2019 LOGOLOUNGE TREND REPORT

BY BILL GARDNER

Another year older, but the logo design industry shows no signs of old age. Like an unruly kid ripping through
a stack of unopened presents, I eagerly dive into each annual report knowing an experience awaits.
Sometimes it’s the gratification of what I’d hoped for, and the delightful surprise of unanticipated genius.
Occasionally, it’s more analogous to underwear and socks, and I encounter the mundane or, rarely, the
disappointing. Nevertheless, it’s evidence of industry vitality, and it’s all a gift.

So, first the good. This year’s trends continue to show curious and hardworking design prowess at work,
moving us forward to greater heights. You’ll see in this year’s themes the continuation of themes past, with
their own unique slant. Gradients continue to evolve in new and enlightening ways with designers embracing
less traditional color curves like red straight into green or blue swerving right into orange. These tend to create
an odd hued limbo zone between the complimentary colors but as more of the adjacent color shifts like
orange to magenta to violet ala Instagram are taken, we continue to look for unclaimed gradient ownership.

Patterns within logos give a retro nod in contemporary settings and often in a black and white solution. As a
way to build differentiation it’s as if designers have unearthed a trove of decaying Zipatone or Letratone
graphic film. Big gritty dots and stripes and mezzotints are tempered with a few wood grains and cheesy brick
patterns give adornment to burly marks that might have normally been filled with color. These logos seem to
take on a throwback monotone look that’s antithetical to the high-chroma gradient trend.

Modern culture continues to shift the ways we interpret symbols and how we visually prioritize in context,
setting topsy-turvy the relationship between identity and application. Greater credence has been given the
attending visual vocabulary as texture, pattern, typography, photography and illustrative elements have
shifted seats in the visual brand hierarchy. It’s becoming more common to see a brand driven by the
supporting visual aesthetics, occasionally leaving the logo to call shotgun if it’s invited along for the ride at all.

Of course every ying has its yang, which poked up its head in the form of idea repetition, especially as new
plug-ins, filters, effects and animation tools are taken for a test drive. There are a few too many animated
orbiting rings of type, as an example. Each is beautifully crafted and well thought through but relying on
the same foundational effect as a half dozen others makes it hard to build separation. It’s never
wrongdoing to try new things, but the hope is that we still work with technology advances in our own
unique ways to truly make our own mark.

Additionally, in an atmosphere that thrives on exploration, portfolios increasingly feature designer fancies to
try out and mimic directions and techniques of their own volition. It’s reinforcement of the ever-important
freedom to create, and the practice adds to designerly chops, yet I must admit it can throw off the ability to
evaluate the true direction of paid work. Especially when this unpaid, extracurricular work finds itself straying
too close to its inspiration for comfort.

Yet again, I’m compelled to remind that trends do not trendy make. Unlike fads, true trends won’t effervesce
with cultural shifts but instead reach out in both directions to shake hands with identities from past and future.
We keep leaving breadcrumbs so that we can draw from past genius while still carving a future path that will
never look exactly like what’s left behind.

Make no mistake, the current ‘popular crowd’ of themes showed up again this year: drones, mushrooms, tikis,
tacos, weight balls, hedgehogs, pelicans, snakes, waffles, needles, lightbulbs, three-eyed tigers, and vaping.
Temporal but many still beautifully crafted, I’ll tip my hat to them though they will eventually pass by.

As always, I’m grateful to the LogoLounge community of more than 20,000 designers across the world who
provide much of the fodder for these reports. At the time of this report, our site stands at more than 300,000
logos strong, allowing our members and us to continue to watch trends as they develop in real time. It’s a
privilege to work by their side to prop up the craft that we love.
LOGOLOUNGE THE 2019 LOGO TREND REPORT

MORSE SHADE
Throwing shade on a designer’s work is as toothless as a heckler to a seasoned comedian. Show five logos and one gets picked.
At best we have an 80% rejection rate. No doubt the seeds that make us so resilient and inventive. Tiring of the expected, this
year our lot has crafted a new way to throw shade on their own work. That desire to eschew another field of gradient color for
tone or a barrage of diminishing strokes to signal motion have given way to a concentric string of hyper-effective dots and
dashes. Welcome a pleasant new way to break the visual tension of traditional shading while providing a pure vector solution.

Over the last several years, we’ve seen dots and dashes with rounded extremities mingling together to demonstrate the melding
of diverse elements. Usually running concentric or parallel to each other and not merging or emerging from a solid field. By
extruding these out of a field or bridging these elements together and extending them out of an object, designers are presenting
the consumer with the dot-dot-dot invitation they need to complete the picture in their own mind. A couple of dots in the
CoffeeSwap cup and I get it. So you drop out the tail end of the speedy rabbit. ‘Nuff said.

BO_RAD 903 CREATIVE, LLC IRINA KOLOSOVSKAY SPOONLANCER

COFFEESWAP ROCKFISH RIVER FARMS WESWEE SPACE HOP

LOADED
If you’ve met the person that groans when food on their plate touches, you’ve met the individual that will wince at these marks.
Not only have designers removed any pretense of separation of elements, they’ve flaunted this layering of graphic components
and even doubled down here and there to cloudy results. The majority of these deliver an engaging message that avoids
overload and cleverly invites scrutiny. The formula for most is to build a top high-contrast layer with clear information and load
it on a subordinate graphic that completes the story.

Two layers is good. Three layers is manageable. Four layers is a complete wreck. If the background is not decipherable, the
dominant top layer of information will still function. These are generally akin to badges with a mixture of illustration and typog-
raphy, but less separated by a hierarchy of scale and more by contrast. As these examples indicate, the aesthetic can range from
vintage nostalgia to farm fresh based on what you’re looking to dish up.

ISKANDARA AMIT BOTRE - SPIN DESIGN ALEXANDER DIMOV STUDIO SUDAR LTD
1925 MAN CAVE DECOR DETOX KITCHEN HVAR WINE & JAZZ FESTIVAL
LOGOLOUNGE THE 2019 LOGO TREND REPORT

ORPHAN SHADOWS
Shadow as an element in logo design is critical in so many ways. I’ve created full chapters discussing how shadow came about
as such an important component to designers. It foretells events or gives a sense of place. They can display aspirations or other
yet-to-be-determined assets. They identify the direction of light and tell if you’re enlightened or if you are enlightening others.
In a more literal sense, they can also show dimension and spatial relationships. Cross a vertical and a horizontal line and a bit
of shadow defines who’s on top. Draft a flat tonal horse, and two of the legs may go a bit darker. Bet those are the back legs.

Occasionally, we as designers can be trapped by our own technique. If you missed it, you’re not alone. Each of these and many other
marks of recent contain a shadow of such infinitesimal dimension that their inclusion seem out of place. Even where it does appear
to provide critical separation as in the Trustpilot star, I’m left wondering if the effort is grand enough to function well when scaled
down. Here’s a modest piece of advice. If it requires an effect, make sure it doesn’t require reading glasses to accompany.

OMNIUM STUDIO MISSION MEDIA SPG VENTURETHREE

PHOX TOWNSON UNIVERSITY SHIBU TRUSTPILOT

ZIP TONE
An enthusiastic generation of designers are reinventing the wheel but with a whole new vengeance. In pre-digital years, any desire
to lay stripes, dots, mezzotints, woodgrain or other exotic half-tones into an illustration first required a trip to your local commer-
cial arts supply store. Sticky backed sheets of film under the names Zipatone or Letratone came in an endless array of effects that
could be had for a paltry sum for application to your art. No surprise that vintage design books are rife with logos displaying some
pretty spiffy gradients leaving designers curious about this alien technology.

Marks shown in this trend are retro channeling the ‘70s, not only in style but in adoption of tonal technique. Forget dropping in
a 40% tint of black or your selected color from your swatch tab. The use of an over-scaled tonal effect is what rings true to the
era. To a consumer, this only harkens back to a less demanding time in a subconscious manner. It’s an effect that designers home
in on immediately as a bit janky but definitely a product of the way-back machine. An A+ for nostalgia but still a challenge if
plans call for the mark to be scaled down. Too tight of a screen eliminates the charm, and at that point it might as well be gray.

BLAKE SUAREZ MCPHERSON COLLEGE RUSS RAZOR RULE29

FRIENDS OF GADSDEN CREEK N/A N/A 302 WHEATON
LOGOLOUNGE THE 2019 LOGO TREND REPORT

DOTS
Somewhere geographically between Zip Tone and Highlights, lays the Isle of Dots. These oversized fields of dots are reminis-
cent of placing a bit of gnarly halftone screen into a mark because they actually represent an element of the icon and not just
a foundation in the background. I picture Jay Fletcher selecting the dots on his bowl of poke because it looks like a liberal dose
of sesame seeds sprinkled atop the dish. Note that the dots serve as an approximation of a woven basket or the blush of a peach,
but the pattern is not used as just an opportunity to lay in tone.

Utilizing a bolder pattern scaled up to read as pattern and not as a halftone has turned into an effective way to break up the
tension of flat tonal areas in a mark and create interest that visually remind us the mark has been well seasoned. As a way to
achieve respite from a logo crafted from gradients and digital dissonance, this allows a designer to limit the color in a palette and
still draw the consumer in with a simple and playful vector repetition.

HOLLIS BRAND CULTURE J FLETCHER DESIGN ATELIER 31 RIVER DESIGNS INC.

FETCH THE LONGBOARD FADEZEINDLI JUST PEACHY TRAVEL & TOURS

HIGHLIGHTS
It’s easily argued there are no new tricks in the field of calling attention to ourselves. Apes beat their chest, peacocks spread their
plumage, and humans post to social media. Then there’s a small subset of identity designers that reach for a highlighter and
start embellishing their work. Or at least that’s what this year’s Highlight trend appears to do. Otherwise proper and workman-
like marks are made remarkable with a modest stroke or two to lay in the essential patch of vivid yellow.

We’re left with a bit of a feeling these often black-and-white marks were presented to clients that were 90% on board before they
reached into their top drawer, pulled out a highlighter to dab at the art and then expressed elation at their own addition. Areas
of highlight range from indiscriminate to purposeful information, and in all fairness, these are out there in other popular
highlighter shades like lavender, day glow pink, and electric blue. All fun aside, many of these are well crafted, and praise is due
the designers that recognized the spark of color was what lifts these marks out of potential banality.

BANDA AVIDITY CREATIVE 36CREATIVE WILDEYE

UKRAINE CRYSTAL CLEAR WATER CRAFTSMAN UNION MINIME MACHINE
LOGOLOUNGE THE 2019 LOGO TREND REPORT

QUARTERS
A continuation of theme from the last two years has been the move to simplification of design or purity of mark. This homage
to clarity of structure and image from prior generations is proof of designers’ inventive nature as they noodle out solutions
rearranging the same geometric parts and pieces that have been in play since Euclid was a tot. Whenever you hear someone
express the belief that everything’s been done before, just remind them writers and musicians have been rearranging a handful
of notes or letters and rendering new music and books for longer than logos have existed. Our well is nowhere near dry.

This year, the plethora of circles quartered and strewn about in a deliberate fashion can be found everywhere. Most often, these
are the sole building blocks, but they’re also found mixed with circles, half circles, squares, triangles, and the other step-sibling
array or geometric shapes. Purity of form continues to deliver a signal of simplicity or competence, even when representing a
complex message. There continues to be a limit to the number of elements you can fit into a mark before it seems cumbersome.
The Soren West mark is certainly an engaging solution but is a half-step away from the quarter circle capacity.

RAGGED EDGE TRÜF PARALLEL GESTION DE MARQUES MISTERSHOT

TRUSSLE SOREN WES VILLE DE THETFORD SLY CLYDE

SPELL SIGNS
I’ll confess, the first impression of these marks left me wondering if a few designers have a crush on JK Rowling. The stone,
the wand, and the cloak, incarnate from the Deathly Hallows. If these logo talismans have nearly as strong a tale to tell, they
will serve their masters impeccably. One simply cannot look at these without believing every resolute stroke is placed in perfect
harmony to the others and likely imbued with powerful meaning. I’m left feeling smarter for just having seen these.

The clarity of the earnest strokes, the perfected angles and immaculately radiused curves intersect like precision crosshairs.
These instill a technical superiority to their owners and leave us with a sense of competent infallibility. Surely the context of
the application of these marks demands an equally rigid environment with little margin for whimsy. If anything, these symbols
may be just formal enough to sway you to arrive at their office in a freshly starched shirt.

TRÜF JARED GRANGER FRIENDS BE!FIVE BRANDING & IDENTITY

QORE JACK COTTER EQUITY OFFICE TAKE CONTROL CLUB
LOGOLOUNGE THE 2019 LOGO TREND REPORT

HOLES
Imagine that pale virgin square on a weathered apartment wall, signaling an inspector that evidence has been removed from
a crime scene. It’s not what’s hanging there that informs us, it’s what’s not there that alerts us to a critical message. Whether
the hole or shape in question is unceremoniously carved from the guts of other graphic elements or if it’s deftly excised, leaving
no trace of foul play, each serve the same purpose. These exist as the canvas on which the consumer will complete the story.

These are not merely a hidden negative space like the arrow in the FedEx logo or the bear on the mountainside for Toblerone.
These fields were not designed to hide but to illustrate for the consumer an incompleteness that only they can solve. By
engaging the public in this brandmark conundrum, we create an engagement that might otherwise be lost on the public.
Certainly the surrounding evidence points to the solution, as in the logo for the Museum Reinhard Ernst. The open square
could represent any one of the museum’s collection or insinuate less is m[ ]re.

Q JEROEN VAN EERDEN ARTSIGMA ROMAN KOTIKOV

MUSEUM REINHARD ERNST SWIMMEDIA N/A KAZAN EXPO

SPOT DRAG
Anyone that’s ever tried to illustrate with markers recalls that uncontrollable moment at the end of a stroke. Before you can lift
the pen or if you’re indecisive and pause, the marker tip suddenly becomes generous and bleeds out a pool of ink you could
drown in. I know that’s not the way a computer operates, but it sure helps me picture the visual appearance of this trend. Imag-
ine that pen tip as a perfect circle that leaves an unvarying marker trail behind it and then parks the full circle at the end of the
stroke like a street that unexpectedly ends in a cul-de-sac.

Whether these logos have faded and gradient trails behind the circle or they are clear and unvarying, they send a similar
message. The circle is the messenger, and, until seconds ago, this mark did not exist. An action set the spots in motion and they
have vividly burrowed across this field with precision accuracy to spell out a letter or highlight a path or trace out a symbol of
significance. You have caught them in action and they may be done, or they may just be waiting for you to avert you eyes so they
can repeat or carry on. They are dynamic, vivid, and fresh, and charged with potential.

BE!FIVE BRANDING & IDENTITY GOOGLE FI NMI MONOME

ARONICLE ZUPLOAD
LOGOLOUNGE THE 2019 LOGO TREND REPORT

GRADIENT BREAKS
Adopting the broad use of gradient color in logo design has been one of the most polarizing trends our industry has witnessed
over the last decade. There are still designers that abhor the use of transitioning color, as it runs counter to so many of the early
precepts of logo design developed pre-digital age. It leads me to wonder if this trend is being led by the naysayers or if it is the
work of those that have now worked with gradients so long they are trying to push it forward by taking a few backward steps.

Imagine a line filled with transitioning color to demonstrate motion, or transformation, or a process. Now take that color and
step divide it with sequential solid tone. Basically a stepped ombré effect but utilized in a channel as opposed to a field. The
Qwant identity achieves this with contoured color breaks that really simulate a gradient to good effect versus CPA, which shows
color transition with quartered geometric breaks along the path. Note the infinity loop for Virtual Reality cheats this trend a bit
with the use of breaks and very subtle gradient shifts.

QWANT WHITE BEAR STUDIO LUPE DESIGN COMING SOON

CPA IRELAND WE ARE CINEMA TSVETMET COMPANY

CONTOUR STRIPES
Stripes continue to dominate the field of potential trend contenders, but there have been so many marks anchored in this
aesthetic it’s become more challenging to spot where this trend evolves forward. Taking a look, we finally see a cohesive group
that takes stripes into a warped dimension. Still big bold salute the flag type of stripes but three dimensionally wrapped to
demonstrate spatial contours on everything from bagels to bird nests.

Though this can be associated with monoline design, it is pushing the concept to another level. Representing dimensionality by
its nature deals with foreshortening or wrapping of lines that cause them to diminish, so this necessitates a variable stroke.
Relying on the consumer to complete the interpretation, they still see an orderly rhythm that demonstrates technical accuracy,
a measured approach, competence, and consistency. Attach these attributes to the symbolic embodiment of your client, and
you’ve found the possible nucleus of a smart solution.

PRAGMATIKA FODA STEVAN RODIC PRELL DESIGN

ZOMA VRBO N/A N/A
LOGOLOUNGE THE 2019 LOGO TREND REPORT

PERIOD
As I contemplated this trend, I was forced to choose between periods and colons that have both been breeding like rabbits on
thoughtful designers’ minds. Last year’s report addressed the use of punctuation associated with wordmarks in clever renditions,
and as is usually the case, it was only the initial volley that turned to critical mass for each of our two contenders. As the header
makes clear, periods won out, so let’s get to it. That spec at the end of a sentence is only the most basic way to consider this mark
that can cap off punctuation, serve as a bullet or strung together as ellipse. It can serve as the opening of a domain or as the
closing of a conversation.

It’s also possible the period is no more than a dot that’s floating around text with an altogether different pretext. In the Visible
mark, those periods are actually remnants of the missing letters i. A period in literal terms describes an era of time, the division
of a school day or a game, that time of the month, or command to STOP. It might be a decimal, and an exclamation mark
without it is just an apostrophe. It’s the designer that flips the significance of a word or a name by considering the period outside
of traditional context that sharpens the wit of the conversation.

BUZZFEED NEWS LESAP AND IN-HOUSE JOHNSON BANKS GRAHAM CLIFFORD DESIGN
AWWWARDS HUMAN APPEAL DETRIOT DEPARTMENT
OF TRANSPORTATION

WINGS
In the grand tradition of refinement, designers continue to boil down the essence of flight beyond the fluid beauty of a set of
feathered wings. Stripping back the essence even further to the point that aerodynamics don’t vaguely register as an
afterthought. As impeccably bereft as these marks are of any semblance of flight, I like them for what they are, and I get that
they’re wings. Canted forward in an aerodynamic crouch or swept back fighting the vagaries of gale force headwinds, these
forms are equally as far and as near to reality as you can be at once.

If a description of these existed, it would be a letter U with one short leg tipped on its side and slanted forward or backward to
an optimal oblique position. Trim off the two tips at an angle to reinforce the streamline nature of the mark, and we’re done.
There are more than enough iterations of this effort, but many seem to be referencing a letter such as the J for Jetta or the D for
DoorDash. Plenty of Fs, Ps, and non-letters altogether that have sprouted these twin wings. Apples with wings, turtles with
wings. Fill in the blank with wings, and we’ll likely find it.

JETTA CHINA UNDERBELLY CREATIVE GARDNER DESIGN ASGARD

MULLET PRODUCTION VEHICLES KEYCENTRIX RED WINGS AIRLINES
LOGOLOUNGE THE 2019 LOGO TREND REPORT

DOORS
Portals to another world, time, or at least another frame of mind have become a literal manifestation in this year’s trends.
Doors and windows allow us the ability to peer into that other dimension while staying firmly rooted to our here and now.
They serve to invite us to become a voyeur or a participant, and it’s just that invitation that is so alluring with this theme.
There is a certain amount of fantasy associated with what’s outside the opening, but restraint in the rendering of the passage
assure it will not seem out of place.

Doors and windows have long been powerful agents to sell an analogy. Doors signify a right of passage, a pathway to a
solution, an opportunity, or a sign of welcoming. Windows in much the same way are considered a set of eyes that allow you
to see into another’s soul or another world. They serve as connectivity between here and there. These examples are relative-
ly literal, but the reference to passages can be equally as effective in a metaphorical manifestation. Dream analysts could rift
on this for hours, so we’ll move along and leave them to it.

LOGODESIGNCREATION.COM ALEX LOKA KIRA CHAO ATLAS BRANDING

SOHAIB AWAN SHANGRI-LA HERITAGE 365 DAYS OF CACTI HAYWOOD STREET

The 2019 Logo Trend Report

2019 marks the 17th year of this one-of-a-kind report. Each year, it offers the opportunity to literally review thousands upon thousands of
logos one at a time, looking for nuances and artifacts of emerging trends. As we acknowledge that each design represents hours and hours of
thought and struggle from designers around the world, we are as humbled and awed as ever by their dedication to the craft and grateful for
the important role they play in helping us create these reports. So thank you to all of the designers who have and will contribute to the Trend
Reports then, now, and for years to come.

For an even deeper look at this year’s trends, visit our course on LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com).

Bill Gardner is the president of Gardner Design and founder of LogoLounge.com, a repository site where, in real time, members can post
their logo design work and search the works of others by keyword, designer’s name, client type, and more. The site also offers news curated
expressly for logo designers as well as unlimited entries for consideration in the bestselling LogoLounge book series. Bill can be contacted
at bill@logolounge.com.

LogoLounge.com is the most comprehensive and searchable database of logos available today. More than 300,000 logos have been submitted to
the site since 2002, growing it to the largest online treasury of professionally designed logos. Through their submissions, members also gain the
benefit of consideration for publication in the LogoLounge book series, the result of the most prestigious logo design competition in the world.

Through the line of LogoLounge books (currently published in volumes 1 through 10, with the 11th soon to come) designers can gain even
more insights from a collection of the smartest logo designs submitted to LogoLounge from all over the world, which are hand-selected by a
preeminent panel of some of the most respected names in the industry.

In 2016, LogoLounge took a giant step forward as it extended membership to the next generation of designers with LogoLounge Leap, which
allows educators and students free or deeply discounted access to the site as well as online resources and educational tools.

For more information on membership and identity design news, visit LogoLounge.com.