7 Types of Logo Design and their Usage

The average Human sees around 16,000 advertisements, logos, and labels in a day, said Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D., in his book Brain Longevity. Just like we recognize People with their faces, the same way people recognize brands with their logos. No doubt, the logo is one of the most important parts of a brand’s identity for business as well as for customers. Being the most important part of a brand, companies should be taking care of their logo regularly. Businesses who are in business for a long, already know the value of a logo. But some people are new to the business. They don’t know about the logo, branding, design, etc. So today with this article, I’m going to teach you about types of logos and their usage. So it becomes easy for you to choose the right type of logo for your business.

There are mainly 7 types of logo designs in the world. Any logo which you see falls in any of the categories given below.

1. Emblem 

7 Types of Logo Design and their Usage - Emblem Logos

Emblem logos are the most traditional type of logo design. Any logo which is locked inside of a shape is called Emblem logo. That shape might be a simple rectangle, a circle, or it may be a hand-drawn organic shape. These kinds of logos are Trending in the Nineties and Twenties. But due to legibility issues at smaller scale, such types of logos are used only in special cases, like where you want to show tradition and History. This type of logo looks very bad on packaging so, if you want your logo to print on any packaging then try to avoid Emblems. The use of Emblems is very common among govt. organizations and Institutes.

Examples: – Starbucks, Ikea, BMW.

Usage: – Used for Govt. Organizations, Institutes, NGOs, Traditional and Historical Brands.

2. Logotype / Wordmark 

7 Types of Logo Design and their Usage - Wordmark / Logotype Logos

As the name suggests, wordmarks are those kinds of logos in which the name of the brand is used as a logo. The alphabets of the brand names are stylized and arranged to make a wordmark. This is the safest logo option available for any business because the Brand’s name is already there in the logo.

Examples: – Google, Walmart, Pinterest, Netflix, Supreme.

Usage: – Used when Brand Name is Short, or when brand is unknown, or New.

3. Monogram / Lettermark 

7 Types of Logo Design and their Usage - Monogram / Lettermark Logos

Lettermark Logos are Made of Initial letters of a Brand. In Lettermark, One letter or abbreviation is stylized and adjusted to make a distinctive mark. Which is unique and communicates the idea of the brand. Having a unique and distinctive lettermark, helps the audience to quickly recognize the brand because it’s very easy to recognize an icon rather than a work or an emblem.

Examples: – Tesla, Facebook, Adobe, IBM

Usage: – Used when the brand’s logo is already established and recognizable by the audience or When the Brand name is too big to remember.

4. Brand Mark / Pictorial Mark 

7 Types of Logo Design and their Usage - Brandmark / Pictorial Mark Logos

When an image is used as an icon, which has a meaning, but may or may not is related to brand attributes then it’s called Brand Mark or Pictorial Mark. Brandmark is the graphical representation of real-life objects. It also works as a lettermark but it’s easier to recognize because it’s made of images, and humans remember pictures better than words.

Examples: – Apple, Dropbox, Twitter, Shell, Target, Windows

Usage: – Used for Well Stablished Brand, Brandmark are best when used with the name for some years, just like Apple, Twitter, etc.

5. Abstract Logo Mark 

7 Types of Logo Design and their Usage - Abstract Logos

If you are a logo designer, you know how hard it is to design a unique Brand Mark. If you find it very hard to get a pictorial mark logo that is copyright free then you can go for an abstract logo mark. As the name suggests, these types of logos are made of abstract shapes, which don’t have meaning, but they give an idea about the brand. Like Nike’s swoosh is an abstract mark but gives the feeling of motion and speed, which is also one of their brand attributes.

Examples: – Nike, Pepsi, MasterCard, Adidas, Airtel

Usage: – When you can’t find a unique pictorial mark, and when you don’t want to be too specific about your brand’s attributes.

6. Mascot Logos

7 Types of Logo Design and their Usage - Mascot Logos

Mascot logos are very good to give personality to the brand. When a Mascot or a Person is used in a logo, it’s called Mascot logo. A mascot logo is very risky because it gets attached to a person or a mascot. This type of logo can be very helpful if the personal branding of the mascot is already established. This logo is very rare now these days. Such logos are very hard to work with but once established it becomes very strong.

Examples: – KFC, Pringles, Wendy’s,

Usage: – Use it when you already have a strong personal brand.

7. Combination Mark.

7 Types of Logo Design and their Usage - Combination Mark Logos

In Today’s world, Technologies have got very advanced. Logos are used not less than thousands of places like desktop, mobile, magazine, letterhead, websites, billboards, newspapers, seals and stamps, etc. It’s hard to predicate how and where the logo is going to be used. All the types of logos given above have their own Pros and Cons. So companies are adopting the Combination Marks logo. They Combine Different types of logos to create a Balanced and Flexible Logo.

Examples:- Coca-Cola, Google, Apple, Starbucks, Creative Minds Factory.

Usage: – When you need more than one type of logo.

Conclusion

7 Types of Logo Design and their Usage - Flexible Logo Design

Flexible Logo Design is the Best Solution for any Business because it gives the flexibility to use all types of logos in various conditions. Also, this concept of Flexible Logo Design is getting popular among brands. Above Image will give you a brief idea of how a Flexible Logo Design looks like.


I hope, now you have an idea about the Different Types of Logo Designs. Apart from this, We provide Logo Design and Branding Services. So you can contact us for Logo Design Services. We would love to connect with you.

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Have a nice day.

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