Although I’m still forming my philosophies around logo and logo design, I enjoy thinking about logos and creating them. No doubt, I prefer wordmarks over symbols, but I know they each have their place. A few things that have influenced my thinking recently are Just My Type by Simon Garfield and Brand Naming by Rob Meyerson.
With Just My Type, I gained some insight to the history of movable type through the science of typography. The book has given me a new appreciation for the shapes of letters, ligatures and all the possibilities to create logos.
As for Rob Meyerson’s book, my view on designing brand identity has changed entirely. It’s a given that a logo, and the greater notion of a logo system is a crucial component to brand identity. It is one of the first things a designer makes. But after reading Brand Naming, I’ve come to appreciate the process of naming a business, a service or a product. Aside from the obvious facets, trademarking, cultural appropriateness, developing a name that can inspire customers is paramount. From a graphic design point of view, choosing a name that can inspire the visual element is another matter entirely. I know not every designer gets to name a product, service or company before starting work on logo design. Oftentimes, the name is already established and the logo comes next, and as the first step in the brand identity.
Creatively speaking, it’s tremendous fun to make logos whether they’re wordmarks, letterforms, emblems or pictorial and symbolic marks. Critically speaking, it’s an equal amount of fun to figure out how to match a logo style with the product, service or company.
My examples were all built in Illustrator.
