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Icon-driven logos.
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Iconic logos generally feature highly simplified graphics (symbols) that reflect an aspect of the company and/or product portrayed. These graphics can be highly abstract in concept or feature a reasonably accurate depiction of an idea, concept or item. Truth to tell, it's the treatment of the image, as well as the subject matter, that defines an iconic logo. Icon logos are perhaps the most common (a slim margin over graphical) and is probably the type of design that comes to mind if you were asked to describe"what makes a logo". But despite their relative simplicity, these logos are often the most difficult to design - it's certainly not easy to take complex ideas or concepts and break them down into a few abstract shapes. Doing so requires the services of an experienced designer who is able to understand both the conceptual and technical limitations of developing such a design.  |
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Because of the somewhat abstract ideas contained within these kinds of designs, iconic logos run the risk of being described as clip art logos by the viewer, who may not have the understanding of what's actually being illustrated. Accordingly, the development of these logos should be left in the hands of seasoned designers whose ability to create simplistic graphics has become more developed over time.
When developing an iconic logo, the design process involves creating a graphic that depicts some aspect of the company, broken down into a very simple series of shapes and objects. Unlike illustrative logos, we try to avoid adding blends, gradients and other nifty special FX lest the design become cluttered. More often than not, iconic logos feature solid geometric shapes, arranged in a way that very quickly describes the company portrayed (iconic logos are probably the type of logo that you're most familiar with - think Apple, Nike, Adidas, etc) - and are probably the most effective in quickly building brand recognition. Utilizing an icon design has certain technical advantages over their illustrative counterparts, perhaps the most important one being this; these logos are most adaptable when your design is to be featured at a small size, or in low-resolution reproduction such as newspapers, faxes, etc. Iconic logos are generally developed with a text portion - though secondary to the overall design - which can be dropped at a later date, once your logo has been well exposed through marketing and advertising efforts. Due to their relative simplicity, iconic designs are the best choice for certain applications - embroidery for one example, flash animation for another - and these are the kinds of logos that have the fastest retention factor for your viewing audience.
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