the hidden meaning behind really good logos
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THE HIDDEN MEANING BEHIND REALLY GOOD LOGOS
BY RAY VELLEST · BRANDING , DESIGN , INSPIRATION · OCT 17, 2012
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/author/Ray-Vellesthttp://www.webdesignerdepot.com/category/branding/http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/category/design/http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/category/inspiration/http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2012/10/17http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/category/branding/http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/category/design/http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/category/inspiration/http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2012/10/17http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/author/Ray-Vellest
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One feature that can make a logo shine more than any other is hidden meaning.
Remember the last time you saw a logo that made you go ‘Ahaaa!’? So, that’s
what ’m going to aroach in this article, the cherry on the to of the logo cake.
"here are lenty of articles that skirt around this toic on the web, but too many
think that hidden meaning is #ust about negati$e sace% that’s wrong.
"here’s much more to hidden meaning than #ust using negati$e sace. &hile
negati$e sace does hel to create good logos, it’s the actual concet behind it
that makes the big di'erence.
So what the heck? (et’s take a look at some really cool e)amles. *$en if you
ha$e seen these before, you’ll robably end u learning something interesting by
reading the details.
LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA+esigned by The Partners, the London Symphony Orchestra logo is in its
entirety a mar$elous e)amle of hidden meaning in logo design. ost likely the
-rst thing you’ll notice in this logo are the letters (SO, an acronym for the name
of the comany, but with an e)tra e'ort you’ll also be able to $isualie an
or/uestra conductor holding a baton in his hand.
"his seems to me one of the best e)amles of hidden meaning, -rst because is
hidden in lain sight, but more imortantly, because the secondary element0the
conductor0has a $ery strong concetual connection with the essence of the
business% which makes this logo $ery secial.
http://www.the-partners.com/http://lso.co.uk/http://www.the-partners.com/http://lso.co.uk/
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BASKINROBBINS
1ack in 2345 Bas!"nRo##"ns launched a /uite inno$ati$e concet in the ice
cream market by o'ering a total of 52 di'erent 6a$ors. "he number 52 was
resent in the original logo, right in between the names 1askin and Robbins. One
curious fact about this business concet is that the idea of ha$ing so many
6a$ors came out of what later would become O$"%&y ' Mather.
&hy 52? 7ust so a customer could ha$e a di'erent 6a$or e$ery day of the month.
"hen later in 8994, using their :9th anni$ersary celebration as a good occasion
to rebrand their identity, a new logo was created and e$en though the number
52 was remo$ed from in between the names, it was strategically included as art
of the identity itself. f not for the fact is in ink, most of the eole would ne$er
notice the number is still there.
One side;e'ect of this design is that, with some e'ort, you can also read the
number 28.
S(N MICROSYSTEMS
+esigned by )a*$han Pratt, rofessor of comuter science at Stanford
. "he logo is an ambigram, a form of tyograhic design that
allows a word to be read from di'erent orientations. an you see the word =S
selled in the logo in four di'erent directions?
"his logo retty much sums u my belief that anyone can design a really goodlogo.
http://www.baskinrobbins.com/http://www.ogilvy.com/http://boole.stanford.edu/pratt.htmlhttp://www.baskinrobbins.com/http://www.ogilvy.com/http://boole.stanford.edu/pratt.html
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*$en if rofessor ratt did not know anything about symbology when he was
designing this logo, he really got it right, as the original $ersion was designed in
orange, a color associated with the sun. t was only later that they changed the
color -rst to urle and -nally to blue.
AMA+ON
+esigned by Anthony 1iles while at T*rner D*c!,orth, the Amaon logo must
be one of the most know logos of the web, secially considering the shear
amount of traBc this site recei$es on a daily basis. And if not for a strategically
laced arrow, this would be a retty boring logo.
"he arrow in the amaon logo reresents the idea that Amaon store sells
e$erything from A to C, a brilliant concet that is also in the name of the
business% as in the biodi$ersity one would -nd in the Amaon forest. 1ut if that’s
not enough, the arrow also reresents a smile suggesting the e)erience one will
ha$e when shoing at their online store.
http://www.turnerduckworth.com/http://www.turnerduckworth.com/
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SONY )AIO
+esigned by "imothy Fanley, the Sony )a"o logo is one of the best e)amles of
hidden meaning that can only be seen if you understand a bit of how comuterswork% erhas a logo made for comuter geeks? "he left side of the logo is made
out of a wa$e symbol, reresenting the idea of analog technology. "he right side
of the logo is made out of the numbers =2> and =9>, the two digits used in binary
comuting, the digital.
Oh, in case you’re wondering, GAO is an acronym for Gideo Audio ntelligent
Organier.
http://www.sony.com/index.phphttp://www.sony.com/index.php
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TOBLERONE
"his world;famous Swiss chocolate has a hidden 1ear in the snows of atterhorn
illustrated in their logo. "he mountain is located in the border betweenSwiterland and taly, so that e)lains why is it there, but what about the bear?
"hat’s a homage to the town of 1ern, where the To#%erone was originally
manufactured% and the bear is the oBcial symbol of the town.
A curious fact about this logo is its name. "he name "oblerone is a ortmanteau,
a word made out two or more words, and is the combination of the name of its
creator ="obler> with the word =torrone>, a traditional tye of nougat originating
in taly. 1y the way, that’s a great techni/ue to come u with good names for
new businesses.
http://www.toblerone.com/http://www.toblerone.com/
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MY-ONTS
+esigned by (nder,are, a @etherlands;based tye studio, the yHonts logo is
comosed of beautiful custom made handwriting tye where the =y> art of thewordmark also doubles as a hand. "hat’s what call brilliant design, as it -ts
erfectly with the concet behind the name itself. Sub#ecti$ely is saying that by
using the"r s"te you are getting your hands on their fonts.
And oh, yeah, turn the logo uside down and =y> becomes a dinosaur. @ot
related, but funny!
http://www.underware.nl/http://myfonts.com/http://www.underware.nl/http://myfonts.com/
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CARRE-O(R
+esigned by M"%es Ne,%yn, the Carre.o*r logo has that sort of characteristic
that once you see it, you won’t be able to unsee it e$er again. Sure that’s afeature of e$ery logo co$ered in this article, but it works secially well in in this
case. "he negati$e sace letter =c> is ositioned in such a central area of the
logo that is ractically imossible to not see it anymore.
"he interesting story behind this brand is the fact that the arrefour mark is
comosed by two arrows, ointing left and right, re6ecting the literal meaning of
the Hrench word =carrefour> Iit means =crossroads>E. 1ut also, in a more
symbolic interretation, the =crossroads> can be understood as the multile
choices of roducts o'ered by this suermarket chain.
Oh, and the logo uses colors of the Hrench 6ag, the country where arrefour was
founded.
http://www.newlyn.com/work/client/carrefourhttp://www.carrefour.com/http://www.newlyn.com/work/client/carrefourhttp://www.carrefour.com/
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-EDE/
+esigned by L"ndon Leader, the -ede0 logo with its hidden arrow is one of the
-nest e)amles of negati$e sace. "he design looks great, but the best art isthat is concetually linked to the essence of the business it reresents.
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IT1S ALL ABO(T TELLIN2 A STORY
As the abo$e e)amles show, hidden meaning is not only about using negati$e
sace, but actually about e)loring the concets behind of what make a logouni/ue. n other words, creating hidden meaning is more about telling a
interesting and comelling story.
Actually telling a good story is what makes a good logo more than any other
$isual feature. *$en logos with no hidden meaning at all became great logos with
a good story. @ow take a look at your own logo. &hat do you think? s there an
interesting story there?
Did you a!"ady #$o% &'" (")!"& o* &'"(" o+o( Do -"o-" !"a)& %i&'
a$ .A''''/, %'"$ &'"y ("" you! o+o L"& u( #$o% i$ &'" )o"$&(