First of all, simply the definition would be “A Logo is a symbol that represent your identity in the brand, company or any other”.
But to get into a clear picture let’s hop in to the bit of history.
History of the word Logo
So, the history expands in to the days where humans evolves in to write down things. But here the main focus is about the basic idea. So according to the resources on the Oxford Dictionary Logo is a abbreviation of the word Logotype.
When looking into the history books, Logotype is a word emerged in late 80’s as a term used in Hot metal printing,.That was a method of letter press printing which is a famous printing technology used before digital era.
Letters were molded metal blocks as in typewriters.A logotype was one word cast as a single piece of type. So, it contains one or more that one combination of letters.
Image Source – Pinterest
It is interesting fact that in that era. Logotype was only a unique set of letters arrange in certain manner, there were no symbols involved. So, they were also called as typeface or face. Mainly newspapers and magazines were printed by this printing technique.
Later 18th and 19th centuries advertising industry boomed and that is where typography it self revolutionized. So there was the emerging of new fields such as logos.
What does the Logo define?
Logo is not just a symbol. It is something that represent you or your brand.A logo is pretty much the same as a trademark, which when legally registered, will bear the familiar R-in-a-circle symbol.
*There is no any meaning to TM actually. R is the legally registered mark. But in generally brands use TM
There are 5 main categories popular around the designers. A logo can be a nameplate or a monogram, emblem, symbol or signet.
The wealthier the corporation, it seems, the simpler the logo.
Purpose of the Logo
- Represent the Brand Identity
So, main purpose was to represent the Brand Identity. Logo provides a complex communication system. That is really what is identity, that is your thought process on brand building. It is not just representing, what are you doing or what you don’t do.
2.Brand awareness
Also Brand awareness and recognition are facilitated by a visual identity that is easy to remember and immediately recognizable. Visual identity triggers perceptions and unlocks associations of the brand. Sight, more than any other sense, provides information about the world. That is a logo.
Source – sodacancollection.blsgspot.com
Future of the logo Designing
- From drawing in on stones to papers, from letterpress to digital, the visual illustrations have been evolved much more than expected.The logo design profession has substantially increased in numbers over the years.Major shift was happened through the digital medias. Not only the logo designs.
- Now we have Cooperated Designs. Which we include so much of branding strategies and making habit of the brands.
A cooperate Branding Project
- In future we will experience much more simplistic (Minimalist) design containing less details as the human generation are much busier and knowledgeable. We want to have quick impression.
More of the Brand content will be digitalized much more than in the hand. We considerate pixels more than the smoothness of the pen or pencil. So, in future there will be a Digital Branding Era.
Take away
“In the future everyone in the world will have a new logo every 15 minutes” - Leslie Cabarga
This will be a true statement for future. But there will be brands that no one can change also.