What makes a good logo?

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • About
    • The Waughpath
    • Design from a Creative Brief
    • Creative print design
    • Terms of service
    • Client Proofing
      • National Weavers Exhibition
  • The work
    • Advertising & Promo
      • Advertising design work
      • Brochure design
      • Poster design
      • T Shirts & other
      • Social Media
      • Writing & Research
    • Brand & identity systems
      • What makes a good logo?
      • Business Naming Service
      • Rename & Rebrand
    • Case studies & awards
      • Bionona brand presentation
    • Corporate communications
    • Illustration
    • Packaging design
    • Photography
      • Classic motorcycle racing photography
        • Burt Munro 2015 Event
      • Composite images
      • Documentary photography
      • Event photography
      • Phil Price Sculpture
      • Photojournalism
      • Travel photography
      • Wildlife photography
    • Video production
    • Web Design
      • Energise an image-heavy website
      • Web design overview
  • ARCHIVE
    • Advertising & Promo
    • Identity
      • Vinevax creative brief & presentation
    • Illustration
    • Packaging design
    • Web Design
  • shop
    • Shop Mens
    • Shop Womens
    • Surface Active wildlife art prints
    • About Surface Active Limited Edition Fine Art Prints
    • Surface Active: A Retrospective of New Zealand Printmakers Chrissie Terpstra & Shaun Waugh (1986–2021)
  • Blog
  • Contact

What makes a good logo?

Good_Logo_Northshore-1
Good_Logo_Northshore-2
Good_Logo_TruLine-3
Bold logo compared with fine lines.
Although the two logos are rather similar, visualize them on vehicles moving through city traffic: You’d—(blink)—miss the first one.
Name, logo & positioning statement for a digital proofing and commercial colour managed workflow hub.
Name, logo & positioning statement for a digital proofing and commercial colour managed workflow hub.
Good_Logo_Bionona-5
Hand-held photorealistic mockup of front of Bionona business card, printed in 4 colours, litho offset.
The final Bionona logo creates a strong signature for the company. The logo design is an infographic symbol of a snip genetic code from a novel peptide developed in the lab.
Herb Centre branding, property signage.
This one’s often overlooked by designers who make presentations on large format paper: The logo that looks great at billboard size must also work on a business card.
Herb Centre logo and stationery system
Herb Centre business card hand-held
Logo with too much detail comparison.
Typically, a logo designed at a large size has too much detail to be clear when reduced; note (top) how the lines crowd together. A good solution is to build a second logo with less detail (bottom) for use in smaller sizes.
WindsorUrban building signage mockup.
Designed as a unit, logo and name can be powerful. Above, note how the logo colour is used in the name to enable the wordspace between windsor and urban to be unnecessary.
TruLine_MTC_tower_sign-8892
Bush Whiskey label.
Blah
Waitui Single Malt Whiskey label and packaging.
Bravo!
Good_Logo_Circles-9
Draft Bionona logo on black.
Draft Bionona logo on black.
Logos whose colour harmonies work well on black as well as white backgrounds are pleasing.
Good_Logo_Bionona-13
Windsor Heritage draft logo.
Too wide.
Trendy typeface text.
Unless you’re in the fashion business, the type for your corporate identity should still be suitable years from now—Garamond, Minion, Helvetica—are always appropriate; in general, low-key is best.
Weststone | Rebrand
Weststone | Rebrand

WindsorUrban logo greyscale smallThe most successful business logos share valuable characteristics. Here are some of the most important.

It is simple

The “too busy” logo is a roadblock to communication, so don’t crowd it with stuff;

  • green flag,
  • fairway,
  • golfer,
  • peninsula,
  • borders,
  • circles,
  • curving type.
  • It’s easy to get carried away, but you’ll create a stronger image with fewer pieces.

It is bold

Fine lines make lovely illustrations but poor logos because they’re difficult to see, and a fine line will often break up or even disappear when reproduced.

It is appropriate for the business

This seems like common sense, but in the throes of artistic rapture common sense often goes out the window. Make sure the intricate strands of D.N.A. that was so much fun to draw is suitable for the biotechnology company that you’re working for.

It works well in all sizes

Logo with too much detail comparison.

Typically, a logo designed at a large size has too much detail to be clear when reduced; note (top) how the lines crowd together.

A good solution is to build a second logo with less detail (bottom) for use in smaller sizes.

Design logo and name as a unit

If the company name will be part of the design—especially popular on signage—look for ways to integrate the two.

It is distinctive

Don’t settle for the ordinary (let other companies and products be ordinary). Your company is unique—that is, it has a distinctive culture and market presence; capture this intelligently and thoughtfully.

The same goes for naming your product or service, the name and branding need to capture the essence of it in a way that grabs attention and is memorable.

Circles are strong design elements, line, form & colour are too

A circle is a familiar focal point which the eye interprets with little effort. Its soft edges are more often pleasing than those of angular squares and triangles. Cousin to the circle is the ellipse.

Logos whose colour harmonies work well on black as well as white backgrounds are pleasing.

Draft Bionona logo on black.

Logos whose colour harmonies work well on black as well as white backgrounds are pleasing.

Avoid extremely tall or wide logos, and trendy type

Odd shapes are hard to fit into common spaces—business cards, advertisements and so forth—and as a rule they aren’t as pleasing; a good proportion for a logo is roughly 3 units wide by 2 units tall, about the ratio of a TV screen (a 1-to-1 ratio also works quite well.)

Download the PDF: Good Logo hang line book

Search

Select language to translate

Client Industry | Clients | Context | Era | Genre | Subject

Magenta Dot Meta

  • Login
  • RSS
  • Comments RSS

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 164 other subscribers

Join the Dot on Facebook

Join the Dot on Facebook
Follow MagentaDot Brands on WordPress.com
Blog at WordPress.com.
  • Follow Following
    • MagentaDot Brands
    • Join 85 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • MagentaDot Brands
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...