Why Logo Style Matters

Posted 5th December 2013

There are a number of different styles of logo which can be used by a range of businesses as well as different marketing styles like brochure printing or websites. Before you speak to a designer about how you imagine your logo ending up, it is important to consider what you’re trying to achieve.

Do you need your logo to appear on products? A simple logo without colour can be applied easily to an array of products, while a logo which is appealing largely because of its colours might be simple enough to work on mass, or adaptable enough to suit an array of products.

Your logo will need to work both on and off a screen, and so it will need to be very high resolution but also simple enough to work on a small scale. Brochure printing requires a higher resolution than a website to produce a sharp image of the same size. Consider size and scale if you’re working on your design yourself, or talk to your designer about where it will be used.

What is your budget? While in an ideal world you might want a certain type of logo, sometimes they might be beyond reach. And if you're new logo has a very different tone to your existing one, you might be talking about a full rebrand.

Symbol

 

Source: http://redmondpie.com/

Alt: Apple use their logo across all their products.

Symbols work very well for large companies. A simple graphic is used to represent the brand, which is easy to scale, and can be rendered highly in small or large sizes. These logos tend to be abstract and stylised.

While many companies with a symbol logo will just have one version, many have alternate versions for different purposes. A symbol can be incorporated easily into a design for brochure printing, and minimal font usage on a cover will look particularly sleek and minimal.  

Word Mark

Source: http://www.google.com/

Alt: Google have used a simple word mark logo since their inception.

A word mark uses your name and a font as a graphic representation. The font can be pre-existing, but larger companies are likely to have a font designed for them. The font itself will become a recognisable part of your brand.

The font can be structured like a serif or sans serif number, or handwritten like the Kellogg’s, Cadbury’s and Disney logos.

Letter Mark

Source: https://www.shoeboxed.com/

Alt: A letter mark is very simple and effected on printed brochures.

A letter mark might be used if you have a particularly long company name which is often shortened. Think of HP (Hewlett-Packard). HP uses their initials rather than full name because the name, based on the surnames of the co-founders, is less concise. HP fits neatly on all products and is easily scalable.

A company may have a word mark and then a contracted letter mark version of the same thing to use on smaller products. The full version will probably appear on printed brochures, for example.

Combination

A combination logo features both a word mark and a symbol. A combination mark requires a lot more consideration than a standalone word mark or symbol. The elements should still be effective separately as they are together.

Depending on how the company want the logo used, the elements can be separated and used across a wide variety of applications. The elements don’t overlap, so they can be easily isolated. Combination marks are very flexible, as you essentially have a word mark and a symbol in one.

Emblem

An emblem is similar to a combination logo, but incorporates the words into the graphic itself. These logos work well on products, but are often less corporate. Sports teams and coffee shops often use emblems, but you’re less likely to see one for a firm of solicitors.

When producing a new logo, think about which will be most appropriate for your industry. What do your competitors use? Combination or emblem logos work better for less established companies, and strong graphics look great when you’re considering brochure printing.  

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