5: To Logo or Not to Logo
A company logo design is probably one of the first things that comes to mind when you think about building a brand.
And for good reason: it’s the face of your company after all and could potentially be everywhere that your brand exists.
Ideally, you’ll want a logo that’s unique, identifiable, and scalable to work at all sizes (something often overlooked).
Consider all the places where your brand’s logo needs to exist, from your website to your Facebook page’s profile picture to even the little “favicons” you see in your current browser tab.
If you have a text logo as your Instagram avatar, for example, it’ll be almost impossible to read. To make your life easier, create a square version of your logo with has an icon element that remains recognizable even at smaller sizes.
Notice how the Walmart logo has both the “sparks” icon and the wordmark, which can be used separately.
The following are some of the different logo types you can choose to help you communicate with designers and find a style that makes sense for your brand. Keep the colors and fonts you chose in mind to make sure they work together with your logo to convey your brand.
Abstract: Google Chrome
An abstract logo has some meaning, but really, it’s just a shape and colors that you can’t easily tie back to anything in the real world.
The benefit of an abstract logo is that it has no innate meaning—you can make this up yourself and bring it to life in your customers’ minds.
Mascot: Wendy’s
Mascot logos are often represented by the face of a character. They may humanize your business by creating a brand personality, but be aware that they are an antiquated style now and only recommended in certain contexts (e.g., you’re deliberately going for a retro look).
Emblem: Starbucks
Emblem logos are often circular and combine text with an emblem for a bold and regal look. If the design is too complicated, however, they can lose their impact when you shrink them down. But done right, they can play a big influence on brand building and make for a memorable style of logo.
Lettermark: IBM
Lettermark logos turn the initials of your full business name into a logo. If you chose a business name with 3 or more words, this might be a style you’d want to consider, especially if the initialism is catchy.
Icon: Twitter
An icon logo is your brand represented as a visual metaphor. Unlike an abstract logo, an icon logo suggests something about the product (Twitter’s bird is suggestive of the frequent short “tweets” on the platform).
As an unestablished brand, you should stay away from using an icon logo by itself. However, if you’re not sure about the kind of logo you want, pairing an icon logo with a wordmark is usually a safe bet.
Wordmark: Facebook
Wordmark logos turn your brand name, colors, and font into a visual identity. The problem with wordmarks is that they’re often hard to create in a scalable square design and easily lose their legibility when shrunk.
However, you can fix this problem by simply getting an accompanying icon logo or turning the first letter of the wordmark into a separate-but-connected logo, like what Facebook does with its F.
Combination: McDonald’s
Because of the limitations that exist for each logo type, many logos are a combination of styles.
As a new small business experimenting with a logo, you don't need to choose an icon over a wordmark when you feel they’re both essential to represent your brand as a combination logo let’s you get the best of both. This makes it easier to satisfy the condition of creating a scalable logo while still putting your brand name front and center. McDonald’s, for example, can use its iconic golden arches wherever its full wordmark doesn’t fit.