Emblem or symbol as a logo.
Some people think of the emblem as the logo. And in some rare cases, enough time has passed or enough money spent that the emblem can actually perform this function.
More often though, the emblem is used in conjunction with the name and the two together form the official logo.
Apple is unique in that they have promoted the apple emblem as a stand-alone mark since the early days. However, for the Apple wordmark, they used a custom designed digital font, Garamond Light Condensed, before it was ever available to the public. After using this font in their advertising, the clamor from the design community was so great that the font was made available in several forms.
You might say that Apple "owns" this font the same way Mary Kay "owns" the color pink. But keep in mind that millions have been spent to achieve this status.
Name or Wordmark.
Most companies use some form of their name (a contraction, as in FEDEX or initials, as in IBM or UPS). The specific graphic treatment of the name. font or letter design, colors, etc., then becomes the logo or wordmark. For the designer, a lot of thought goes into choosing just the right elements that will reflect the company's best attributes. Let's look at one simple example.
Zircon Container Company is a southwest Colorado company which sells and rents refurbished cargo containers. We initially felt that Zircon was an unfortunate name as it seemed to have nothing to do with shipping containers. Zircon is a mineral commonly used in abrasives and occasionally as a gemstone. However, that was not our decision.
First we looked at the characteristics of the product. Cargo Containers are made of steel. Containers are strong, watertight and easy to secure. They are also portable. They're great for auxiliary storage (Wal*Mart rents a bunch for extra inventory during the Christmas season), and when modified, they can even serve as a temporary office on a construction site.
In developing the logo, we chose a bold typeface to suggest strength and dependability (both for the company and the product). We used the italic version to suggest forward movement (portability, but also a forward thinking, innovative company). The gradient line under the name reinforces this feeling of movement. After all, these folks will deliver a container right to your door.
We wanted strong colors that would work well with the containers themselves, which are painted a distinctive desert sand color. By breaking out the letters CON in a separate color, we imply an abbreviation for "container". Then we tightened up the letter spacing so the word would still function as a single unit.
Some marks actually become verbs. We "Google it", "FEDEX it" and even "PhotoShop it". In the area they serve, Zircon has become a noun. "We'll just throw it in the zircon." or "We'll rent a few more zircons." This is most likely due to the company's excellent product and service, rather than the logo. Zircon is also easier to say than "cargo container".
Other forms of identity.
Sometimes one can associate something visual with the company that will enhance the recognition. In the case of The Wine Merchant, we designed a rather straightforward logo.
But, in their newspaper ads, we added an additional element; a wine bottle laying on it's side (the way you store fine wine). In each ad, the bottles were the ones being talked about in the copy. This practice gave us a much larger image to work with and created a de facto identification for the shop. After awhile, one could just glance at an ad and know that it was for The Wine Merchant. The bottle on its side became a surrogate logo.
Design as identity, or Creating a Look.
A distinctive design used over a period of time becomes identified with the advertiser. They literally "own" the look.
Marcy Pryor already had a terrific logo. In designing her ads, we presented a whimsical look at the personality of the Realtor, rather than just showing another listing. Each ad is a micro-story with a punch line and an asterisk which leads to another tidbit. By standardizing on Helvetica for the head (straightforward, no nonsense) and anchoring every ad with Marcy's logo, we created a look that became associated with her for a number of years. For Marcy's take on this, click here.
