Before you commission someone to design a logo for you, consider where it will be seen by your customers? A logo for a tree surgeon will be different to that of a jeweller. The tree surgeon will need a logo that is visible and memorable when displayed on the side of a vehicle or the back of a sweatshirt, very different to that of a jeweller who may want something more refined, stamped onto a delicate ring or a neckless. So scale and positioning are two very important factors.
Social media is also very important to consider when establishing a business, product or event. Your logo will need to fit comfortably within a ‘profile circle’ correctly – without being cropped or distorted. A good logo should work in a single colour (black and white) and also in full colour as well as three dimensionally (when manufactured onto a sign or a building façade), modern logos even need to communicate when animated. Proportion, colour, material and movement are four other factors to consider.
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The following is a very quick guide to the different types of logos that are available to help situate and define a brand
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A pictorial or image-based logo – is primarily an illustration that helps to represent your commercial offer. Like the Apple computer ‘apple’ or the Twitter ‘bird’. Basic instantly recognisable, illustrated symbols – helping to visually reinforce your brand to customers at a glance.
The example above was developed for Wellbeing Matters – designing an abstracted figure in a cascade of foliage – expressing freedom and positivity.
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The Letter-marque – uses combinations of single letters, initials or groups of letters. Examples include the McDonald’s ‘M’ (golden arch), BBC or V&A. Perfect for companies and corporations with long names or that want something sleek and memorable. Especially useful when a logo is going to be displayed alongside others.
Consider making your logo fit into a square shaped framework. And question how it will perform when placed within circle, on your social media accounts.
This example was designed for the Nordic Letterpress Network. Used with the full descriptor text or without – both equally distinguishable and recognisable.
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The Word-marque Logo – are text-only logos. Your brand name written in a unique style like Paul Smith, Google, Kellogs or Virgin. One particularly strong example of this is FedEx. The type is styled is such a way that it produces a small arrow in the negative space between the E and the X.
Great when your brand name itself is catchy and you want prospective customers to recognise it in an instant.
(above left) designed for the Paul Mellon Centre (Bedford Square, London) to be displayed at large scales across a cinema screen – for a film screening event in central London (above right) for The Shambles, a performance space and theatre group.
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The Combination Logo – is a mixture of text and symbol or frame – examples include: Burger King (written on the filling of a burger) and Levis jeans (depicted in white lettering within a red box).
Above is a commission for Green Bio Fuels. The text spans the extremities of the frame, breaking out diagonally.
A high number of modern brands adopt approach because it’s flexible in use and can be easily discernible in both print and on screen. Applied in packaging, uniforms, websites and beyond.
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The Emblem Logo – these often have text set inside a specific shape or frame, composed to look like badge or shield. Recognisable examples include: Porsche, Superman, Warner Brothers and Ford. Below shows Alfa Romeo’s complex vehicle ‘badge’.
The emblem affords a strong, traditional feel and is great for institutions, schools, football teams and luxury brands. These often resonate with history and heritage, taking inspiration from heraldry, crests and coats of arms.
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An Abstract Logo or ident – these adopt geometric shapes, lines or graphic marks instead of easily recognisable images – examples include: Mastercard, Nike (swoosh), or Airbnb (graphic treatment of the letter A).
They are creative and give freedom to express deeper meanings or emotions through the design. These are often released and used alone once a brand becomes established – initially developed to sit alongside a word-mark logo.
Above left: commission for the ecological community company, 361 Energy Action. Above right: an ident for an RIBA architectural design competition – Eco Town Terrace.
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The Mascot Logo – often features a central animal or character (real or fictional) like the KFC’s Colonel Sanders. Other examples include the Pringles guy, Michelin Man and Go Compare’s moustached opera singer. They can be used to identify the brand, event or service without needing explanatory text or strap-lines.
Below: cheerfully faced pug mascot, developed and designed for an owners group.
Mascots can signify a brand’s temperament to be friendly and approachable, often used for food and products directed at children, or more playful brands. In Japan is it very common to see mascot logos used on shops and restaurants.
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© Carl Middleton – November 2025.
It’s not just ‘a logo’ – it has to work across a range of scales – from Favicon (15 x 15 pixels) to billboard, it must to be discernibly different from your competitors (or from anyone else for that matter) and not ‘trendy today’ and need updating in three years time.
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