- The best logo will engage the viewer
at the level of story or backstory.
You get the sense that it has life in it and meaning,
rather than just being the latest cool shape.
The logo may pique someone's interest,
or have some charm,
or make a personal connection.
A good logo focuses on one idea.
One, strong feature.
In the case of Dunhill,
it's their famously tall ascenders.
Caterpillar has its yellow rectangle.
The Royal Gorge Railroad has those tails,
which look fast and evoke the old streamliner era.
More than one feature will weaken your logo.
A good logo will almost always be a simple logo,
and by that I mean simply drawn.
A great example is Apple.
Basic silhouette, black, gray, or white,
typically on white, but not always.
Always an open space.
It's practically zen-like, and that simplicity
makes it an extremely good identifier.
Another simple logo is the Red Cross.
It's a perfect identifier.
Wherever you see the Red Cross anywhere in the world,
you get it.
A good logo works everywhere.
Posters and billboards,
the tail of this jet,
mobile devices,
low-res favicons.
In every venue, no matter how challenging.
Fabric, embroidery, everything.
A good logo is memorable.
There are two kinds of memorability.
One is the simple image, like CBS,
or McDonald's, where you just don't have
much visual information to process.
They're easy to get.
The other is a logo that makes an impression.
An impression can be made by a clever idea,
or interesting lettering,
or anything that's unexpected or intriguing.
Impressive logos get more of your time,
because you realize you've just seen the whale's tale,
and you think about it,
and that makes them really memorable.
A good logo is not cliché.
The cliché logo is the obvious one.
If your product is coffee, what'll probably come to mind
is a cup of coffee, or maybe some coffee beans,
or some coffee-related thing.
But move beyond that, and think,
"How about a mermaid? That says coffee."
But it's more interesting, isn't it?
And it's exactly the image that made Starbucks
one of the most recognizable brands in the world.
A good logo is timeless.
Or let me put it this way,
a logo that you want to last should be timeless.
If your product is trendy,
or if you're branding an event,
something temporary that's different,
you can be trendy, and that's fun.
But trends pass, and for a long-term logo,
you don't want to find yourself stuck in 2015.
You'll need design in characteristics
that have stood the test of time,
and these generally will be conservative.