We all know about the top companies and their logos with hidden meanings. But do you know why that concept is a success? Let’s see what Logos with Hidden Meanings entail.
Today we will go through all the major areas to consider and know about why we need to follow this strategy and henceforth become a big brand, like Coca-Cola or Nike, one day.
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Notice in your day to day life that logos are everywhere. But we don’t remember all of them later.
What could be the possible reason behind it?
Well, several. Complexity, bad colors, bad type font, confusing design and the list can go on.
Some logos reveal their meanings by either color, typography or even graphic representation. Check out the images below to know about logos with hidden meanings.
Source: Beautifully crafted their services with the typography and a little paint.
Source: Similarly, we know the importance of chopsticks to eat Sushi. This design resembles a sushi in between the chopsticks which is incredible.
Source: How do you talk to each other now a days? I am sure it’s through smart phones mostly. And the same has been designed in the above logo design with the quotes that forms the letter “A” and “E”. Great right?
Source: Shuttl provides a bus service for office going people. It’s a hassle free ride from your home to your office location. The bus plays the major role in it and thus they have used a graphic presentation of it in their logo.
Source: Lastly, Swiggy. Swiggy is a food delivery company. In brief, it takes your order, picks it from the restaurant and delivers it to you in no time. Hassle free right?
Swiggy has used the orange color which defines hunger with forming the letter “S” in the shape of a location symbol. Hence, cool way to show your services.
While other companies like to have logo with hidden message. That way, once the audience fully know the meaning, they will recognize it & remember the brand forever.
People today do not like to waste their time thinking about something that doesn’t make sense.
Instead, give them a reason to remember you and your brand will outshine others.
Let’s keep reading to see how we can do that in our brand.
Word Art In Logo
First of all, find out your own logo style which is unique and simple.
Sure when you hear simple, you disagree with the fact that your logo would be a simple one. But most of the logos with hidden meanings are quite simple in composition.
To begin with, follow these steps:
- Firstly, Take one word. Any Word. Let’s say “curious”.
- Secondly, think what defines this word. Well, it’s eager to learn something.
- Lastly, think of action you take when you hear the word. I would ask questions if I am curious.
So here is your logo:
In addition to above, see a few more of words defining their own meaning in a beautifully creative manner.
Quick Read:
Learn What Colors Are Best For Your Brand [16min].
Digital Synopsis has wonderfully showcased top company logos and their meanings. [7min]
Graphic Art in Logo
Simplicity is the new trend in logo design.
From the chain of big brands like Google-Microsoft-Accenture-Uber-Swiggy-Instagram-Facebook—-and the list can go on, their specialty is the simplicity in their logos.
While some play with words, you can have logos with hidden meanings with graphics as well.
The steps would be still be the same. Instead of crafting a word, you would now design a graphic image.
For instance, let’s take an example: There is a coffee place named “Magic Coffee”.
Now note down your thought points. Below are mine:
- Magic Coffee Huh? Okay I see a magic Hat and a coffee cup.
- Similarity in them would be cylindrical shape.
- Color Combinations: Black for Hat and Dark or Light Brown for Coffee.
- If the logo is going to be dark, the background would be light.
There you go. Great job. Nicely done.
Let’s see the logo:
Pretty great right?
Post practicing this technique, you would be able to build a thought process of mixing common shapes and come up with a unique style for yourself.
So what would be your unique style? Give it a thought and write back to us.
Quick Read:
99Designs has beautifully explained other colors and their significance in logo design. It’s worth a read. [16min]
Ultra Linx has few more of these awesome designs. Check them out. [10min]
Negative Space in Logo
If you know about logos then you must have heard about negative space like a million times.
And the first logo that comes in mind is FedEx, without a doubt.
Let’s learn more about this.
To revise what we know: Negative space logo is nothing but using the background image as a part of your logo design. See the below FedEx logo.
The Hidden Arrow between letter “E” and “X” shows the speedy delivery and accuracy of FedEx services. Logaster has explained in depth meaning of the entire logo.
So now the real question is, how can you use the negative space in your favor?
Those 3 major questions mentioned in Word Art Section above are applicable here as well.
Practice on a single Word.
Let’s take an example here:
Word: Chess
Findings:
- Chess board in mind
- Smart Moves by thinking
- Checkmate
Your logo:
Few more examples using the negative space:
Pick a word from anywhere and start using your imagination to work in your favor.
See you can also pick the word “Pick” and start experimenting.
Quick Read:
It’s never bad to go back and revise your basics. Check out the Ultimate guide for Logo Design. You may know it but your friend may not. Share it with others.
Design Consistency
Again, this point is kept at last because it is the most important factor to consider while creating a logo.
Sure word art or graphic art shows implicit meaning but somehow reveals the hidden message and in a similar fashion, negative space can be used in a variety of ways.
But when it comes to consistency, it involves not only your logo but your entire brand.
So when any logo is designed, the technique behind it should be appropriate with the brand. Imagine having too much negative space everywhere in your brand’s:
- Logo
- Icons
- Banners
- Website
Too much of anything is dangerous. And so is the use of any practise in a brand.
When consistency is discussed, it is focusing on the brand guidelines. Now these guidelines are set by the company to portray their brand to the audience.
The guidelines can be:
- Specific number of colors you can use.
- Font size to be used.
- How much free or negative space you can leave in logo or icons you are using for your app.
- The possible content you are use when you speak for the company
And the list can vary on the company basis.
Let’s take an example.
Brand: Google
Now we all know about Google right? The 4 colored logo.
So Google has tons of products and services for us. Few of them are Google Adsense, Admob & Ads.
Take a look at their old vs new logo designs:
Why do you think the companies spend too much on branding?
Consistency is the key to gaining the trust of people. If you can not be consistent within your company, how can your services be trusted?
Google is such a big brand and has got a huge fan base(that’s right) but even then Google felt the need to keep all the product logos consistent. So they speak the same language as Google does in its logo.
Conclusion
People debate on topic that if the meaning is understood by the logo then how come it’s hidden? Well since the logo represents your brand, it has to showcase the brand’s promise and services for the people.
You are smart enough to get it at the first go. You would tell that to your friends. Your friends might tell the same story as theirs to their friends.
See the chain? That’s the strategy. And it’s a great win-win for both audience and company.
The company is smart enough to create a wonderful logo with a hidden message and you are smart to guess that right.
The three major steps to create logos with hidden meanings:
- Pick a word
- Collate your thoughts about it
- Practice your creativity
Start with creating a logo that shows what it does in the form of text or graphics. Then gradually increase your thought process to hide the same message inside your logo to create a buzz in the public.
Give them a reason to spend their time on your logo and to find its hidden meaning.