What made famous logos – Color or symbol?

In order to analyze this, let us take examples of some of the famous logos of the corporate world. Let us start with an examination of McDonald’s logo shall we? Although the logo contains nothing more than a mere “M”, it is still memorable than any other brand in the world. From psychological perspective, the color “yellow”, used in McDonalds’ logo, stimulates the human appetite. No wonder a majority of restaurants and cafés use the color yellow in their logo design. Another feature of the yellow color is that it is an attention getter. This strengthens the McDonald’s logo cause even more, as customers are attracted by the color. Hence the McDonald’s logo success depends greatly on its color rather than its symbol.

Why do you suppose the Google logo is easily recalled for? Just like McDonald’s, it has no catchy symbol in its design, but the color scheme is what captivates its users the most. The colorful and vivid way in which Google is written is responsible for the memorable logo we all remember. Come to think of it, how would you feel if Google was in black and white? Pretty strange, I presume?

Let us pick another famous brand, the FedEx logo, and analyze the influence of its attributes. This acclaimed corporate identity was designed by Lindon Leader of Landor Associates. The epicenter of FedEx brand identity was its meticulously created symbol. The words contained an arrow between the “E” and “X”, providing one of the most memorable logos in the world. Hence “symbol” became the dominating factor for memorization.

Coming to the all-famous Nike logo, the simple and effective swoosh symbol is the force behind the success of the brand identity. Although the black color has no apparent effect on people, the simple and minimalist design is what the customers easily remember and recall.

The significance of color in logo design:

• Black: authority and power, stability and strength.
• White: purity, cleanliness, neutrality and peace.
• Red: attention, energy, movement and excitement.
• Blue: calming, steadfastness, dependability, wisdom and loyalty

• Green: growth, nature, money, good luck, generosity and fertility
• Yellow: laughter, happiness, optimism, speed up metabolism
• Orange: fun, happiness, energetic and ambition
• Purple: royalty, wealth, prosperity and sophistication

The significance of symbol in logo design:

The old adage “A picture is worth a thousand words” is aptly applicable in logo designing. The symbolic effect of a logo is also as effective as the color. The use of apposite symbols to denote the company meaning through a logo design is vital in creating memorable logos. However, inappropriate use of symbols in the design can tarnish the corporate identity of any business. Following are some symbols used in logo design and their effects:

• Text logos: the logo created out of textual pattern shows strength and elegance. Additionally, the ambigram trick gives way for memorable logos to be created.
• Imagery logos: Images are easily comprehended and effortlessly memorized by the human mind. Moreover, the use of negative space is something that is an added advantage in imagery logos.
• Combination logos: A combination of both text and imagery gives more detail and influence to the logo design.

There are many ways to make your logo stand out. Several simple graphic design tricks, can add a unique and clever look to a logo design. A logo should not be a plain or boring symbol, it should be a specific design that reflects the ideals and goals of the business or company. The final design of a well done logo often appears to be very simple, even though a lot of thought and drafts were actually put into it. Here are some famous logos which are sure to leave a lasting impression. They all have hidden symbols within them. Take a closer look and see what the designer has embedded within the design.

Yoga Australia
When you first glance at this logo, you see a simple picture of a young girl doing yoga exercises, but if you look closer at the body posture, you can see that it forms the Australian continent.

Body Wisdom
This design is for a classy day spa. The hands convey a relaxing massage and are combined with an image of “owl eyes” to demonstrate “wisdom.”

Fed Ex
The Fed Ex logo is a popular and well known design, but have you ever noticed the arrow formed out of the negative space between the letters “E” and “X”. The arrow indicates direction, speed and reliability.

Heart Beats
For this design, two musical notes curl to make a heart and headphones. This logo expresses “Love for Music” and is a clever play on the name of the company.

Piano Forest
Jason Cho: Designer
This logo gives is subtle, but creates the elegant design of piano keys that look like trees to resemble a keyboard/piano. You can shift your eyes to see either one.

Fuga
The Fuga logo is a recreation of the Architectural Center Of Budapest, which actually appears more like a maze, but if you focus more on the white spaces, the company name will stand out much more.

Mosleep
The designer has dreamed up a bed with the letter “M” for this design. This logo represents an organization of doctors who’s goal is to study sleep disorders.

Hartford Whalers
There are 3 concepts displayed here at the same time. The largest and easiest to spot is a whale’s tail, which is also the letter “W” in green, while the white space forms an “H” for Hartford. Sadly the logo wasn’t enough to keep them in Hartford.

Toblerone
It is easy to ignore the logo while enjoying this treat. At first glance, it seems like an obvious design of the Swiss Alps, but look a little closer. The name Toblerone originated in Bern, Switzerland. This city is rumored to mean, “City of Bears”. Take a look at the logo again, you will see a bear in the center of the Mountain. Now we know why this was Einstein’s favorite candy bar.

Big Ten
The Big Ten collegiate sports conference actually has eleven schools, but they started out with ten. Once the last school was added (PENN STATE), they didn’t want to go through the process of changing their name, which they had already established, so they changed their logo instead to hide the numerical “11” within the design.

Amazon
This logo is extremely famous. It appears clean and simple, but have you noticed that the looks like a smile. The concept behind this is that it Amazon.com has everything from a to z, which the arrow indicated. The hidden message is the smile that the arrow represents which is what is brought to the customer’s face.