Logos are like puzzles, they don’t make much sense to the users when it comes to influence. They don’t contribute in persuading the users, however they play a crucial role in identifying a brand or a product. Depending on the brand’s familiarity, logos can provoke a lot of emotions, from nostalgia to relief, it could be anything. When companies try to introduce new logos, they often face backlash and complaints from the users, which shows they significance of logos.
One thing that branding gurus say about classic brand logos is, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. However, at times it becomes a necessity to revamp the logos or even completely change it, if it is hurting the brand image. Keeping up with changing trends, styles, colour combinations, etc., requires a lot of effort and that might make the company look like it is behind the times. But, if a company revamps and changes the outdated logo, it gives an impression that the company keeps up with the times and is forward thinking.
Sophisticated logos containing multiple colours might look appealing in digital mode, but sometimes there comes a huge difficulty in scaling it up and down and placing it effectively. In such a situation, considering re-designing is a good option.
Change in a company’s portfolio, due to value, mergers, etc., can also prompt re-designing of logos. They are dedicated to choosing a new logo that best represents them.
For instance, HeroHonda was a single company, but when they separated they obviously discarded the signature hero-honda logo and chose brand new logos for their respective companies.
Designs are extremely sensitive and prone to losing relevance at a higher pace. There goes a lot of cultural, psychological research behind designing a logo. It is essential to know what relates best to the brand/product.
Let’s take a look at the top logo design trends–
BROKEN LETTERS
The broken letter logo caught the fire amidst designers not long ago. The reconstruction, deconstruction of alphabets in a geometric sense, slicing them aesthetically, this is all what broken letter logo is about. This represents a modern shift in design, wherein with a touch of creativity, logos are designed in a way that it is clear to the users as to what the brand stands for.
ANIMATED LOGOS
By far the hottest trends, logos designed with animation and special effects. As a modern world, where digitisation plays a crucial role, the brand that sells on the web is clearly on top. An animated or a moving gif logo surprises the users in a way they didn’t expect to be coming. How would you feel when you look at a logp thinking it to be still, rather you find it in an animated form? Now how does something like that not catch the users’ eyes?
GEOMETRICAL SHAPES
Clean lines and clear shapes are satisfying to the eyes right? It is like an oddly satisfying element in design. From squares to trapeziums, almost all the shapes are in trend and that too, for all kinds of design. We are inevitably drawn towards geometric shapes and our designer-mates like multi-use design shapes. It is like a simple yet effective element in design.
VIBRANT COLOURS; SINGLE SHADE
Adding pop of colours generously lead to the creation of quirky, eye-catching logos. Of Late, many brands have reinvented their image by adding vivid and vibrant singular colours to their logos. This addition of hues enables the brands to attract users’ attention and leave an impact.
GRADIENT
Remember those days when designers used to create 3D logos to catch those eyes? Sadly and happily, those days are long gone. Here we are with the concept of ombre, i.e., gradients. The subtle mixing of colours to create a beautiful effect, mostly starting with darker tones and ending with a lighter tone. It is very pleasing to the eyes and as a bonus, it also opens up a lot of creative possibilities.
SIMPLICITY IS THE BEST
If designed the right way, simple and crisp logos become impactful in a soothing way. “Less is more”, best suits such logos that have set newer benchmarks everytime in the industry. Art can be creative and can be sleek, simple at the same time. It is not an impossible task to achieve, all you need is balance. And the best part is, such logos work for all sorts of brands and businesses.
HAND-DRAWN
Personal touch always leaves a mark and hand drawn logos are the perfect example. It brings back an ocean of nostalgia and memories. Such kinds of logos bring about a variety of senses: humaneness, grounded feeling, playfulness, quirkiness and happiness. They aren’t restricted by letter or technology, they set your hands free. However, whilst designing such a logo, make sure that it makes sense, looks legit and does not get affected by the doctor-like handwriting.
Before designing a logo, make sure that you’ve researched well into the trends and highlights. But that is just to keep you up with the times, the design that you create should be entirely unique and should solely belong to you. It shouldn’t be like, “oh this looks like..” that’s a huge NO.
There are a lot of expectations from logos and so make sure to create a beautiful combination of the trends and your innovation. This will lead to the production of a modern-looking, timeless logo.
