I appreciate a good logo. I mean what designer doesn’t, right?
I think designing a logo is partly an art and partly a science. An art because it takes someone with the mind of an artist to come up with something truly clever and out-of-the-box. And a science because there are certain principles that determine whether or not a logo is well designed.
So what makes a good logo? I think these things:
- Instant recognisability
- Meaning (symbolism & relevance to the brand)
- Scalability (a logo should look good at any size)
- Elegance (I wanted to say simplicity, but I think elegance better describes it: the quality of being pleasingly ingenious and simple)
- Fluidity (a logo should be variable in a way that allows it to be used for a lot of different applications)
An important thing to remember is that when people look at a logo, they don’t recognise the logo, they recognise the brand. Without the brand, a logo is literally meaningless. For me, this (recognisability) is the most important quality of any logo and it actually has more to do with the brand than with the logo itself. Still, there’s nothing worse than a generic logo! (Or maybe there is.)
Below I have gathered some examples of great logos that I found on this fantastic website called logobook.com (totally worth bookmarking, by the way). I just picked some of the first ones I could find, since they are all so good. Scroll down for more info on each logo.
From left to right, top to bottom:
- Barrons logo by Milton Glaser (1980)
- Dietrich Kaufmann logo by Dietrich Kaufmann (1965)
- Walter Horn Architekten logo by Herbert Wenn (1977)
- P Bork logo (1960s)
- Real Typographers logo by Bob Gill (1953)
- Aigec logo by Aldo Novarese (1963)
- Papierfabrik Cham logo by Paul Leber (1968)
- Paclett logo by Ingo & Christine Friel (1960s)
- Werner Herterich logo by Burton Kramer (1967)
- Futuro Fibreglass Homes logo by Michel Lincourt (1971)
- West Coast Landscape Construction logo by Conrad E. Angone (1960s)
- Eason’s Advertising Service logo by Eason’s Advertising Service (1960s)
- PBS logo by Chermayeff & Geismar (1984)
- M. & C. Druckerei & Verlag logo by Ekkehart Rustmeier (1970s)
- Consolidated Fiction logo by Aaron James Draplin (2009)
- G. Jantsch Druckerei logo by Hermann Zapf (1980)
- Youmeus Design logo by Accept & Proceed (2003)
- Pan American Airlines logo by Charles Forberg, Edward Larrabee Barnes, Ivan Chermayeff (1950)
- Ricardo Fayos logo by Ernesto Moradell Català (1968)
- A. Alan Perkins logo by Allan D. Rae (1968)
- Lance Wyman Ltd logo by Lance Wyman (1979)
- British Tissues logo by Kenneth Hollick (1976)
- RAI Radio Italiana logo by Erberto Carboni (1960s)
- Shimamura Shuppan logo by Makoto Yoshida (1973)
- Dai Nippon Printing logo by Kenji Ito (1954)
- Electronic Memory logo by Ken Parkhurst & Associates (1966)
- Prache de Franclieu logo by Adrian Frutiger (1962)
- Kuypers Adamson Norton logo by Burton Kramer (1971)
- Verband der Deutschen Texilindustrie logo by Hanns Lohrer (1971)
- Enron logo by Paul Rand (1996)
- Aerographics logo by Burton Kramer (1975)
- Svizra logo by Svizra (2003)
- Racine Press logo by Rudolph de Harak (1964)
- Tennis Club USA logo by Benson Crane (1971)
- M.I.T. Press logo by Muriel Cooper (1962)
- Dimension logo by Franz Wagner (1960s)
- Bunka Hyoronsha logo by Makoto Yoshida (1982)
- Nike logo by Carolyn Davidson (1971)
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