The 4 main types of logos: Which one is best for your business?
By Kaitlin Hefner
So you’re ready to create a logo for your brand! Congratulations. I’ll assume you already know who you are and how you want to be perceived as a brand, your target market, and have clearly defined core values. Have all those lined up? Great. That is a TON of work so I’m going to skip ahead for the sake of this post.
The design decisions that go into your logo are seemingly infinite: color palette, typeface, shapes, layout… it can feel overwhelming to say the least. As an art director and designer, I can speak from personal experience when trying to market myself as a business when I was solely freelancing. When it’s your own personal brand it can seem even MORE difficult because of course YOU are the closest to it and you’re constantly growing and evolving. I was never quite satisfied with how I was representing myself and struggled to get the right fit (surprise– I still haven’t found it! But that’s a whole other story haha). All in all, it’s best to leave the job of creating a logo in the hands of a competent designer and not do it yourself.
So once you’re ready to dive in, let the fear go and have some fun with it. I’ve narrowed it down to 4 main different types of logos to help you see the differences in each and help you decide what makes the most sense for your brand.
1. Lettermark
Examples: NASA, BBC, CNN, IBM
A lettermark logo is a typography based approach and exclusively made up of a company or brand’s initials, and for that reason, it’s also known as a monogram.
If your brand’s name is long or difficult to pronounce, you could consider using a lettermark. Because they are often comprised of a limited amount of characters, lettermarks are always clear and legible, even when scaled down on mobile or a business card. It’s also a plus if the monogram spells a relevant word! Many news and broadcasters have such long names that using a lettermark is almost mandatory for simplification. Can you imagine calling American Telephone and Telegraph to fix your cable bill for British Broadcasting Network?
A minor drawback is that if you are just starting out, you may have trouble trying to create something fresh & new. You could consider a combination mark but we’ll get to those a bit later.
2. Wordmark
Examples: Facebook, Disney, Google, Canon, Coca-Cola
I love nothing more than a beautifully type-set wordmark! Wordmarks are typography based logos and usually focus on the name of the brand or business. This is often the simplest approach, which is why a lot of well-known companies opt to use wordmarks.
Wordmarks can be a really effective way of making your logo clear and legible, especially if you have a distinctive or original business name. Type choices are really important so hiring someone that has great typography knowledge is key. If you’ve picked Papyrus, you might want to rethink your decision… (sorry, Papyrus). Without the aid of supporting symbols or pictorial elements, the execution needs to be perfect.
If you’ve got a really long brand name this may not be the best choice for you. But don’t worry! We have more options for you.
3. Brandmark
Examples: Apple, Target, Nike, Twitter, Snapchat
In contrast to the first two types of logo, a brandmark (also known as a pictorial mark) abandons text completely. They are visual images, elements or symbols used to identify a brand and contribute to building and maintaining its image. It’s a good idea for the image to be recognizable and simple for the digital age. A brandmark can be a good way of transcending language and making sure you are instantly recognizable internationally. They are also often better at conveying the more abstract or emotional qualities of your company – images speak a thousand words!
Most of us probably aren’t quite ready for a solo-mark corporate identity so keep reading.
4. Combination Mark
Adidas, Mastercard, Dove, Rolex
In almost all cases, a brandmark isn’t strong enough to stand on its own until a company has YEARS of recognition. It took Nike 25 years to be able to drop the name from their logo and let the swoosh do its business (it’s now regularly cited as being one the most recognizable logos of all time).
The FedEx logo is a great example of an effective wordmark. It uses a classic typeface (Futura Bold) and has a hidden arrow in the negative space between the ‘E’ and the ‘x’ bringing more significance to the mark. (Still great, even though the designer went through over 400 iterations before noticing this).
And now to our last and probably the most commonly used type of logo: the combination mark! Arguably it is the best of both worlds: a brandmark offers the clarity of typography and the visual appeal of an icon. If done successfully, it communicates the most information about a brand. I would argue that is the most difficult to successfully execute because of the number of elements involved.
Still need help?
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