Great Post! I enjoyed looking through the blogs you listed to see how people create various logos. I also loved the Coke vs. Pepsi example. I agree that a company logo should have at least part of the logo be a timeless element. This helps people recognize the company even if there is a shift in the items they are trying to market.
I also think that it is interesting how memorable logos can be. The image only showing one letter of a logo was amazing at how many I thought I knew! I also found this picture (from: amsterbrand-emilio1982.blogspot.com) when looking through other logo examples:
What do you notice when you see the image? When one looks closely they will start to see why the logos seem a bit off. I had to look closely at this image to notice that the logos were not with the correct label. Do you think that logos can represent multiple companies even thought they were created with one specific company in mind?
Great find, Monica! Your comment was very thought provoking. As I browsed the logos you posted, I noticed that I would always say to myself, "The (insert originally intended brand) logo was changed to a (insert impostor brand) logo." I never saw the graphic as part of the new brand and each one always retained its original associative meanings for me, except for the ones I didn't recognize to begin with.
ReplyDeleteMy experience suggested to me that a logo doesn't necessarily mean anything until it is encoded as a symbol for an idea, product, service, etc. Once I associate a graphic with something meaningful, the graphic takes on meaning, and in the case of recognizable logos, they will only ever have one meaning for me. I believe that would be the “memorable” quality that Allison mentioned in her post.
I had a thought for cool experiment. It would be interesting to see what would happen if someone tried to recycle the logo of a global brand. For Instance, say another corporation purchased GM, and IBM decided to use their logo design (like in your example). I wonder how long it would take for people to associate the GM-style logo with IBM. Would everyone who knew about GM’s former glory have to die before it would catch on? Obviously, no one would ever test this because of all the money involved, but I’d be curious to see the results.
I believe that if a logo/graphic doesn’t already mean something to an individual, then it could mean anything to that person if s/he perceives a connection to something else.
I do not think logos can represent more than one company, because first of all that's against patent/branding laws lol..and second, if I have seen one logo represent a company for a while, I began to just look at the image without the words and automatically assume its that organization; such as McDonald's. As soon as I saw the "golden arch", I recognized it as McDonald's.
ReplyDeleteThis may be where Sue's blog comes into play with copyrights. Not only would you own your brand, but it won't be available for anyone else/organization to use. Therefore, that brand will automatically be known for that specific organization.
"Brand Recognition," is what it is called. They (the company) build a image and feeling in people's minds. This includes the logo, the product design (look and function), the figureheads (CEO's, and spokespersons), and even the news and rumors that circulate. This news and rumors may not be correct, but the company will use them to improve perception of the products.
ReplyDeleteAn example of this, is a perception about Apple products. Because, they are not effected by viruses like Windows OSes are, it has spawned a missconception. For some reason people think that Apple's OS is more stable and never really crashes. To some degree, this is true, because it is not slowed by viruses. When you take a computers that are not effected by viruses, and you start to run programs such as Final Cut, Maya, and other graphic intensive processes it will slow and crash.
Apple, like most companies out there understand that it is not what a product does or does not do; it is the perception of what it does or does not do that counts.
This is why a logo is very important, it is a symbol. It triggers a feeling about the company it the mind of people. This is also why companies change names and logos when they have ruined them. Watch for BP to launch a campain with a new logo in the next few years.
now, I'm not sure why the pictures are such shit quality all of a sudden. must be a twist in the blog template somehow. business logo design
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