What is it that Makes The World’s Most Iconic Logos Work So Well?

Iconic logos enjoy that definition for a reason – they are the logos that everyone recognizes, and that span continents and even break through language barriers. Iconic logos earn their status through clear, eye-catching design, consistency, and a clarity that their rivals lack.

When most people think of iconic brands, they think of Nike, Coca Cola or Pepsi – brands that got there partly through seniority (The Coca Cola lettering has evolved over time, but is generally similar to the original, decades-old design) and massive ad-spending. However, there are other designs that are also iconic, and that are universally recognized.

The logo for the Red Cross, for example, is known the world over – and it is simple; a red cross. Apple’s logo is an Apple. Both of these are simple, clear logos that embody what the brand owners want to represent.

At the other end of the spectrum, you have Google – a company who represents its brand image through the Google lettering, and the regularly updated ‘doodles’, which are educational, fun, and a little way of spicing up the plain and almost empty Google home page. That emptiness, again, is a part of the brand.

While some companies do use words for their logos, this is a gamble. Uniqlo, for example, uses the English spelling of their name on their English and American logos, but in Japan they use Japanese characters to phonetically spell something very similar to the English pronunciation of their name. This is a clever way of making their brand accessible to a massive audience. It does mean that the brand has more than one logo, but there can be a good pay-off for brands that want to reach massive audiences.

If you are thinking of getting a logo designed for your business, then you should take a moment to think about what you want to represent for your brand. Remember that changing a logo in the future is an expensive proposition, so it is better to come up with a timeless design. One that you can keep for many years. Clean, simple and un-dated, the best logos will last forever, and won’t include anything that will tie it to a specific year, cultural event, or technology – giving the brand time to grow and evolve as the economic landscape they operate in changes.