- When your logo has both
a name and a mark, keep them separate.
A common mistake I see in logo design
is where the designer has tried
to tightly integrate words and graphics
kind of weaving them together so they
become one inseparable thing.
Generally you don't want to do this.
There are exceptions, there are exceptions to everything.
But as a rule, your mark should be able to stand alone
and your name should be able to stand alone.
It's easy to fall into the trap
of designing the two as one thing.
Unless you're thinking simple
and unless you're thinking shape.
I have a few examples,
one of which we've already seen.
Our pretend Apple logo.
Words and pics here are inseparable
Which renders this almost impossible to use.
If you reduce it all you can't even read it
and it only gets worse in low res.
A variation of that logo is this one
where you actually have a logo here.
It's the shield, but then it's
added the starbursts and the swoosh.
The name, the tagline, the slogan.
All in red, white, and blue.
That's the good part.
But there's just too much here.
This is a whole speech.
The solution is to treat them separately.
Just zone in on the shield and the name
and eliminate everything else like this.
This typeface is Gotham Ultra.
It's supporting and not competing with the shield,
which is pretty strong graphic.
A little cliche, but this is now a logo.
The shield can stand alone and the name can stand alone.
And you get it at a glance.
Now to this you can add anything you want
like the slogan, but the thing here
is that the slogan is now a conversational statement.
It can be there or not.
It's not part of the logo.
When the two are separate,
you have some flexibility in how they're used.
For example, the shield can go between the words.
You need to limit the options to one or two,
but you can see now at least you have some.
Another example, this is from my weekly series,
is the Twin Circle properties logo.
This design has two clean circles
and a very clean conservative typeface.
Those are good things, but then
everything's been overlapped.
And to do that, both circles had to be broken
in some way and the "I"s were colored green.
Probably from some visual continuity.
So good elements have been weakened here.
It's a funky shape.
Kind of a key or a guitar but not quite.
And at small sizes and low res, it's a mess.
The solution again is to separate these things.
Because they stand alone, let's bold the circles.
Now I'm going to make these translucent and overlap them.
This puts a point of interest in the center.
Also adds some depth.
It's soft and this is our mark, that's it.
Add our name and we're done.
This is so simple.
It looks like what the name says
and it will work everywhere.
Mobile devices, letterhead.
Either element can stand alone.
Here's the mark.
And here's the name.
Another bonus, and this is because it's simple,
is that the mark can be used as a decorative element.
Excellent branding item.
So keep your name and your mark separate.
Like I said, there are exceptions.
One of which is where you have a mixed image
that can be pulled apart.
This is a little unusual but it can be done.
Jams is a fun image, looks like a stamp.
Lots of good contrast between the two typefaces.
Nice little baseball tail in there.
It would make a great product labor.
T-shirt, store sign, but it's complex for a logo
although it has the advantage of being
a circle, and bold, and well integrated.
It's not just a lot of different pieces thrown together.
But the entertaining thing about it
is that it can be disassembled and used
in all of its simpler versions.
Watch as I take it apart.
It can be used like this.
And this.
And all the way to the core logo.
So there you go.
Keep your name and your mark separate.