Logos are the first impression people have of your organization. They can make or break a customer’s opinion of you before they’ve even had a chance to learn more information.
Wouldn’t you want your business’s logo to be perfect?
Incorporating symbols and imagery that represent your organization while keeping your logo fresh and updated can be challenging. With multiple design trends fading in and out of style, deciding the look of your logo can be challenging.
Keep reading to learn how logo design trends should be incorporated into your logo and visual materials.
Logo Design Trends That are Here to Stay
Since the launch of Apple’s IOS 7 in 2013, digital design has become increasingly 2D. Instead of highlights, shadows, and glossy finishes looking ideal in a logo, most organizations opt for more simple designs.
Many believed the rise of flat graphics would be short-lived. However, many companies have transitioned their visual materials to be less complex since this change in the design landscape.
2D imagery is a trend that will remain the norm for the foreseeable future. Adapting your branding imagery to this collective change in design concepts will update the appearance of your logo and make it more palatable for current consumer preferences.
Less is More
Gen Z’s average attention span is 8 seconds, with millennial’s a tad longer at 12 seconds. This means your logo has a shorter timeframe to capture the attention of consumers.
With the multitude of advertisements, commercials, and paid sponsorships that people see in a day, your logo has to stand out.
Since 2D design has taken over, this is a perfect time for designers to utilize the “less is more” mind frame when creating new graphic designs. To incorporate current logo design trends, designers should use as little visual information as possible when creating a business logo.
Monograms are a popular way to achieve less with more. Incorporating two or three letters (usually the business’s initials), monograms use typography as the design. These have been popular for centuries, proving to be a timeless trend.
Negative Spaces
Logo design trends in the past few years have favored using negative space within the design. These negative spaces typically form letters or an image that convey an important branding aspect for your business.
For example, the FedEx logo uses negative spacing. The negative space between the “E” and the “X” form an arrow. Since FedEx is a shipping company, this arrow creatively represents the purpose of the company: to move things to the next place.
Utilizing Logotypes and Logomarks
To keep things simple, many marketing materials contain logotypes or logomarks to act as a company’s official logo. Although these concepts are similar, logotypes and logomarks differ in design structure.
Logotype designs utilize characters in a font type to represent the initials or name of a company. These designs don’t include photos or visual graphics. Think of Google, Coca-Cola, or eBay; these logos use the names of their companies in one specific font.
Logotypes may have distinct color use, specific capitalization, or other manipulations. However, all of these personal design choices only exist within the confines of a font.
Logomarks, however, use nothing but a single image for a logo. These are icons that are instantly recognizable and convey the purpose of an organization. Examples would be Twitter’s blue bird icon or McDonald’s single M.
Combining Logotypes with Logomarks
While some companies opt for just a logotype or logomark to serve as their official logos, the biggest logo mistake is failing to combine the two.
Most logos have both a photo and text. Current logo design trends favor designs that can’t be explicitly defined as one or the other.
To keep things simple, design an image that is 2D and conceptually basic for your logomark. Your logotype should be the name of your organization in a clear, easy-to-read font. Placing the logotype directly next to the logomark makes for a trendy flow between the two that complements the look of each other.
Responsive Logo Design
Logotypes and logomarks can be used interchangeably instead of together to create a technique known as responsive logo design. While this method of design has been around longer than online marketing, it has become increasingly popular for designers in the last few decades.
Business cards, billboards, brochures, Instagram advertisements, and more must feature a company’s logo. However, these specific materials require different designs to best optimize visual appeal. A responsive logo design helps ensure a business’s branding visuals are consistent among all marketing materials.
Make a minimum of four versions of your logo design. Each version should be best suited for a different scale. The smaller the scale of a design, the more details should be dropped.
For example, a logo made for product packaging may include a logotype and logomark tied together with multiple design elements or phrases. The same company might create a logo with just the logomark and the company initials for a small advertisement placed in the corner of a website.
Creating a responsive logo design doesn’t mean you’re creating completely different logos. It just means you have multiple versions of the same logo meant for different materials.
Bright Colors and Shapes
2022 logo design trends include bright color schemes and geometric shapes. These visual elements should match the tone of your brand.
Think of the PlayStation logo; since it’s a gaming company, they use pops of bright red, blue, green, and yellow in their logo. Video games are fun, so their logo enforces this idea.
Bright colors are paired with shapes that directly correlate with the purpose of a company. If you’re a housing contractor, your logo might include a triangle on top of type to represent a house. If you own an outdoor recreation business in the mountains, your logo might include a line that forms a mountain shape.
These design elements shouldn’t make a logo too busy or detailed, but rather give context to what your business offers and its tone.
Create Your Dream Logo
Your organization’s logo is the most creative aspect of its branding strategy. Making a logo trendy yet timeless is the best way to make sure you stand out from other businesses.
Ready to find the designers to bring your vision to life? Check out our testimonials to see how we’ve helped businesses adapt their branding visuals to current trends in the design world.
