LOGO DESIGN HISTORY A logo is 2 graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition. Logos are sither purely graphic (symbols/icons) or are composed of the name of the organization (a logotype or wordmark). In the days of hot metal typesetting, a /ogotype was a uniquely set and arranged typeface or colophon. At the level of mass communication and in common usage a company's logo is today often synonymous with its trademark or brand. History Numerous inventions and techniques have contributed to the contemporary logo, including cylinder seals (c.2300 BCE), coins (c.600 BCE), trans-cultural diffusion of logographic languages, coats of arms, watermarks, silver hallmarks and the development of printing technology. As the industrial revolution converted western societies from agrarian to industrial in the 18th and 19th centuries, photography and lithography contributed to the boom of an advertising industry that integrated typography and imagery together on the page. Simultaneously, typography itself was undergoing a revolution of form and expression that expanded beyond the modest, serif typefaces used in books, to bold, ornamental typefaces used on broadsheet posters. The arts were expanding in purpose—from expression and decoration of an artistic, storytelling nature, to a differentiation of brands and products that the growing middle classes were consuming. Consultancies and trades-groups in the commercial arts were growing and organizing; by 1890 the US had 700 lithographic printing firms employing More than 8,000 people. Artistic credit tended to be assigned to the lithograph as opposed to the individual artists, Qe ‘Accoin from early 6th century BC Lydia bearing the head of a roaring lion with sun rays company, Innovators in the visual arts and lithographic process—such as French printing firm Rouchon in the 1840s, Joseph Morse of New York in the 1850s, Frederick Walker of England in the 1870s, and Jules Chéret of France in the 1870s—developed an illustrative style that went beyond tonal, representational art to figurative imagery with sections of bright, flat colors.Logos today oat ‘The First logo to be trademarked was the Bass red triangle in 1876 logos of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent The current era of logo design began in the 1870s with the first abstract logo, the Bass red triangle. Today there are many corporations, products, brands, services, agencies and other entities using an ideogram (sign, icon) or an emblem (symbol) or a combination of sign and emblem as a logo. As a result, only @ few of the thousands of ideograms people see are recognized without a name. An effective logo may consist of both an ideogram and the company name (logotype) to emphasize the name over the graphic, and employ a The Coca-Cola logo is identifiable in other languages, here written in Cyrillic, Ideograms and symbols may be more effective than written names (logotypes), especially for logos translated into many alphabets in increasingly globalised markets. For instance, a name in the Arabic language would be of little help in most European markets. By contrast, ideograms keep the general proprietary nature of the product in both markets. In non- profit areas, the Red Cross (which goes by Red Crescent in Muslim countries) is an example of an extremely well known emblem which does not need an accompanying name. Branding aims to facilitate cross-language marketing. The Coca-Cola logo can be identified in any language because of its standard colour and well known "ribbon wave" design.Logo design Logo design is an important area of graphic design, and one of the most difficult to perfect. The logo (ideogram), is the image embodying an organization. Because logos are meant to represent companies’ brands or corporate identities and foster their immediate customer recognition, it is counterproductive to frequently redesign logos. Colour is considered important to brand recognition, but it should not be an integral component to the logo design, which could conflict with its functionality. Some colours are formed/associated with certain emotions that the designer wants to convey. For instance loud primary colours, such as red, are meant to attract the attention of drivers on highways are appropriate for companies that require such attention. In the United States red, white, and blue are often used in logos for companies that want to project patriotic feelings. Green is often associated with the health and hygiene sector, and light blue or silver is often used to reflect diet foods. For other brands, more subdued tones and lower saturation can communicate reliability, quality, relaxation, or other traits. Logo design process Designing a good logo is not a simple task and requires a lot of involvement from the marketing team and the design agency It requires clear idea about the concept and values of the brand as well as understanding of the consumer or target group as marketers call. Broad step in logo design Process would be formulating concept, doing initial sketch, finalizing the logo concept, deciding the theme colors and format. Psychology of symbols The effective design and use of a logo employs the understanding of human behaviour. Whether cultural, or internal, people recognize and react to color, shapes, lines, fonts and other symbolic forms with emotions tied to their experiences. Colours have a broad range of meaning according to different nations and cultures, A colour could mean one thing in a particular setting, and something completely different in another. People's minds have been t 'ed to recognize the motion of a line. Horizontal lines often communicate a levelled security. Vertical lines convey dignity, and diagonal lines are full of energy, suggesting either rising or falling, or movement in one direction or another. FES Texaco logoDynamic logos oS DB - i beatola Coca-Cola logo Nunc est bibendum (now is the time to drink), 1898 poster of the Michelin. In 1898 the French tire manufacturer Michelin introduced the Michelin Man, a cartoon figure presented in many different contexts, such as eating, drinking and playing sports. Sy ww ‘The MTV logo. It has been modified to include images within the black areas from time to time, By the early 21st century, large corporations such as MTV, Google, Morton Salt and Saks Fifth Avenue had adopted dynamic logos that change over time from setting to setting. Internet-compatible logos A company that use logotypes (wordmarks) may desire a logo that matches the firm's Internet Address. For short logotypes consisting of two or three characters, multiple companies are found to employ the same letters. A "CA" logo, for example, is used by the French Bank Credit Agricole, the Dutch Clothing Retailer C&A and the US Software Corporation CA Technologies, but only one can have the internet domain name CA.com.Corporations, businesses and products Due to the design, the colour, the shape, and eventually additional elements of the logotype, each one can easily be differentiated from other logotypes. For example, a box of Kellogg's cereals will be easily recognized in a supermarket's shelf from a certain distance, due to its unique typography and distinctive red colouring. The same will be true when one is at the airport looking for the booth of the Hertz Rent-A-Car company. Some well-known logos include Apple Inc.'s apple with a bite taken out, which started out as a rainbow of colour, and has been reduced to a single colour without any loss of recognition. Coca-Cola's script is known worldwide, but is best associated with the colour red; its main competitor, Pepsi has taken the colour blue, although they have abandoned their script logo. 18M, also known as "Big Blue" has simplified their logo over the years, and their name. What started as International Business Machines is now just "IBM" and the colour blue has been a signature in their unifying campaign as they have moved to become an IT services company. There are some other logos that must be mentioned when evaluating what the mark means to the consumer. Automotive brands can be summed up simply with their corporate lego—from the Chevrolet "Bow Tie" mark to the roundel marks of Volkswagen, Mercedes- Benz and BMW, to the interlocking “RR” of Rolls-Royce—each has stood for a brand and clearly differentiated the product line. Other logos that are recognized globally: the Nike "Swoosh" and the Adidas "Three stripes" are two well-known brands that are defined by their corporate logo. When Phil Knight Started Nike, he was hoping to find a mark as recognizable as the Adidas stripes, which also provided reinforcement to the shoe. He hired a young student (Carolyn Davidson) to design his logo, paying her $35 for what has become one of the best known marks in the world (she was later compensated again by the company). Another logo of global renown is that of Playboy Enterprises. Playboy magazine claims it once received a letter at its Chicago, Illinois offices with its distinctive "bunny" logo as the only identifying mark, appearing where the mailing address normally appears. Corporate identities are often developed by large firms who specialize in this type of work. However, Paul Rand is considered the father of corporate identity and his work has been seminal in launching this field. Some examples of his work were the UPS package with a string (replaced in March 2003 with the "shield"), IBM and NeXT Computer. An interesting case is the refinement of the FedEx logo, where the brand consultants convinced the company to shorten their corporate name and logo from "Federal Express" to the popular abbreviation "Fed Ex". Besides creating a shorter brand name, they reduced the amount of colour used on vehicles (planes, trucks) and saved hundreds of thousandsof dollars in paint costs. Also, the right-pointing arrow in the new logo hints at motion. Logo of Facebook Inc. Starting about 4 years ago, certain companies, especially online technology companies, began to adopt a common look and feel. Many people refer to that standard as "web 2.0", but there is no official "web 2.0" standard. Web 2.0 logos often use small chunks of large type, with bright and cheery colors. Although there are literally hundreds of fonts used by web 2.0 companies, the logos are generally dominated by soft, rounded san serif fonts such 2s VAG Rounded (Crowdspring) and Helvetica Rounded (Skype). There are, however, numerous exceptions, as some web 2.0 companies have used classic fonts (Trade, News Gothic, Frutiger, Helvetica), while others have chosen to differentiate completely, using custom lettering like (Facebook). Sports For many teams, a logo is an important way to recognize a team's history and can intimidate opponents. For certain teams, the logo and colour scheme are synonymous with the team's players. For example; the Toronto Maple Leafs, Cleveland Indians, or New York Yankees all have highly recognizable logos that can be recognized by nearly any fan of the respective sport. COLOR PSYCHOLOGY OF LOGOS ™@~ © Colour is an important part of visual arts. It represents the nature and mood of an entity. That's why colours are an important aspect of visual representation of a company too. Though colours have different meanings in various cultures and countries, they are generally used in logos to convey a specific message/s. RED: Red is an extreme and emotionally intense colour. It evokes aggressiveness, passion, strength and vitality. It also grabs attention of the viewers because of which, it is widely seen in many different logos.PINK: The colour pink induces femininity, innocence, softness and health. Due to its tranquilizing nature, pink is extensively used in logos related to spa, health care and cosmetic products. ORANGE: Orange represents energy, enthusiasm, flamboyance and demand of attention. This particular vivid colour is common among the logos that offer sense of openness and friendliness to their viewers. Its attractive, bright and cheery nature captures the attention of the spectators and gives the logo a contemporary look. While it is considered as an optimistic colour, yellow is the most difficult colour for the eye to take in. On the other hand, yellow colour symbolizes positivity and buoyancy. But its use should be minimal as it can be overpowering if overused. GREE Green is a calming, refreshing and conservative colour. It signifies tranquility, nature, health, and freshness. It is widely used in healthcare, construction, real estate and golf logos due to its relevance with the mentioned businesses. BLU: Blue evokes authority, dignity, security and faithfulness. It is one of the most Popular colours among logos and can be seen extensively in education logos, government and medical logos. PURPLE: The colour of royalty, purple connotes luxury, wealth, spirituality and sophistication. It also symbolizes rank and authority. However, because it is rare in nature, purple is rarely used in logos. BROWN: Brown suggests utility, earthiness, woodiness and subtle richness. As it is the colour of earth and is abundant in nature, brown is used in logos related to construction and development. It is also widely used in legal logos due to it simplicity and character. (EEGs the universal colour of peace. It represents purity, simplicity, sterility and Tefinement. Its frequent use in logos is due to its simplistic nature and radiant character. The colour white in logos is often used as text because it illuminates on other bright colours. GREY: Solid, intelligence, modesty, practicality, conservative and maturity are some of the attributes of the colour grey. However, it can seldom be seen on logos as it also represents old age, sadness and dullness. BLACK: Black is a powerful colour that evokes authority, boldness, elegance and style. It is broadly used in almost all types of logos for its boldness and sophistication, These colours, though not necessarily, but are generally used in logos to communicate @ specific point. So the next time you are looking or designing logos, be sure to understand the message behind the colours used in them.How To Design A Logo Want to know how to design a logo like a professional and have all the resources you need in just one post? Then this is the post for you... Learn professional logo design in just 5 steps! If you are after a professional logo design | am currently available for hire. 1. Learn What A Logo Is & What It Represents You! T 5 CRE amazon. ene a, sen @ Google msn. BOcr Ss Cee WaareniA, COREL Y @ alexa es ve \ ehey ANON & {CO ohotobucket f\ ni Before you design a logo, you must understand what a logo is, what it represents and what itis supposed to do. A logo is not just a mark ~ a logo reflects a business's commercial brand via the use of shape, fonts, colour, and / or images. ‘A logo is for inspiring trust, recognition and admiration for a company or product and it is our job as designers to create a logo that will do its job. (One must know what a logo is before continuing, 2. Know The Principles of Effective Logo Design Simple i ZL Memorable 5 Principles Laws Coa icra Timeless Logo Design — NS Versatile Appropriate Now that you know what a logo is supposed to do, and whatit should represent you now must learn about what makes a great logo aka; the basic rules and principles of effective logo design.1. A logo must be simple A simple logo design allows for easy recognition and allows the logo to be versatile & memorable. Good logos feature something unexpected or unique without being overdrawn, 2. A logo must be memorable Following closely behind the principle of simplicity, is that of memorabilty. An effective logo design should be memorable and this is achieved by having a simple, yet, appropriate logo. 3. A logo must be timeless An effective logo should be timeless ~ that is, it wll stand the test of time. Will the logo stil be effective in 10, 20, 50 years? 4. A logo must be versatile An effective logo should be able to work across a variety of mediums and applications. For this reason a logo should be designed in vector format, to ensure that it can be scaled to any size. The logo must work in just one colour too. 5.A logo must be appropriate How you position the logo should be appropriate for its intended purpose. For exemple, if you are designing a a logo for children’s toys store, it would be appropriate to use a childish font & color scheme, This would not be so appropriate for a law firm. 3. Learn Off Others Success & Mistakes The Good... ‘The Bad... Successful Logos Now you know what the rules of logo design are, you can distinguish the difference between 2 00d and a bad logo... By knowing what other logos have succeeded and why they have succeeded sives a great insight into what makes a good logo. For example, lets look at the classic Nike Swoosh. This logo was created by Caroline Davidson in 1971 for only $35 yet it stil a strong, memorable logo, effective without colour and easily scalable Itis simple, fluid and fast and represents the wing in the famous statue of the Greek Goddess of victory, Nike — something perfect for a sporting apparel business. Nike is just one of many great logos, think about other famous brands that you know about and check out their logos - what makes them successful? For more quality, lesser known logos | recommend checking out Logo Of The Day or going to your local book store or library and looking at a logo design book, The Not So Successful Logos We can also learn off logos that have not been as successful such as the ones in the above picture or these bad logo designs. As seen in that post linked, some logos can depict things that may havenot always be noticeable to the designer (as in the middle logo above) or they could just be plain bad design, as in the logo to the right. 44, Establish Your Own Logo Design Process In short, a logo design process usually consists of 1 The Design Brief 2 Research & Brainstorming 3 Sketching 4 Prototyping & Conceptualising (See Step 5) 5 Send To Client For Review & Revise & Add Finishing Touches 7 Supply Files To Client and Give Customer Service 5, Learn The Software & Complete The Logo After you have got your design process sorted out, itis usually a good time to begin mastering your software (Adobe Illustrator is the industry standard) but remember you can’t design a logo by just hopping straight onto the computer... brainstorm and sketch first. After you have got your initial ideas and sketches from brainstorming you can then usually jump onto the computer to start digitising your logo. After you have got a great concept(s) digitised you can send it to your client, get revisions, and eventually complete the logo and thus, you have successfully created a professional logo. Do you have any other tips or suggestions on how to make a professional logo?HOW NOT TO DESIGN A LOGO Logo design in today’s world is totally under rated. People do not understand how important a good logo is and how valuable it is to their business, In this article | am going to outline the ways in which you should NOT go about getting your logo designed... that is, if you are truly serious about business, What is a logo? To understand what a logo is meant to do, we first must know what a logo is. A logo's design is for immediate recognition, inspiring trust, admiration, loyalty and an implied superiority. The logo is one aspect of a company’s commercial brand, or economic entity, and its shapes, colours, fonts, and images usually are different from others in a similar market. Logos are also used to identify organizations and other non-commercial entities. Itmakes me wonder why people have no logo or why they would even bother with a cheap logo design if a logo is meant to do all of these things? ita _\# 0 ob sai raautl The worst deal you could probably go for is a logo design contest. Logo design contests are where you give a brief and then you have mul ple designers ‘come back to you with their designs. Although this sounds like a mighty good deal, the quality is usually far from anything you would want to represent your business.You will be wasting your money and in the long term, in terms of damage done to your business, that amount could be quite considerable. On another note, design contests & designers who design on a speculative basis are damaging the design industry as designers should not have to invest time and resources with no guarantee of payment. if you want further proof, read these articles: Logo Design Contests Are Bad For Business or The Reality of Logo Design Contests. Too good to be true deals ~~ > ogo design Australia ——— (700 le ee the web © pages from Austeay? _____— santan_husi 7 If you do a search on ‘logo design’ on google you wi find many businesses offering logo designs for very cheap and unbelievable prices. Such deals as “5 design concepts from 5 designers!” or “6 logos from 5 designers only $200” ~ Stay away! These deals are extremely deceiving and the quality is far from satisfactory. Have you ever wondered how much thought they actually put into your logo design? Professional logo designers have a strict logo design process that can take weeks or in some cases months to complete a logo. They may offer you a result within 24 hours or maybe even less meaning literally no thought was put into your logo design. Stock imageryWe Some so called “designers” (usually the same people who enter design contests) steal images from stock sites to design your logo... or in some cases business owners download and use the stock images themselves. This is a huge no-no. Did you know that stock imagery gets downloaded by thousands of people? This should be reason enough not to use stock imagery as your logo. 'Fyou do this, other people will have access to your logo design and can and will use it in places that logo design is original, potentially devalue your business. Ensure your Do it yourself logo designClosely linked to the stock imagery scenario above, business owners or those wanting a logo will try to do it themselves. | highly recommend against this and suggest you leave the design to a professional, much as you would leave your dental work to a dentist. Free logo makers_— —- ww Ss. WwW om Start your logo logo samples what you get donate Password: [, You will find many free online logo makers on the web. Not onl logo as you and what is the point of that? These lo They say nothing about your business and do no! Getting a design without feedback ly do these logos look unprofessional, hundreds of other people could have the same 1B0s have no thought, concept or memorability about them, they are merely symbols. ig that a logo is supposed to do... repeat, stay away from free logo makers,Before approving and implementing a design, ensure you get feedback from your clients, peers, and stakeholders. Getting feedback on a design is @ crucial part of the logo design process as it ensures that your logo is going to be successful. Take these poor phallic logo designs above. | wonder if they realized their logos had such hidden meaning? Ensure you don getting a professionally designed logo. ‘What is the cost of a professional logo design? The cost of a professional logo design is a question that cannot be easily answered as every company has different needs, however, the best way to approach this problem is to draw up a customized quote for each individual. ‘A number of factors have to be taken into consideration when designing a logo, such as how many logo concepts need to be presented, how many revisions are required, how much research is needed, the size of the business and so on. To wrap up, I'd like to quote a comparison by David Airey: Comparing the design industry to any other is by no means exact, but Jogo?” question is kind of like asking an estate agent, “How much for a house?” t turn out like this by », “How much for a Disclaimer: This article was written exclusively for WDD by Jacob Cass and reflects his personal opinion on logo design. It does not necessarily reflect WDD's opinion on the subject. Jacob is a professional logo designer who runs the popular blog Just Creative Design