The Five Types of Logos

Before attempting to get a custom logo designed for your business you need to be aware that there are several kinds of logos to choose from.

The prices for each logo type varies dramatically because of the difficulty involved in producing them.

This is why I recommend not attempting to design a logo yourself unless you REALLY know WHAT you are doing and WHY you are doing it. There are pros and cons associated with each logo type and a professional logo designer can help you choose the exact logo that will work best for your business.

There are varying opinions as to how many different kinds of logos there are. Some say there are three kinds of logos, others say there are four. Whether there are three, four, or ten doesn't really matter. What matters is that you are aware that there is more than one kind.

Here is a list of the types of logos that companies are using.

Text Logo

Text logos are very simple in appearance. Fortune 500 companies routinely select this type of logo to represent their company.

Though text logos are simple in appearance they aren't necessarily simple to design. A high level of experience with font types and the knowledge of how each font transmits a certain message is essential to producing a text style logo.

Which of the six famous logos pictured above is the most recognizable in the world? See answer at bottom of page.

Iconic Logo / Symbol Logo

Where text logos use words only to show who they are symbol logos use art. This is not easy to pull off.

Ten people can look at the same symbol logo and give you ten different opinions as to what the logo means. Kind of like the psychological blotter test where we everyone sees something different.

Iconic logos suffer from a slow recognition factor. You have to look at them for awhile to understand the logo. This can hurt you in the marketplace as people are in a hurry and don't want to spend time figuring out what your logo means.

Request an iconic or symbolic logo with care. Just because a famous company has one doesn't mean it would be a good fit for you. Nike's swoosh logo works for them because they've spent billions of dollars to weld it into our minds.

Graphical Logo / Illustrated Logo

Some designers separate graphical from illustrated logos as two distinct types. That's fine. Because they have more similarities than differences I lump them both together.

Graphical or illustrated logos are artistically complex. They are usually a pictorial representation of an aspect of your company. For instance, a caricature image of you or your company mascot make perfect subjects for the illustrated logo type.

Because of their complexity these logos tend to be the most expensive.

Combination Logo

A combination logo is exactly as it sounds, a combination of any or all of the logo types. Slap a combination of text, an icon and/or a graphical something into a one square inch space and you have a combination logo.

Clip art Logos

Clip art logos don't usually show up on anybody's list of logo types. The only reason why I mention them is because if you go to a do-it-yourself logo design site you will be given a clip art logo.

Clip art logos are bad because the artwork for the logos is used over and over again. This means a couple of things: first, your logo isn't unique, and second, you can't copyright your logo.

It is much better for your business to pay up for a high quality unique logo.

Which logo type is for you?

If you are a start-up company a simpler logo design is probably the safe route to take. So much depends on your marketing plans and how much you have to spend on advertising that I can't give an absolute answer.

As I've already mentioned you should discuss your logo needs with a professional logo designer first.

Answer to question.

The most famous logo in the world? Coca Cola

Next article: A handy logo design checklist.