Types of Logos

There are three basic types of logos: text, symbol, and combination logos. The type of logo that will work best for your company depends on a number of considerations, such as the size of your company, the uniqueness of your name, and a variety of other factors.

Text logo

A text logo (also sometimes called a logotype or word mark) is a logo largely made up of the text of the company's name. This type of logo can have some graphic elements - lines, boxes, borders - that interact with, surround, or even form the letters. However, the graphic elements should be used as an accent to the text, not as a major or equally-weighted part of the logo.

A text logo works well when:

• You have a multi-word business name. If your business name is made up of many words, that are not commonly or easily abbreviated, or when an abbreviation may not be appropriate developing a text logo will keep the logo design as simple and clean as possible.

• You're working with an innovative, unique business name, as with Yahoo or Google. In each case, the business name is enough to make the logo memorable.

• You're designing a logo for a large company that offers many types of products, services, or a combination of both, that may be hard to define or "wrap up" in a single picture or symbol.

• You're designing a logo "for the long haul" - there is less concern about your company "outgrowing" a text logo - they are timeless and classic.

• Trademark protection is highly important - as long as your business name is unique, then a text logo will also be unique.

A text logo may not be the right choice if:

• Your business name is not unique; this can mean difficulty for building your brand recognition. Then, without a symbol, the logo will be more difficult to remember or to associate with your business.

• Your business name does not describe what you do, it can be hard to tell what products or services you offer when just a text logo is used. Taglines or other graphic elements will need to be employed to tell your audience more about your business.

Symbol logo

A symbol logo is the opposite extreme in design from a text logo. This type of logo includes neither words nor letters - only symbols, images and shapes.

A symbol logo works well when:

• Your company already has a high level of brand recognition. If who you are and what you do are already widely known, then you can use a symbol logo as an elegant and clean solution.

• You have been using a combination logo for some time and have now built up enough brand recognition for your symbol to stand alone. This is a common transition for a logo design to take when your company grows.

• You have a unique symbol in your industry - you wouldn't want to be confused with or mistaken for anyone else in your industry!

• You have the time and energy to trademark your logo, and then to police and enforce that trademark. This is how you ensure that your logo continues to be uniquely yours.

• You have a global presence and can develop a universal, graphic symbol that speaks to you and audiences. Additionally, a symbol can have meanings on many levels, and can also have different meanings in different cultures

A text logo may not be the right choice if:

• You are a company just starting out, you must have the budget and desire to educate your audience on your new symbol logo. This can be a difficult task.

Combination logo

A logo that in some manner combines both a symbol and the company name. The symbol and text can be integrated together, side by side, or with one located above the other.

Combination logos are the most common type of logo for several reasons:

• A combination logo offers the best of both worlds. This type of logo offers a memorable logo graphic that tells the story of who you are, what you do, and what makes you different, all in conjunction with your business name for easy identification.

• A combination logo is an excellent choice for a small- or medium-sized company or a company just starting out, to begin to build brand recognition, because a combination logo is both visually strong and explanatory. The symbol can speak to the services that the company offers, while the company name increases the company recognition.

• Combination logos are easier to copyright and protect than a symbol-only logo, because the logo symbol will always be used in conjunction with the business name. This automatically makes the logo unique.

You can use this guide to determine the best type of logo to design or to have designed for your company, based on the size of your business, how well-known you are, your business name, and your business plans, among other factors. Choosing the right type of logo design is the first step in building your company's visibility, credibility, and memorability.

About the Author

Erin Ferree, Founder and Lead Designer of elf design, is a brand identity and graphic design expert. She has been helping small businesses grow with bold, clean and effective logo and marketing material designs for over a decade. elf design offers the comprehensive graphic and web design services of a large agency, with the one-on-one, personalized attention of an independent design specialist. Erin works closely in partnership with her clients to create designs that are visible, credible and memorable - and that tell their unique business stories in a clear and consistent way. For more information about elf design, please visit:

Logo design at http://www.elf-design.com

More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Branding Information:

Related Articles

Brand to Sell Well
Branding is an application of appropriate marketing techniques in the right proportion to a product. Brand management is to manage the forces in a market suitably to win favors for the product.
Which Of These Words Attract Your Clients
Whether it's your business card, tagline, article title, web site title and description or ad, just the difference of a few words can either pull in prospects and clients or push them away. Getting it right can determine whether your phone is ringing off the hook or you are twiddling your thumbs hoping someone will call.
Brand Building 101
Building your brand into a brand leader isn't easy. There are 2 areas that can really help you grow your brand, passion and consistency.
Branding Services - Brand Identity Guru
Branding Services is a tactic that marketing executives and managers should not only understand, but also employ. Branding services helps your company clearly position your company over your competition by branding your product/service in the minds of your target markets.
Brand Extension; Going from Consumer to Commercial
As more and more home pressure washers are sold at leading retailers such as Wal-Mart, Sears, Home Depot, Cosco, etc. We are seeing companies offer products in brand line extension to service this niche.
How a Great Tagline can Help your Business
"Just do it." "We try harder.
Co-Branding in Automotive Service Businesses
In a world of co-branding, point of destination strategies and co-op marketing; all industries are evolving and diversifying to capture greater profits within a single brick and mortar location. The same strategies are used on the Internet only you can see it happen faster in real time on Internet web sites.
Logo Design - Corporate Identity Branding - Brand Identity Guru
Like it or not it's who you are. Your corporate Identity touches all aspects of your business and plays a vital role in your customer's overall feeling with your organization.
9 Keys to an Effective Logo
The right logo, with the right characteristics, will boost your visibility, credibility and memorablity - which means more business for you!These characteristics include:Consistency in use of your logo, tagline, materials. Repetition of similar elements, used in the same or similar ways, helps people to remember who you are and what you do.
Are You Brand Worthy?
Branding is one hot topic, although it is wildly misunderstood. To make things even more confusing, branding is often tossed in the same basket as marketing which makes its application to an entrepreneur or sole-practioner even more unclear.
Branding Your Radio or TV Campaign With A Musical Identity (aka Audo Logo, aka Jingle)
You don't think twice about a business card and letterhead logo for the visual aspect of your campaign, why not an audio logo to brand your broadcast campaign?With the magic of music you can capture the personality of your business, create an emotional connection to your target audience and get recall & branding recognition (in some instances with people tapping their feet and singing your company name) even when you are not on the air.The majority of advertisers use the free production services that radio and TV stations offer to save money.
The Face of Your Business, Part I
When we initially started our businesses, we had to decide how we were going to market ourselves. Kind of an obvious statement - every business has to do that.
Choosing The Right Business Name
Sometimes, new entrepreneurs are in such a rush to get started at their businesses that they jump right into working with customers without giving much thought to their BUSINESS NAME. "I'll just do business under my own name for a while, until I find something I like.
Brand Your Consulting Brilliance
Today's competitive marketplace for consulting services is no longer responsive to the marketing strategies that worked in the past. The services you provide should speak volumes about your consulting business.
The Very Basics of Design
Design is a very subjective thing, therefore, if you ask me how to come up with a first class design for your marketing collateral or publishing mediums, it would be very unfair for me or anyone else to tell you what is a good design and what is a bad design. But there are certain elements and principles that we should look for in a design to determine whether the design and layout of the material will be able to carry the message across effectively to the readers and your potential market.
Trademark: Do I Need One for My Business Name and Logo?
Wondering if a trademark is important to you as a business owner? Let's start with the basics. A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, or logo that distinguishes and identifies the source of goods of one company or person from another.
Tips for Creating Brilliant Business Names
Imagine if Yahoo! had been named TheInternetDirectoy. Or StarBucks was christened "Premier Coffees".
Build Brand Value BIG Time
Ask your self this question, In which business are we really in? And stay far from the dark world of commodities..
Don't Overlook Your Email When Considering Your Brand Identity
You wouldn't skip letterhead when sending out a sales letter - Or would you?How many emails do you send each day? If you are anything like me, you probably send hundreds of emails for every one print letter. Most businesses use letterhead for their print correspondence but miss out on extending their branding to virtual communications.
How Do You Define a Good Logo Design?
Everyone wants his company logo to be the best but how good is good? How do we define a good logo? Is it necessary to be colorful or an exquisite piece of art? Can a simple design work as a good logo? We are often in a dilemma.Now to define a good logo design we first need to understand the purpose of having a logo.