Logos

Some of my favourite logos are shown below.

I like the ITV logo for the overlapping letters, the friendly curves and the variable colours, depending on the base image colours.

PG have recently updated their logo. It now looks more modern and simple. Again, it has semi- transparent overlapping letters and looks striking and crisp against a white background. The letters and tea leaves are now in flat colour, whereas previously the letters were shaded to look 3D and the leaves were realistically represented. The unusual red, green and white packaging make it stand out from other packaging on the shelf. Unilever, the conglomerate who owns PG, also thinks the new logo will help it appeal to the younger consumer.

Logos are meant to be memorable, simple, appropriate. One designer said she got "one good idea and iterates the hell out of it".


My favourite graphic logo is Penguin Books. It is very iconic, simple and instantly recognizable. Ther original penguin was designed by Edward Young as 'dignified but flippant'. Jan Tschicold modified it in 1946 and Angus Hyland from Pentagram updated it to its current version in 2003 (below). Placing the penguin inside the oval shape gives it more weight. The weight of the containing line, varying from thick to thin, harks back to its origins in 1935, when many commonly used typefaces had these characteristics.

The Chanel logo is instantly recognisable, but extremely simple. The style of the very rounded C is geometric in design, and is almost a circle. Its roundness makes if feminine, but the style is very modern. The weight of the letter is also strong and sturdy, not inferring fluffy lightweight girlishness, but a strong confident woman. The two Cs are linked together denoting it's founder's name - Coco Chanel, who was also the logo's designer.

Another well known logo without text is the Royal Dutch Shell logo (Shell), below. I'm hypothesizing that the shell relates to fossil fuels, as oil is created from microscopic organisms which have been laid down on the sea bed millions of years ago. Shells are also found as fossils. Is the yellow related to the colour of sand? Or perhaps red and yellow refer to the fire, heat and warmth that fossil fuels provide. Red is also a very powerful colour.