Designing a (Modern) Iconic Logo
Three considerations for designers.
McDonald's golden arches. Nike’s swoosh. Playboy’s bunny ears… Iconic logos are simple and immediately recognizable, even at a distance.
But modern logos don’t only communicate brand messaging. They must also be memorable, and respond to fluxes in space and time. Seriously.
Here’s 3 things to consider when designing your modern iconic logo:
Responsiveness
Screens come in all sizes. Your logo must adapt accordingly.
Ask yourself: Which elements can be removed to fit a smaller display?
Coca-Cola & Disney logos shed text as screen size shrinks. Heineken & Chanel gradually drop design details:
Variability
Responsive logos adapt to spatial changes. Variable logos adapt to thematic changes.
How can your logo feature special events or ideas without losing recognizability?
The USA TODAY logo redesign is a case-study in Variability. OCAD University’s is, too:
Recognizability
Details can hinder recognizability. They’re hard to process.
Can you simplify your design without losing its message?
Google, Uber, and Pinterest all use typographical logos. But there’s other creative ways to be minimalist:
