There are essentially 3 varied styles when it comes to logo designs – logotype, abstract mark and pictorial mark. Each has their own advantages and drawbacks associated with them. We see these emblem styles being used everywhere across each industry. Often you’ll find brands with a mixture of 2 styles.

Logotype
Logotype or woodmark is the most generally used style in logo design. It’s also the most straight to the point because of its usage of text. Take for example the IBM logotype. With one look, a viewer will instantly know which company that logo design represents as it is literally enunciated. Not surprisingly, this style has found its way into lots of today’s most easily familiar emblems, e.g. Intel, Dell, Google, and naturally Coca-Cola.

The main thing about logotype is that corporate logo designers don’t have much to play with aside from a couple of letters or words. Inside that framework, corporate logo designers must find a way to gather instant brand name recognition, communicate brand identity and differentiate it from other logo designs.

Professional logo designers do this with the utilisation of colours, customized fonts and additional design elements.

Abstract Mark
An abstract mark or abstract symbol is a stylized design usually used to reflect the most vital attribute of a company . It is mostly used by companies whose business idea is not easily described. So instead of concentrating on its products or services, the brand depicts the primary attribute or facets of the organization such as speed, potency and networking.

Pictorial Mark
A pictorial mark has a resemblance to the object it depicts. Examples of this style are logo designs from Shell, Starbucks, Firefox, Target and Ferrari. Designers use pictorial marks to help the general public easily identify a brand with the help of easily recognizable pictures. Some pictorial marks aren’t only simple to recognize but also associates to the company it represents. Perfect example of this are the Shell and Target symbols.

Combo Marks
Occasionally combining different types of symbols can be exceedingly beneficial to a re-branding effort. You’ll notice that early renditions of Starbucks emblems used both logotype as well as pictorial marks to good effect. The utilising of symbol type in Starbucks ‘ early emblems was a necessity as nobody knew who they were when they started off, hence the incorporation of the words Starbucks Coffee, Tea and Spices. But last year they dumped their logotype and tweaked their pictorial mark as they were expanding their product and service range to offering more than simply coffee.

To summarise,

  • Take a look different company logos to see what makes them good or not so effective
  • Each logo style has its own benefits and sometimes combining styles can be a good thing as well
  • Whatever style you select, keep it simple so that your logo design is easy to identify and remember

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