Logo Design

Logo design process

A logo (abbreviation of logotype,^[4] from Greek: λόγος, romanized: logos, lit. ‘word’ and Greek: τύπος, romanized: typos, lit. ‘imprint’) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordmark.

In the days of hot metal typesetting, a logotype was one word cast as a single piece of type (e.g. “The” in ATF Garamond), as opposed to a ligature, which is two or more letters joined, but not forming a word.^[5] By extension, the term was also used for 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.^[6]

Logo color

Color is a key element in logo design and plays an important role in brand differentiation. The importance of color in this context is due to the mechanics of human visual perception. In addition, we tend to acquire various color connotations and color associations through social and cultural conditioning. Because color is important to brand identity it should be used but never effect functionality. Of course, it should be remembered that color connotations and associations are not consistent across all social and cultural groups. For example, in the United States, red, white, and blue evoke national pride.

Choosing an organisation’s logo’s color is an important decision because of its long term implications and its role in creating differentiation among competitors’ logos. A methodology for identifying potential logo colors within an industry sector is color mapping, whereby existing logo colors are systematically identified, mapped, and evaluated (O’Connor, 2011).^[24]

Logo design process

Designing a good logo often requires involvement from a marketing team teaming with the graphic design studio. Before a logo is designed, there must be a clear definition of the concept and values of the brand as well as understanding of the consumer or target group. Broad steps in the logo design process include research, conceptualization, investigation of alternative candidates, refinement of a chosen design, testing across products, and finally adoption and production of the chosen mark.

Dynamic logos

Nunc est bibendum (now is the time to drink), 1898 Michelin poster.

Facebook logo

The MTV logo.
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. By the early 21st century, large corporations such as MTV, Nickelodeon, Google, Morton Salt, and Saks Fifth Avenue had adopted dynamic logos that change over time from setting to setting.^[25]

Internet-compatible logos

A company that uses logotypes (wordmarks) may desire a logo that matches the firm’s Internet address. For short logotypes consisting of two or three characters, multiple companies have 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.

With the constant size change and re-formatting, logo designers are shifting to a more bold and simple approach. This reduces the confusion when mingled with other logos in tight spaces and when scaled between media. Social networks like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ use such logos.

Design protection

Finally, logos and their design may be protected by copyright, via various intellectual property organisations worldwide which make available application procedures to register a design to give it protection at law. For example, in the UK, the Intellectual Property Office (United Kingdom)^[26] govern registered designs, patents, and trademarks.  Trademark means that the visual design that will be protected.

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