What Makes a Great Logo?

By Ryan Clark / February 23, 2016

“A designer knows he’s achieved perfection not when there’s nothing left to add, but when there’s nothing left to take away.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Subtle is Everything

When it comes to a great logo, simplicity is key. Can you draw it from memory? Can you recognize it when it’s really small? This comes from my memories of drawing band logos on my folders in school (think about Black Flag, or A.C.D.C., or Metallica). I always think about this when I’m creating a logo: Could a kid draw this from memory on a Mead® folder? Those types of logos are always my favorite; there are subtleties that are easy enough to remember and recreate.

“When I say ‘simple,’ I don’t mean easy, dumb, or fast. Just simple.”

But it must be equally well-conceived and well-executed. One without the other just isn’t effective. It’s a broad stroke across all design, in general. You see a lot of design that’s perhaps a decent concept, but isn’t executed properly — or maybe it looks really “great” but the concept behind it is … not so great. It’s easier to do one of those things than to actually combine both of them. When they’re both combined, that’s when something is really great; a really smart concept that’s also executed really well.

But simple execution — that’s the ultimate aim, especially in logo design. If you can get it as simple as possible, that’s the most effective version of that image. (When I say “simple,” I don’t mean easy, dumb, or fast. Just simple.)

When I’m designing, I get something to a certain point and then I try and figure out what I can subtract from it to make it simpler and still possess the same effectiveness.

Great Logo ≠ Great Company

“You can be a mediocre company with a great logo … One can exist without the other.”

The logo of a company doesn’t necessarily equate to the success of the company. A company may have great branding (which might influence the way that we view the brand), but there are a lot of logos for highly successful companies that are really bad. Then, there are really great logos for failed companies. Basically: You can be a mediocre company and have a great logo. You can be a great company with a mediocre logo. You can also be a mediocre company with a mediocre logo, or a great company with a great logo. One can exist without the other.

Hidden Messages

I like logos that give some kind of insight into the brand with some kind of special, behind-the-scenes detail to strengthen the symbolism, especially when it’s not immediately obvious. I’m sure you’ve seen the FedEx logo, with the arrow in the negative space moving forward.

VAIO is another one of my favorites; it’s the symbol for analog and the symbol for digital within the logo itself.

See the “31” flavors in the middle of the Baskin Robbins logo?

No Words

I also really like logos that can stand alone without a type treatment, like the Nike logo, Apple, or Target. Again, that comes back to growing up with bands where you could just recognize a logo immediately from just the mark, without the type treatment.

Favorite Logos

Salvation Army

Plan B Skateboards

(Plan B Skateboards is definitely nostalgic for me, but I never considered that it was a sideways skateboard until recently.)

AT&T

(This is the older AT&T logo, from the 1980s.)

Yamaha

(Look for the hidden tuning fork.)

Gerber Knives

(I’ve always liked the angular aspects of this one — it seems to make sense for a knife brand.)