Corporate Logos

Corporate Logos

Logos are symbols or patterns that are generally used to represent companies or brands. Logo is derived from the Greek word logos, which means word. In modern times, logos represent images of a company or a product brand.

Corporate logos are those that are used by companies and corporations. Corporate logos should ideally represent what the company stands for. It should be unique enough to differentiate from other companies’ logos, yet special enough to be remembered by the customers.

Corporate logos can be of many kinds, including: combination (icon and text); logotype/wordmark/lettermark (text or abbreviated text) and icon (symbol / brandmark). A corporate logo can contain just symbols, or both words and symbols. It may or may not contain the company’s name, but having the company’s name is an advantage. Some logos have just a part of the company’s name or just one letter, for example Y!(Yahoo!) or FedEx (Federal Express).

Corporate logos should be functional, effective regardless of the size and attractive regardless of the color. They should also represent the brand/company image well. Logo artists should abide by the basic design principles of color, space, form, clarity and consistency while designing logos. It is advisable to use as few colors as possible, or use spot colors. The use of gradients for distinguishing is also not desirable. Vector graphics is one technology that can be effectively used for logo designing.

Designers should be aware of copyrights and trademarks, and should be very careful not to copy any other logo. Using a person’s face, clip-art, third-party fonts, imagery or photographs, and culturally suggestive imagery should be avoided as much as possible. The use of too many effects like shadows, glares, embossing and photo imagery is also not recommended. The logo should also be flexible enough to retain its shape when printed on certain materials that tend to crease or fold. Colors and patterns are also important. Some colors like purple, blue, black, white and red are considered to be professional. Block designs can be used for larger products like machinery or trucks, while delicate fonts can be used for smaller products.

There are many professional designers of logos. An expert would be able to consider all aspects of designing the logo. They would also look at the copyright issues. Prices vary extensively, and there are designers who charge as much as $500 for a logo. There are special software programs that allow you to design logos. There are available from $30 onwards. The internal publicity department within the company can also design corporate logos