Logo Design

A wordmark, word mark or logotype is a uniquely stylized text logo that spells out the company, institution or product name. In a 2013 study of the top 100 brand logos in the world, 37% of them consisted of text only, often stylized using a unique font.

Wordmarks work best when the name of the company is simple, distinctive, and minimalist. In some cases, a typeface is custom-created specifically for a company’s brand for global use across all of their branded collateral materials. Smaller start-ups that are just getting off the ground may find that a wordmark logo emphasizing the unique name of the company is the best way to get the word out about the new business.

We cannot emphasize enough how critical the “less is more” approach is when finalizing a logo…simplicity is paramount. In the world of logo design, lettermarks are about as simple as it gets. Lettermarks are comparable to wordmarks in that they are exclusively typographic. However, they differ in that they highlight the company or product initials rather than a full name.

There are many reasons to gravitate towards this type of logo design. In cases where the full name is too long, too hard to pronounce, or is just not distinct enough to carry its own weight, initials will be better suited to graphically represent the company, institution or product.

Combination marks are considered by many to be best of both worlds incorporating both an iconic symbol and text. Used by roughly 56% of the world’s top brands, combination marks, also known as iconic logotypes, are the most commonly used type of logo since they spell out the name of a company while simultaneously pairing with a visual icon.

Due to the increased level of complexity, combination marks require more time and consideration to effectively design. However, the value-added benefit of the additional effort yields a logo design that is much more versatile than the other logo types. This type of logo can be separated out if need be, providing the ability to use either the text or the symbol independently with great ease.

In contrast to combination marks which juxtapose text and symbols, emblems involve placing text inside of a symbol so that the two are practically indivisible. Government and political organizations gravitate towards this type as they emulate the appearance of a seal/official badge. However, we are quite familiar with some private companies who have implemented emblem logos like those depicted above.

When examining the pros and cons, one of the downsides is that they can be inflexible since they cannot be parsed into separate elements as with combination mark logos. On the upside, there is the benefit of a more consolidated logo easily allowing for both the graphic icon and company name to fit into compact spaces. One caveat to consider, especially in print situations, is that the text needs to be small enough to fit inside of the symbol. Therefore, these types of logos may not always be legible at smaller sizes.