in North America, is associated with medical service and ambulance. When you see this symbol you recognize a medical service, despite the fact that it doesn’t show a hospital bed, a doctor treating a patient, or a car driving to a hospital. Most identifiable symbols do not really show the service, yet they are so commonly and often used that they become a standard. Now let’s get back to the client’s request. Take for example a dentist. What are the most common and standard symbols identified with dental health? A tooth and a toothbrush, obviously. When a designer receives a request from a dentist who wants an identifiable logo for his business, but doesn’t want to have overused symbols such as a tooth and a brush, what exactly is the designer to do? Read the rest of this entry »

There is a big debate over the complexity of a logo. There are some obvious benefits to simple logos. They are by far the most versatile and easily identifiable. Just look at the logos of Apple, Sony, Honda, Nike, or Guci. These logos are easy to reproduce in any size and any color, even black and white. They are easy to embroider or emboss on nearly any apparel or material. These logos are easy to make out from afar and easy to identify. Not everything about simple logos is so great, though. It is extremely difficult to come up with a new shape and make it interesting. If you look at Nike’s logo, it is not a piece of art per say, but it is a unique shape, which makes the logo timeless and original. From a client’s point of view paying money for a simple square or half a circle just isn’t worth it. We often hear our clients say: “Well this is not very creative” or “I could have made the same logo myself”. Indeed, simple logos (sometimes just a letter or a simple geometrical shape) just don’t look like much work has gone into them. And yet, take a look at the most famous and recognized logos out there: IBM, JVC, Google, DELL, IKEA... Read the rest of this entry »

1)      The company’s name is the inspiration for a lot of great logos! What do the logos of Apple, FireFox, Taco Bell, Shell, Puma all have in common? All of these logos include an identifying object directly related to the name. This technique presents its own benefits and challenges. The benefits are obvious: it is very easy to identify the company name just by looking at the symbol and it makes the logo look clever. It also makes it memorable. The challenges come into play if you have a company name similar to that of one already on the market. How do you make your “apple” look different?   2)      There are logos with a recognizable object not associated with the company name. For instance, Playboy, Starbucks, Lacoste, Bacardi, Michelin, Peugeot… These logos have an identifiable image not related directly to the name of their company. This is really not less effective than the previous way, and many successful companies use this technique. Some of those logos have a hidden meaning or a story behind them, but if you don’t know that story already, it is usually hard to connect the dots: why is there an alligator on a fashion garment, exactly? Others can be related to the enterprise’s field of business. The Michelin Man logo was a great success. Even though it has no story behind it, it does convey the feel of a company producing tires filled with air. Usually, it’s very difficult for a designer to come up with an identifiable image not connected to the company name without getting some kind of story or meaning behind the concept. Read the rest of this entry »

Microsoft Windows 8’s simplistic logo ushers tough times for logo design companies.

If you wish to receive a brief history of logo design fashion and graphic program capacities, all you need to do is to take a look at the gallery of Microsoft Windows’ logos. Every version of the operating system so far has had a logo more elaborate than the version preceding it. Windows 1 starts it off with its original simplistic window-shaped logo from 1985. The Windows 3 logo (1990) is created with use of the Blend tool and wave editing. The Windows 95 one includes a shadowing effect and color nuances created with Photoshop editing. In 2000, Windows ME’s logo includes gradients, and the 2009 Windows 7 logo goes even further, with gradient transparency. And now, in 2012, with almost endless possibilities for graphic design available thanks to dozens of programs developed to that effect, Microsoft suddenly hatches this logo that seems to have escaped right out of the year 1985. Read the rest of this entry »

Some alleged logo design companies, such as Logo Garden, blatantly rip off logos from other logo designers and sell them as their own.   You wouldn’t steal a purse. You wouldn’t steal a watch. But would you steal a logo? For “logo design company” Logo Garden, the answer, sadly, is yes. Design association AIGA.com alerts us that this company’s list of logos for sale consists primarily of stolen logos. The list of victims includes designers such as Bill Gardner and LogoBee itself. In fact, Logo Garden is not above swiping such iconic designs as the WWF panda and the famous donkey which is the symbol of the Democratic party. Read the rest of this entry »