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History
of Logos
One
important area of graphic design is Logo Design - the art
of visual identity .
What
is a Logo?
A
logo is a sign, symbol, trademark or badge which conveys
the identity or ownership of a product, company, campaign
or concept in as memorable a way as possible.
How
are logos used?
A
logo can be used in many different forms, sizes and contexts.
For example, the logo for a hotel could be printed on a
letterhead or menu, embroidered onto a napkin or jacket,
embossed on metal cutlery or illuminated as a huge neon
sign on the side of the building.
What
are the basic qualities of a logo?
A
logo should be simple so that it retains its clarity of
design in different contexts. If it is too complicated,
its details may be lost when it is reduced in scale. Also,
a simple logo design is faster to read, easier to remember
and consequently more instantly identifiable.
The
'I Love New York' logo by Milton
Glaser, one of the most reproduced logos ever, illustrates
most of these basic qualities.
What
is the main function of a logo?
A
logo should convey an immediate and memorable identity and
must connect with its target audience in a positive manner.
How
have logos evolved?
Logos
have been around in one form or another for several thousand
years.
The
Ancient Egyptians are known to have branded domestic animals
with hieroglyphs to mark their ownership.
The
Ancient Romans and Greeks marked their pottery to identify
the manufacturer.
The
great faiths of the world have all adopted symbols for ease
of recognition.
Symbols
of Faiths
From
the 12th century onwards through medieval times, heraldic
designs (coats of arms) were used to identify the status
and property of the nobility.
Heraldic
Designs
In general, however, the most common early logos were trademarks
signifying the origin or quality of a craftsman's product.
Hallmarks, which testify to the quality of precious metals,
are a good example of this practice.
Silver
Hallmarks
At
the start of the 20th century with the introduction of colour
printing and the birth of the advertising industry, logo
designs tended to use a vocabulary of national, nautical,
heraldic, and agricultural images. The public readily understood
the meaning of these symbols. National and heraldic symbols
(crowns, flags and coats of arms) meant dignity and status
while nautical and agricultural symbols (seascapes, life
buoys, wheat stalks and farm animals) represented purity
and freshness.
Cigarette
Advertising
Unlike
today, there was no concept of targeted advertising and
designers freely used all these images to advertise any
product. Ironically cigarettes, before their association
with ill health, used the full vocabulary of symbols to
make their merchandise more appealing.
Logos
Today
Over
the last century, our lifestyles gradually became more complex.
Conversely, the design of logos became simpler for ease
and speed of recognition in a faster world. The evolution
of the Shell
Logo throughout the 20th century clearly demonstrates
this effect. In fact, the art of logo design illustrates
the design concept "Less is More" better than
any other graphic form.
Logos,
as we know them today, are intelligent graphic images that
are carefully designed to impart their concepts, both consciously
and sub-consciously, for immediate recognition by a specific
target audience.
| Worked
Examples
of Logo Ideas |
The
symbols that we have chosen to develop our logo ideas are illustrated
below:
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Click
on the links to see the creative techniques and ideas used to develop
each symbol into a range of logo designs. |
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