Visual Communication: Visual Communication Lesson 5

In this lesson, we learnt many essentials about mascots and logo.

We've learnt that logo is not just a brand, but a design that represent one's company or organisation. To design an effective logo, it must under stand and follow 5 simple principles. They are namely Simplicity, Memorability , Timeless, Versatility, Appropriateness.

Simplicity is important as companies want their consumers to remember their brand and logo, and if there is too much going on, it would be difficult for the customers to do that. Having a simple design also ensures their message are sent straight to the point.

Memorability. For a company to be well-known, it needs to be established, and to do that, a logo is the easiest way to go. For it to be successful, it requires people to know such brand exist. And with a creative logo, it can be easily achieved. For example, a consumer may want to buy certain product from a certain shop, but don't know the name. If they remember the design of their logo, it is easy for them to find it.

If a product or company wants to be remembered, they need to have a timeless logo design. There is a few simple reasons as to why. The first being if they do not do that, with fashion, time and style changing, their logo may look too old and groggy and out of style. And as a result, what happens is that they have to redesign a logo. And this begins a butterfly effect where people have to forget the old logo and try to adapt to the new one. When a logo changes, it's difficult for people to just change their mind of how the logo looks like. Over time, with increased number of times where logos are redesigned, consumers may feel irritated and eventually stop buying products from that particular store.

Versatility. Versatility is another pivotal principle of an effective logo design as a logo needs to be versatile to attract different types of consumers.

Lastly, appropriateness is important as well as a logo has to be design so that it can attract it's target audience; for instance, if a company is selling children products, its design should be children orientated with cartoons and cute fonts so that they would be attracted to buy the products. However such concept is not relevant if the company sells toothpaste. Hence, a need of appropriateness is essential in logo designing.

We learnt that there are mainly 3 types of logo. They are namely Iconic/Symbolic, Logotype/Wordmark & Combination logo.

In an Iconic/Symbolic logo, they should be recognisable and is extremely memorable. We also understood that there shouldn't be too many colours in a logo, and it will be costly when printing, as there are more colour ink to print. Hence, a logo should not have more than 3 colours.

Example of Iconic Logos:

Apple Inc

Nike

Starbucks

In a Logotype/Wordmark logo, there should be a unique font type and not a conventional one. In this type of logo, there will be no picture at all, but instead, the written word form of the brand. However, it has to be legible and ease of recognition. It's advantage is that people might remember it as it is just the brand name as well as the logo.

Also we understood that if a font is thick, it gives off the message of strength & power. Eg: Dell, Forever21

Script font give a message of formality e.g: FedEx, Topshop

Slanted fonts gives a sense of motion/movement eg. Ray-ban, H&M

Last but not least, combination logos. In combination logos, it is essentially the mixture of Iconic and Logotype logos, whereby the logo has a icon or symbol, however, also bears the company name. Concise text can complement an icon or symbol, providing a form of supplementary clarity. These logos and be either integrated of a stand-alone. It means that the logo can be incorporated in the brand name or have it side by side.

Examples of Combination Logos are : McDonalds, Domino's Pizza, AT&T, Pringles

After learning about logos, we learnt a little bit about mascots. By definition, a mascot is a representative figure, a symbol and a communication tool for a products. It personifies their values, communicate effectively and help them form a brand.

Some famous mascots: