Chapter 4: The Anatomy of a Great Logo Design

Before you decide to start your logo design project, there are a few principles that make one given logo more effective than the rest of its class. Most of the logos for popular companies are in some way marketable and memorable, but the real question begs. “How did they get to be that way?”

This chapter will cover the various elements to understanding what makes a great logo for business.

Parts That Make Up the Whole

Symbol

This is the graphic or image representation of the logo. It comes in all shapes, sizes and forms.

For the most part, I try to have the symbol as a stand-alone image from the type. Also, having a symbol that works well on a circle/square format is generally a good rule of thumb. This adds quite a bit more versatility in the different applications where you don’t necessarily need the logotype.

For example: Your social media page has a profile picture that is on a perfect square format (as is the case with Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, etc.). If both your company name and symbol are locked into a singular design and your company name is even moderately long, then you can imagine how your logo will get lost as it tries to be recognizable within that already small frame.

Social media, web directories and website favicons are just a few avenues where that circle/square format will come into play.

By keeping your symbol and type to be able to stand by themselves, your logo automatically becomes more versatile as you begin to apply your logo into other applications.

Logotype

The importance of your logo’s typography can often be either overlooked or a lesser priority to the symbol.

Please don’t make the mistake of devaluing the logotype!

There are so many things to think about as it relates to the typography that is being used for your logo:

       • Does the typography match up with the brand?

       • Is the type applicable to the industry?

       • Does the type work with the audience?

       • Does it work cohesively with the symbol?

       • Is the weight of the font recognizable and scalable?

Just by asking some of these questions, you can ensure your logotype will be a seamless, effective solution for the company.

Full Logo

This is pretty straightforward, but the full logo is a combination of the symbol and type.

Other types of logos include emblems, word marks and letter marks.

What Makes Some of the Best Logos So Good?

In so many ways, a company’s logo is a visual shorthand, an icon, a cue or a symbol of that brand’s culture, values and behavior. Color, shapes, lettering and icons all come together to form something that will either make you stand out to customers or turn them off.

In this part of the guide, we’ll shed some light on logos that have been iconic for many years and discuss what makes them so good.

eBay

Remember before 2012, when eBay had a funky logo with letters of all different colors in all different sizes and weights?

It was a bit off to say the least. In 2012, eBay decided to make a change. The unveiling of the new logo was a true success. They kept the multi-colored letters but just went with a standard font and kept its lowercase letters. They also included the “TM” for trademark after the logo. The old logo gave off a goofy or jumbled feeling, but the new logo showed that the company was serious and trustworthy with a bit more of a buttoned-up approach to the new look. It’s amazing how little touches can lend visual credibility.

Hyatt Place Re-Brand

Hyatt Hotels bought out AmeriSuites in 2004, and they changed the brand over to Hyatt Place. The logo wasn’t bad, but it resembled American Airlines or many other American companies using red and blue flag themes. It was unremarkable. Uninspiring.

Hyatt Place’s new logo utilized multicolored dots and a modern, sophisticated font that made it seem more contemporary and high- end than the original AmeriSuites logo. It gave the concept an upscale feel that communicated its unique sensibility in a saturated design market. That’s why these touches can be important.

Starbucks Remake

Starbucks went through a major remake of its logo in 2011. The coffee brand didn’t want to go with the black and green logo anymore. Since there is a Starbucks on practically every corner of the world, its symbol has grown in prominence, and there’s no room for its complication. They needed to streamline.

They decided to simplify the logo down to the symbol of the siren lady—which became the focus. The new minimalist logo allowed her to shine.

NBC’s Peacock

NBC has gone through several phases of the peacock logo. The multicolored fanned-out feathers or “teardrops” have changed significantly. It’s become much simpler over the years and continues to improve. The current white outline makes the colors stand out with the shape of the bird subtly moved toward the center. Overall, it’s a solid, iconic mark that is clearly recognizable.

Spotify

Spotify quickly became one of the go-to paid music players because of its well-designed app and useful desktop interface. The excellent integration with social media and browser music play as well as video has changed the game. They started out with a really funky logo that utilized a shadowed green ball, three lines that resembled Wi-Fi iconography and jumbled white lettering with a black stroke. There was just a lot going on. Too much, really.

As Spotify grew, they focused more on simplifying the green Wi-Fi circle, and also changed the typography to a shade of black while unifying the weight. They also included tiny words underneath the name: “For music.” Since that time, Spotify has redesigned again, and the change shows off the company’s popularity as they have focused more on changing the green Wi-Fi symbol to stand alone and become the icon for the music player.

4 Non-Cliché Methods to Give Your Logo that Killer Instinct

Have you ever heard of Milton Glaser?

He was a renowned graphic designer who was best-known for the “I Love New York” logo. In reference to the simplicity of a successful logo, Glaser said, “You want to move the viewer in a perception so that when they first look [at a logo]…they get the idea, because that act between seeing and understanding is critical.” Using this quote as inspiration, you can build a better logo with your designer.

When deciding what makes a great logo design for your company, take a look at these practical tips to start coming up with some really genuine ideas to give to your logo designer.

1. Think Outside the Box 

No-one likes a cliché logo. A plumbing business doesn’t need a plumbing wrench…a real estate company doesn’t need a house…a bbq restaurant doesn’t need a pig. If you can’t exploit the concept in a way that brands the company uniquely use the anti-Nike solution, that is—just don’t do it.

We see this premise with larger companies too: The Mercedes logo doesn’t have a car in it, and Starbucks doesn’t have a cup of coffee in it. Yet you think of luxury car and coffee without a problem.

Innovate. Innovate. Innovate.

I recently designed a logo for a company called T&H Financial Coaching. The “T&H” stood for tortoise and hare. We decided to go with a minimal approach to using the two animals. The challenge was keeping the integrity of this buttoned-up, professional business, without the animals looking too cartoony. Instead of using a designed “T&H” to represent the symbol of the logo, using the two animals in an innovative way to tie back to T&H Financial Coaching was the ticket.

2. Scalability in the Crosshairs

Sure a logo can have that “it” factor, and even look amazing, but what about when it’s blown up to billboard size and scaled down for a business cards?

A busy, overly detailed logo tends to suffer on a smaller scale because some of the lines, shapes and even use of color can make it tough to distinguish between all the details. We will talk more to this throughout the book, but a minimal logo can be your best friend.

A minimalist logo will be able to span across a variety of mediums maintaining its recognizability. This is worth more to you than retaining any one specific element of your logo that compromises this factor.

Printers and embroiderers will have difficulty reproducing your logo the way it was originally intended to be portrayed. Your polo-shirts and business cards both need to be crisp, clear, and on-target.

There’s an easy trick to test whether or not a logo is a bit too busy—by either a wide or small margin.

It’s pretty simple really. All you need to do is view the logo from about a foot away, with the logo set to a one-inch wide scale. If you can take in all parts of the logo, great. If not, re-evaluate and simplify.

In the end, you want to produce a logo that is distinctive enough to be seen and understood on any type of media or setting. It’s no good if it looks great in one setting, and a terrible mess in another.

3. Zeroing In on Culture

Logos have to accurately and quickly communicate a company’s overall brand culture. You wouldn’t want to create a hip, fun logo for a law firm just like you wouldn’t want to create a serious, all business logo for a children’s daycare.

Don’t forget about color in this step. It’s crucial.

Color is one of the most distinguishing elements in a logo that affects whether or not it’s appropriate.

For example, there aren’t too many law firms who want a pink gavel next to its name. You should always think about how different colors will reflect on your company when using them in your logo.

But, realistically, it’s probably not going to communicate the serious message you want to convey for your firm’s image.

Hard work goes into creating a brand culture. A misaligned logo can be detrimental to this culture and leave potential customers with a sickness called “brand confusion.” It’s a hard one to cure.

4. Aim for the Iconic

This might be one of the most important characteristics for what makes a great logo for your company.

Milton Glaser created the iconic “I Love New York” logo in 1975. Today, it’s one of the most popular logos of all time. (Mr. Glaser will make another appearance later in this chapter.)

Clean lines, symmetry, modernist structure, neutrality and iconic shapes define timeless, iconic logos. The special sauce to an iconic logo? Minimalist + Innovation + Relevance = Iconic

The Not So Great: Overly Trendy Logo Techniques to Avoid

Heavy gradients

When I talk about gradients, it’s at least a couple colors that fade into each other. A heavy gradient may be a fade from orange to violet, teal to yellow or even navy to aqua.

Subtlety goes a long way with gradients in design. It’s like salt, sprinkle a bit and all is good—pour it on and it can ruin everything.

Strong bevels

Bevels are meant to make any object have more of that 3D feel. They are represented by a shadow and highlight to give the impression of a light source hitting the object. Just like gradients, moderation is your friend. Outlandish, strong bevels are a technique used mostly in the 90’s as a way to quickly add some dimension. I don’t recommend using strong bevels in logo design in general, and if you do a redesign may be needed in the near future.

Over-emphasized shadows

The use of implied shadows can be a powerful addition to any logo. Just beware to not over-emphasize the shadow as it relates to the object or symbol in the design. The symbol needs to be the hero of the design—not a dark gray or black shadow that overpowers and distracts from the overall design. Lighter, cohesive shadows that complement the color scheme are the key.

Familiar “stylized” fonts

Comic Sans, Segoe Script, Kristen ITC, Curlz MT and Jokerman. These are familiar fonts that are built into Microsoft Word and should try to be avoided as much as possible. You don’t want your logo to represent anything else but your company. If a potential customer is consciously (unconsciously) saying, “I’ve seen that font before in Microsoft Word,” then the focus all of the sudden turns away from your brand to someone else’s—in this case MS Word.

Also, depending on the industry you’re trying to brand yourself for, you could make yourself somewhat of a laughing-stock of your field, since the latent associations with these fonts are sometimes unfortunate.

Try to go with a font that isn’t over the top, has a stylized feel, but also isn’t too recognizable. We want people thinking about your brand and your brand alone when they see your logo.

A Modern Logo and the Test of Time

There’s nothing wrong with having a current or modern logo. Look at Starbucks. Between 1987 and 2011 they had three logo redesigns and as a result invested millions of dollars into redesigns. Updating their products, signs and marketing collateral with the new logo isn’t cheap!

But why spend all that money?

Starbucks placed high value around their logo redesign to the point of investing in this process three separate times. Did they know how much how much something like this would cost? Sure. Did they decide to do more logo redesigns after the first investment? Yep.

All that to say, the importance of a modern design in your business should have a similar outlook. You want a design that will carry you to the next phase of your marketing and hold up to the test of time.

But how do you offset the need to redesign too many times down the road?

Simplicity.

Not to say that it’s simple in the sense of being easy to do. I believe that the simplicity of a logo must be mixed with some level of creativity. Now that’s a logo that can do some damage and stand time’s test…not to mention save you some money down the road.

This is the reason why big brand logos like Samsung, Amazon and Apple will always stand the test of time. Sure, they are well established brands with seemingly unlimited marketing dollars, but their visual identity is most effective in its simplicity.

Like I mentioned above, when Photoshop first came to be, people loved some of the strong 3 dimensional styles that now make designers cringe. Timeless design will prevent redesigns in the future and will give customers a better familiarity for the brand.

Consider the McDonald’s logo. There’s no question as to what the logo is about and what the arch is meant to represent. It looks good on a sign or billboard, and you can also shrink it down without too much loss. Points about its styling have changed over the years, but the basic premise is always there, and points to that iconic, golden “M”.

These days, the average customer is actually pretty savvy to design. Modern (not outlandishly trendy) logos are a safe, effective route because they incorporate what people are seeing around them. It’s applicable. It’s relevant. The last thing you want is to have your logo be outdated 5 years from now, right?

If nothing else, remember: Keep it modern, but not overly trendy. There’s beauty in simplicity.

Do Logos Have to Be Likable?

They actually don’t. This definitely goes against what you might initially think. Logos just have to be unique signatures for what they represent.

When we say likable, I’m talking about the way your customer is interacting with the design’s aesthetic qualities.

Google possibly has one of the simplest logos around, but everyone knows it as the best search engine. No one could fail to recognize the colors and letters associated with the logo.

Does that mean that your logo should have Papyrus font? Probably not. Ultimately, a good logo depends on what you are trying to achieve.

     • What’s the history of the company?

     • Where’s the future of the company headed?

     • Are you a market newcomer wanting attention?

     • Are you traditional and established?

     • Is this a logo re-design?