Times Square is such a famous place in New York and very well known to those who have been there and even those who haven’t. This place is a mecca for advertising. With so many ads and banners, there are endless possibilities for logo displays. Among all the bright lights and billboards, how are any particular ones noticed, and what does the public think of this? Is it overwhelming? Is advertising actually successful if no one picks out your ad among so many others? Perhaps this is why they are all so large. Not only to be seen from a distance, but to compete with the many other displays.

With advertising everywhere you look in Times Square, logos of all sizes are displayed proudly. It is the best place to look for the latest advertising, product packaging and of course logo designs. Where else can you see a 20 ft cup of noodles?
-Nora Reed

Design contests seem to occur frequently throughout the online graphic design community. We’ve had plenty of contests in the past even here. It seems now, the latest contest is sponsored by Google, in which they are offering the opportunity for kids to design a new twist on their ever changing logo. This is Google’s yearly event, which includes a theme. This year, the contest’s theme is “What I wish for the world.” The winner’s design will be posted on Google’s site for one day. Along with that honor, Google is also offering a monetary grant and scholarship as their top prize. The contest is called “Doodle 4 Google.” I have to admit, it’s quite a catchy name. The contest seems to be a great way to involve kids and to share a future graphic designer with the world. A group of artist’s renditions have already been picked, but now it is up to us to vote for the best ones to see which design makes its winning debut.

It really is a fantastic opportunity and it’s nice to see Google using a small portion of its long running financial gain to support art and education. The concept of the global awareness also is good for kids to learn if they didn’t know it already. The theme itself forces them to think about how our world is “going green” and what the actual ideas are behind that. Kids may hear the expression and just think of it as a trend, but it’s important for them to know how the idea came about and what to do to improve our global situation.
-Nora Reed

With our slowed housing market, real estate companies have had to adjust to the changes, but the thought of it only aimed me toward thinking about real estate logos. What is the best way to display a logo for real estate in order to gain the trust of home buyers? It seemed that a lot of companies used the obvious house silhouette when creating their logo, but some avoided it. Which is the better direction to take?

Century 21 is a leading company and has been for years. They certainly have done well for themselves with the classic house symbol as their logo.

Some companies steer away from the iconic house or building symbol and either choose something else such as a hot air balloon with Re/Max or a snowy mountain top for Prudential. Keller Williams chose to have just their name without a symbol at all. We know that they are a realty company because they are well known, but if they weren’t as popular, would their logo design with their name alone be as successful?

Below are a couple of samples of some online real estate site logos.

It seems that the most effective logos are those that look serious and professional without too much detail or flashy symbols. A small, plain symbol is okay, but those that go overboard are also companies that are not as well known. After all, would you trust a company with such an important task if you thought they couldn’t even handle their own logo?

Although it may be a power hungry empire, or as Bart Simpson calls it an “evil corporation,” Disney truly has risen to the top over time. Their Mickey Mouse head logo alone is a global trademark. Disney has its main logos that we all know very well, but if you think about it further, Disney is the proud owner of dozens of logos. Take a look at their theme parks alone. Each ride, park, sections of the parks and even hotels all have individual names and logos.

This logo encapsulates all four of the main Disney World theme parks. Here we have the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. Each Park does have its own logo, but the above design combines them all. Disney generally uses the above logo on their merchandise bags and their dishware at their fast food restaurants. This way they can use the same bags and cups and such at all four of their parks. Below are the four main logos that represent each individual park in the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.

Disney is also the proud owner of several other theme parks in Orlando and all over the world. With Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach, Disneyland Paris and Honk Kong and California Adventure, to name a few, Disney has a ton of logos under their belt. Not only do they create new logos and advertising for all of there resorts, attractions and parks, but they continue to update them every several years as well. Disney has a very classic theme for itself to draw in older generations that know it as it used to be, but they also are always changing and updating. The oxymoron is quite interesting and I’m sure, challenging to the designers.

Aside from all the great park logos, Disney resorts and attractions cannot be left out. There are so many, that it would take an extremely long post to display them all, but below are a select few that I found appealing. Some are from specific shopping locations, while others are resort names and specific rides within the parks.

It must be great to be a Disney logo designer, because you know that if they like your work, you probably have a pretty steady job. They are always changing and developing new resorts and attractions, so they always need new logos to advertise. In today’s economy, every company must keep things fresh to draw more people to them and Disney is no different. If they didn’t know what they were doing, they wouldn’t be in business as long as they have!
-Nora Reed

We all have pretty wild imaginations and can dream up some really interesting concepts or creatures. In some parts of our minds, I’m sure we’d all agree, it would be really cool if these things existed. This is why the fantasy genre is so popular and fascinating to us. It’s all about a dreamworld where we can make anything happen. Artists, writers, filmmakers and others have all taken advantage of these ideas when creating beautiful work full of mythical creatures and places. Here are some breathtaking examples of a few artists’ renditions of those fantasy worlds.
-Nora Reed