Understanding Logomarks

Logomarks are an image which acts as a logo to represent a brand. These tend to be placed within various areas of a brand, such as on products, beside their name, in apps, icons and more. Logomarks can be confused with word marks which are another key touchpoint of a brand, but don’t include an image.

As well as logomarks, there are a range of marks which companies may use. These include combination marks (a comboation of word and logo marks), dynamic, emblem and character marks. These are often trademarked so that they’re unique to a company, making each of these an effective tool for branding.

These can build a design programme. This is all the components of graphical and visual identity associated with a brand, including logo marks, name marks etc, symbols, colours, typography, and other decorating elements. Having a strong design programme ensures brands are consistent, making them more eye-catching and engaging. An example of this I can think of is Netflix, they use the same marks, typography and colour scheme across all platforms, showing a consistent brand made from a strong design programme.

Practical requirements

• Simplicity: Simplicity makes things easier to break down and understand at first glance for an audience.
• Attention: A logo should quickly grab attention, even momentairily.
• Application: It should work effectively when used for its intended purpose. For digital products, which includes on different devices, scales etc.
• Competition: A mark should be unique and distinguishable from others. It it visually different, or similar to other brands?
• Tone: Tone of voice is a key aspect of any brand, as it conveys a brand image to an audience. Marks and marketing should be in keeping with the tome of voice that you wish to establish for the overall brand.
• Fashionability: Consistency in branks helps maintain an audience, which is why many brands use their original logos, with many attempting to change them and reverting back. This shows the importance of timelessness in branding, as a trendy design may be great at the time but not as effective later.

Monograms

Monograms is the overlapping of two letters so that they combine. Many designer brands, such as Coco Chanel and YSL use this to combine the brands initials and create a logo by combining them.

Visual Marque

It is known that humans interpret images much quicker than text, making visual marques a great way of grabbing people’s attention fast. The Pictorial Superiority Effect demonstrates this, suggesting that pictures are much superior than written text in getting people to remember information. This can be linked to why brands tend to have a Logomark as their main point of recognition's this is what the average person is most likely to remember. There are three main types of logo mark:

• Pictorial logomarks represent an actual simplified image which consumers can recognise, often aligning with the companies name or values. For example, Apple have an apple as the logo, an effective marketing technique as people say the brands name when describing the logo
• Abstract logos are still recognisable, but not as obvious as to what they are. For example, the Pepsi logos meaning isn’t obvious and would likely go unnoticed as a face to most people until pointed out to them. These tend to be used in conjunction with more complex brand names which leave no obvious pictorial logo options.
• Combination marks are a combination of wordmarks and lettermarks. These are a good option for versatility as the word and logo mark can also be used individually and still recognised.

Longevity and timelessness