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Understanding the meaning of Vintage, Modern, Bold and Elegant Logo Design

Written by
Oct 07,2019

Before you design a logo, it is important to consider the message that you want to put across to your target audience. You have to understand that design has the ability to evoke numerous emotions from your audience. You might want to take a bold approach to your design or make your audience feel safe and confident to assure them that they have taken the right decision by choosing you.


This lays stress on designing different types of logos as per the requirements of a brand. The ultimate aim that businesses aspire to achieve is to have an iconic logo that can say it all. There are different types of logos like, vintage, modern, blog, and elegant. Let’s understand the meaning of all of them to help you make the right decision for your brand.

Vintage Logo

If you are struggling with a good concept for your logo, you should consider vintage logo design. It gives a unique feel to your brand. Under the term “Vintage” or “retro,” modern designers consider the time period between the 1920s to 1970s. By using vintage techniques in their work, designers pay tribute to that unique era. If you think the vintage style and your brand personality match, don’t hesitate to explore this style!


Vintage designs aren’t affected by time, age, taste, or style. Circles and intricate patterns are most popular in retro logos. Use bright primary colors to give the 1960s and 1970s feel. The most commonly used combination is two-toned coloring. A retro logo takes a number of influences, evoking certain tones and memories of the past. Often, they involve vintage typography. You can use fonts like Motherline, Hemingwar, Stiquez, Jibril, Atara, etc. A true retro look comes with a mix of typefaces. Mix cursive font with cleaner retro fonts leads to a great retro logo. A fascinating part of the vintage logo design is the use of borders. You can even choose between matching solid colors and ornamental designs.


Logos with a hand-drawn look, or a sketchy look, is perfectly suitable for a vintage logo, and your audience will be impressed by your artistic talent. To enhance the charm of your brand, you can add certain elements like the application of a scratch filter to make the view as faded. Moreover, you can also make your design attractive by using tones of sepia or black and white with some dazzling colors to give a great impression.


Vintage logos evoke a feeling from a certain era due to the emotional associations with the visual styles you’re using in the logo. Your logo can look cool and smart, relaxing and welcoming, or even full of action, all based on the time period and place you’re taking your vintage logo inspiration from.

Modern logo

Modern logo design is a collection of classic and trending elements, all of which are blended to create a logo that feels fresh. Today’s modern design includes sleek lines, color, simple lettering, and highly defined elements.

A large number of businesses are redesigning their logos into simplified logos while startups are looking for simple logos instead of choosing complicated designs.

The modern logo encourages designers to shift from abstract and ambiguous forms to straightforward visuals. The logo must be simple and to the point. It must speak the same language as the audience, bringing the brand closer to the target audience.

Logos that have a minimal style are totally trending in modern logos. This trend has been evolving for a long time as more designs have flatter styles, less colors, and as few words as possible.

Another way to design a modern logo is to place the icon next to the text. This is one of the things that sets apart many modern logo designs – a text and icon element placed next to each other. Modern logo designs also include hand-drawn designs, said to have the charisma and credibility needed to pull customers to businesses.

Logo designers earlier encouraged the use of a mixture of colors because a clever color combination looks attractive in most cases. However, in modern logo design, the simpler the color code of a logo is, the better it is considered by the target market.

The logic behind this is that more colors distract the viewers from the objective of the logo, and a lot of colors can irritate a person’s eyes too. The use of one or two colors enables them to become prominent and leave a lasting effect on customers’ minds.

Many logos that are being designed these days involve the creative use of line art. Lines may be used to write something or draw a shape or figure, whatever is suitable with the nature of the business.

In modern logos, designers experiment with letters. They stack letters into a column, write them in different fonts, combine them with different graphic elements, and a lot more.

Bold Logo

In this digital world with a lot of competition, a brand needs to look radically different from its competitors. To stand out in the market, many brands prefer to have bold logos. Bold logos are based on uncomplicated and well-balanced concepts and use of non-decorative and well-articulated fonts. Bold and powerful logos aim to captivate your audience with awe and simplicity.


This type of logo involves use of Sans Serif fonts and lots of angles/straight edges with strong contrasting colors. No more than two colors are used generally. It usually has a rigid grid structure. Bold and powerful designs traditionally contain a large number of masculine design traits like sharp angles, darker colors, and prominent fonts.


However, a bold logo can mean much more than just large, abrupt fonts and bright colors. Presenting a very simple, and tidy design to your audience can communicate a message of professionalism and show that you are a well-organized and well-thought-out brand, evoking a feeling of confidence.


A bold logo design that is simple and easily recognized makes a powerful statement because your target audience will remember your brand’s message. Bold logos involve simplistic fonts, bold contrasting colors like black, blue, or red, square shapes, and avoiding the use of any cursive fonts or embellishments.


Another way to design a bold logo is to give a more rebellious and brazen outlook. You can use bold colors and abstract shapes, along with eye-catching and thought-provoking concepts. This type of logo shows that you are a courageous and confident brand, not afraid to take risks.


To design a powerful logo, you can even use triangles. Triangles generally give a feeling of power, being chosen by dominating brands, e.g., BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Google Drive, etc.

Elegant logo

Does your target audience like the finer things in life? If yes, then an elegant logo is the perfect choice for you. This type of logo is best for businesses that bring an element of luxury and glamor to consumers. Elegant logos involve delicate linework, script fonts, and classic colors for a more refined look.


This type of logo generally uses serif fonts, and an emphasis is given on embellished letterforms or script. There are fluids, flowing arcs, and lines, involving softer edges and the use of more colors/gradients. The graphic elements are more intricate and have greater detailing.


In elegant logo design, it’s important to look at which of these traits best suit your business – luxury, superiority, grace, or refinement. Subtle color palettes and textures and the use of intricate lines create a seamless and elegant logo. Coming to fonts, Gotham and FF DIN are preferable. Using clean, bold, and fonts with different weights is apt.


Serif fonts are used widely in elegant logos, having a high contrast of thick and thin strokes – for example, Bodoni or Didot fonts, used in the Vogue Magazine masthead. Script typeface is used to give elegance to a logo, especially used for legacy brands.


Tall fonts and fonts with serifs and script/cursive fonts can be paired together to produce elegant logos. Art deco fonts are especially useful for these types of designs. Thin lines are specifically used in shapes and borders to give a feeling of elegance. When an intricate design is created for a logo, it appears to be created after careful thought and time. Texture and repetition of an element lend design a feeling of elegance and sophistication. Another way is to use foil – especially gold foil and blind embossing to create a sophisticated brand.

Designs that are gentle, understated, and soft also have wonderful elegance in them. This style of elegance can also be given by using muted pastel color palettes, delicate illustration, and soft brush strokes. 

Conclusion

Everyone wants their logo to have a strong presence in the market, but it is first essential to convey the brand message to potential customers. So, you have to choose a logo that fits your brand, keeping it simple so that your brand is easily recognizable. Apply colors that represent your brand value and use your individuality in your logo by using enticing fonts to make it look unique.


ProDesigns has expertise in creating bold, elegant, vintage as well as modern logos for brands across the globe.


Get in touch with us through [email protected] to get more details about our logo design services.

Nidhi Dave

Nidhi is working as a content and brand strategist at ProDesigns - a graphic design company, recommending strategies to meet customers’ goals and deliver a superior user experience. She provides content leadership, ensuring that a consistent brand message is delivered to the audience.
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