Anybody can create a logo. In theory anything visual can serve as one. Now even if someone did create something, ensuring whether it fits and works is another matter. It isn't about coming up with a pretty or functional expression, a successful logo design should aim to be simple yet distinctive — if we think of these two terms as extremes on a spectrum, then the sweet spot would be right in between the two, and that is where iconic logos dwell.
Simplicity is key
Strive for simplicity while avoiding being generic. Simple solutions are often the most adequate. Simplicity in design allows for adaptability and versatility. This concept applies particularly so with Logos — an aspect of a brands' visual identity that is often presented through different mediums and settings, ranging from use in stationary to huge screens and websites, large or tiny, logo design solutions must be adaptable.
How simple can we make a logo while also not going and becoming generic? Simplicity as a function must take away just enough complexity to allow for quick identification. Next time you come across a logo you might be familiar with, notice how, by merely having a quick glance at it, you recognise it. The logo has achieved its purpose, to be recognised and to represent the brand as well as to persist in people's memory. Think of the big companies you might be familiar with such as McDonald's or Nike, consider their logos and how simple but recognisable they are.
Nike logo by Carolyn Davidson, photo by Thomas Serer on Unsplash
Distinctiveness is just as important
A good logo is distinctive and memorable. It seeks to differentiate itself from other designs and competing brands. It aims to be unique enough to persist in our minds, to the degree where we can glance at it, just once or twice, and we can vividly depict it to others. Try this litmus test of sorts for your logo design. Doodle your logo on a piece of paper. If this was a straightforward endeavour then you may have something good!
Iconic logos achieve distinction through the use of unique shapes, colour and style. Over time these characteristics become synonymous with the brand they stand for, all while consequently averting being misrepresented as a rival brand. So, how can we go about creating a characteristic logo? Well, we strive for achieving uniqueness at the very fundamental levels of what makes a logo — in other words, by designing a distinctive shape or 'silhouette'. Working with a base of contrast and concentrating on making silhouettes, thereby striping away all other possible extraneous matter and seeing if the overall idea or concept is mainly coming through in the distinguishable monochrome of silhouette form and background.
A great example of a brand that has achieved iconic status with its logo is National Geographic. A simple yet memorable, vertically aligned rectangular frame with a tint of warm yellow. Working both, with the font through simple identifiable layout treatments, as well as standalone, incorporated into National Geographic's magazines as a component of their visual language and composition.
National Geographic logo by Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv, photo by Haut Risque on Unsplash
Appropriateness sets the tone
Logos must also be appropriate — feeling-wise, the personality it portrays, how it comes across when representing a business.
The design must be suitable to the industry and market a company caters to. However this doesn't mean that it needs to be complicated or say too much. In fact one could argue it is the absolute opposite, the less is said the better.
"A logo is not communication, a logo is identification".
- Sagi Haviv
The IBM logo could be used as an example of a company that applies the concept described above. While the logo itself isn't a machine it is appropriate in its theme of portraying characteristics of a machine; speed and dynamism.
IBM logo by Paul Rand, photo by Carson Masterson on Unsplash