Any marketer would agree that your brand logo matters – a lot. It’s not just a nice image that pairs up with your website and content, it’s actually one of the main associations customers will have with your brand.
According to Finances Online:
- 89% of marketers that their brand logo helps build brand awareness
- The color of your logo can boost your brand recognition up to 80%
- 60% to 90% of product evaluation depends on the brand’s logo
Just having a logo, however, is not enough. Consumers today are very demanding and have an eye on the brands that go hand in hand with the trends. You will not compile a good logo without a beautiful font, that the reason why you need to visit this post!
So, what are the trends for logo design this year?
Take a look.
Simplicity & Minimalism:
The design has come a long way from flashy, over-the-top images. Now, the name of the game is minimalism, which is associated with sophistication, elegance, and professionalism. You can see an increasing number of brands opting for a simple logo instead of intricate details and decorations.
The general concept of these logos is to eliminate everything that’s not absolutely necessary to understand the essence of the brand. For many old-school designers, this can be quite hard, because they are used to designing big and flashy. However, if you learn how to really get the maximum out of a simple text-on-background logo, you can achieve much more than with dozens of tiny details.
Just take a look at some of the most famous logos and how they use minimalism to their advantage:
This is one of the simplest variants of a brand logo imaginable – the brand name typed out on a monochrome background in a simple font. At the same time, it’s ridiculously effective. If you show someone just the ‘b’ part of the logo, they would probably recognize it’s Uber (remember Logo Quiz)?
In Yahoo’s case, this company decided for a major overhaul of their old logo, which is incredibly brave for a tech company that’s been around since the very beginning. If you compare the two versions, you will see that the new logo (above) is much more eye-pleasing and easy to remember.
There is definitely an increasing trend of using the brand name’s exclusively as the only element in the logo, coupled with an impressive and unique typeface that consumers will learn to associate with your brand.
“Sometimes, when you work hard on a logo, especially together with a team, it can seem counterintuitive to ‘just’ write out the brand name in a straightforward way with a simple font. Nevertheless, in many cases, this is actually one of the best ways to go about it. Don’t mistake oversimplicity for bad design, after all, it’s said that design is basically the elimination of the unnecessary”, says Melanie Cooper, a UX/UI Manager at Studicus.Gradient Colors:
If you stick with the minimalism theme, you will somehow have to incorporate the element of color. The problem is: how to make colors attractive and eye-catching, while still maintaining the minimalist vibe and clean design? The answer is – use gradients, like many famous brands nowadays!
Instagram has the most famous logo that uses gradient colors. The previous Instagram logo featured a camera icon with a rainbow stripe that users learned to associate with the network. In his appearance in Netflix’s design documentary Abstract, Instagram logo designer Ian Spalter commented that the gradient was their way of preserving the rainbow concept from the previous design.
In the Redmi by Xiaomi example, the designers played around with a gradient on the purple spectrum. Purple is a highly emotion-triggering color that consumers usually associate with wealth, mystery, royalty, and imagination. When you put this into the context of the Redmi product, it’s the perfect symbolization.
The key to using gradients and not going overboard is to use 2, maximum 3 colors in your logo design. Everything above that might be too flashy and colorful and will ruin the cleanness and sleek vibe of your design. Just take a look at Instagram, which used only 3 colors even though they wanted to depict a rainbow-like color scheme!
Geometric Elements:
Now, we come to one of the evergreen trends in logo design that is guaranteed to stay popular in 2020: geometry. The reason that these symbols are so widely used in logo design is that they are highly symbolic, yet quite minimalist compared to full-blown images, photographs, and even icons.
Another reason is that humans generally have a strong response to geometric shapes, ever since our earliest days. We respond to symmetry and order to a subconscious level and feel comforted by straight lines and symmetric shapes, which makes this one of the perfect elements for logo design.
In Mitsubishi’s example, the attractive and unique geometric shape is fused with the color red, which motivates viewers to take action and is considered the most attractive color to the human eye.
Target, a US retail store coupled a geometric shape of circles perfectly with its brand name, forming a literal target – a bullseye icon.
There are many more examples like this, especially when logo designers incorporate geometric shapes in one of the letters of the brand name or connect a geometric icon to the meaning of the name (like Target). Just like the other tips, it’s important not to go overboard and present a geometric shape that’s too complex or has to be examined and looked at twice. Try to think of it this way: a good geometric element to your logo should be one that you look at for 2 seconds and can accurately remember it after 10 minutes.
Another important thing to keep in mind about geometric shapes in logos is to check whether you’re completely original: many pre-made logos contain these shapes and icons and you might end up being the 1000th business to use that particular icon, which is the last thing you want.
Emblems:
Why do we love emblems so much? They have been around for thousands of years and their attractiveness doesn’t seem to fade. Contrary, it seems that the more decades pass from powerful empires and monarchies, the more we are obsessed with emblem-like logos and icons!
During the last couple of years, brands have stepped away from this type a little bit, but in the roaring 2020s, it seems to be one of the top trends to follow.
Here are some of the most popular examples:
Naturally, consumers correlate logos that resemble emblems to royalty, exclusiveness, power and wealth. Many brands decide to take this road because these associations are relatable for a wide variety of industries and niches.
If your brand has anything to do with luxury or high-end products, you should consider using an emblem-like logo. For consumers, it will symbolize an approachable, but beautiful power. Among all the logo categories that we’ve talked about and beyond that, emblem logos are one of the most memorable ones and are guaranteed to get through to your audience.
80s Style Logos:
In design, be it fashion, art, or logo design, everything makes a comeback at one point! In 2020, everyone will be crazy about the ‘80s. These types of logos have an amazing appealing because they simultaneously take us back to a far simpler time and remind us how far technology has come and all that we have to be grateful for.
This type of logo design is extremely popular in video games and the gaming industry in general because it celebrates the inception of this technology by reminiscing on some of the first PC games ever invented.
Of course, these logos are not limited solely to the gaming industry; there are many brands that use them for their charm and unique design, and not for their connection to the beginnings of the technological revolution.
They are also super cute and wipe out any pretentiousness that might be portrayed by other types of business logos, which can be off-putting for some consumers.
So, if the main theme and voice of your brand are playful, friendly, and easy-going, ‘80s style logos might be the perfect choice for you!
Conclusion
It’s safe to say that in 2020 we’ll see the return of our favorite logo designs from the past, but with a futuristic twist in them. We won’t be afraid to seek ideas from past legendary logos and incorporating some of their tricks into our modern-day logo designs. We’ll return to some of the most inspirational logos from the past, learn from them, and adapt them to our ultra-digital age.
One thing that’s for certain, and most probably always will be, is that brand logos will continue to be one of the most important parts of the corporate image. Whichever style and trend you choose, just make sure you remember the importance of a logo and what it will present to your customers in the long run.
