LogoLounge master library. Vol. 3, 3000 shapes & symbols logos from LogoLounge.com

297 Pages·2011·152.459 MB·English

by  Fishel, Catharine M.;Gardner, Bill

volume 3
library
M A S T E R
3000 SHAPE & SYMBOL LOGOS
FROM LOGOLOUNGE.COM

catharine fi shel and bill gardner
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A decimal dedication with much to be LogoLounge.com is the world’s largest database
thankful for: of logo designs where, in real-time, members
can post their logo design work; study the work
Millions of hits on LogoLounge.com annually;
of others; search a database of more than
One hundred thousand–plus logos uploaded 109,000 logo designs by keyword, designer’s
to the site; name, client, industry, and other attributes; learn
from articles and news written expressly for
Ten thousand–plus members of
and about logo designers; build lightboxes for
LogoLounge.com;
inspiration; and much more. Anyone visiting the
One thousand–plus designers included
site has access to editorial materials, although
in this book;
only members have access to search, upload,
One hundred–plus countries our members and lightbox functions.
call home;
LogoLounge is also parent to two lines of
Ten Gardner Design and LogoLounge.com bestselling books about logo design, published
partners; by Rockport Publishers:
One daughter and one wife who make my life • T he original LogoLounge series (1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
a true joy. and 6; Book 7 is under development now)
• T he Master Library series, built from seven
volumes, each of which contains 3,000
—Bill Gardner
topic-specifi c logos. The topics covered will
be Initials & Crests; Animals & Mythology;
Typography; People; Shapes & Symbols;
Nature & Food; and Arts & Culture.
To Denny, Alex, Andrew, Sam, and the fabulous
For more details, please visit
Venture Crew 318: You always make me smile.
www.LogoLounge.com.
To Bill and the whole LogoLounge team: You are
an inspiration.
—Catharine Fishel
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contents
FROM THE
LOGOLOUNGE.COM
INTERNATIONAL
COLLECTION
3000 SHAPE & SYMBOL LOGOS
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6 Introduction: BILL GARDNER
12 Interview: Steff Geissbuhler
18 Interview: Jerry Kuyper
24 Interview: Hans Hulsbosch
13 Sidebar: Andy Payne, bpost
15 Sidebar: Chris Rooney, WE
17 Sidebar: Roy Smith, Further
19 Sidebar: Ty Mattson, Mottsy
21 Sidebar: Cesar Hirata, Grupo Boticário
23 Sidebar: Gia Bokhua, ACT
25 Sidebar: Marco Escalante, Ionos
27 Sidebar: Tim Driesen, Ageas
29 Sidebar: Bojan Stefanovic, Vibrant Drive
Expanded shapes
31
Collections of
LogoLounge
symbols
Identity 228
Categories
283 Index
288 Directory of Contributors
296 About the Authors
library
MASTER
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introduction
LOGOLOUNGE
MASTER LIBRARY
SHAPES & SYMBOLS
>
After thousands of years, the symbol fi rst used to
represent ivy leaves not only changed from green to red,
but it slowly acquired a whole new meaning as our
modern-day heart.
6 3000 SHAPE & SYMBOL LOGOS
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>
these logos is not reliant on the shape; instead,
All logos rely on symbology.
it depends on many different elements in the
And all logos have shape. So on the surface, this
design to convey the full meaning.
book’s title might seem a little indiscriminate or
perhaps just over-reaching. • S ymbols are logos that are based on pictorial
representations of concept—a heart, a star, or
But when you’re dealing with a growing data-
a cross, to name a very few. In large part, their
base of hundreds of thousands of logos, as
meaning is drawn from the specifi c base symbol.
LogoLounge.com does, some organizational
categories are necessary. We’ve selected the Like any spoken language, the visual language
names shapes and symbols to represent two of symbology is always evolving, but until
very specifi c categories, just as food, crests, recently, that evolution was usually quite slow.
animals, sports, and others (we use twenty-one As the pace and spread of media increases,
fi le names in all) are used to help categorize new potential symbols are being born every day.
other logical groupings. Witness the hundreds of new icons born every
year, created especially for websites and PDA
So what do the terms shapes and symbols
screens. They receive wider exposure, so their
mean, in this context?
comprehension is quicker. If any one gains
• Shapes are generally logos that are more traction, it could well become a symbol—but only
concept-oriented. That doesn’t mean that many over time.
designs in the shape category don’t rely on
The new wind power logo is a good example. It’s
their form/shape to convey a message. A circle
hard to know in ten years where or what it will
used in a logo may well represent a globe or
be. It was intended from the start to be iconic—
infi nity or completeness or any number of
like the recycling symbol—unlike some arbitrary
concepts. But the total meaning for some of
>
The new icon representing wind energy could become ubiquitous and a familiar element in logo design…or maybe not.
library
MASTER 7
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shape, like the smiley face, that unexpectedly
gained traction. But despite this original intent,
the wind power symbol hasn’t really worked its
way into the public consciousness yet. And if the
technology for gathering wind power changes
away from giant windmill-driven turbines, it could
become completely irrelevant.
If it does catch on, though, this logo or parts of it
could become fl exible parts of the visual vocabu-
lary very quickly. The blades could take on
additional symbolism never originally intended for
association with this icon. They could represent
the concept of never-ending power or wind or
movement, or maybe they will be a symbol for a
person who is full of himself/full of hot air. Used
as part of a logo, the blades could represent any
number of products and services that have
nothing whatsoever to do with wind-powered
energy. The icon will have become a symbol.
The icon found on the “power” button on most
computers is another example. The unfi nished
circle with the line sticking out of its top is certainly
iconic in computer-users’ worlds. So it will be a
short leap for the icon to become a symbol that
means on or power in any parlance. (This is
despite the fact that it doesn’t mean on at all. The
shape originated in the early 1970s as part of a
set of symbols used by electrical engineers: It
meant standby. The actual “on” symbol was a
complete circle, such as might be seen on a car’s
air-conditioning panel. But I digress.)
With almost no alteration whatsoever, because
of a visual entendre, the “power-on” symbol is
presently being used as a symbol in the offi cial
condom campaign in New York City. We are
seeing more and more power button-based
>
Top down: Swedish Council of America, Kansas Heart
logos loaded onto LogoLounge as well. Its simple
Hospital, Spirit AeroSystems. Traditional symbols have
design and very basic meaning have the kind
been worked into each of these logos in a way that
of adaptability that is a hallmark of an effective
keeps the symbols in the background while bringing their
core meanings forward. (All designs by Gardner Design.) symbol: It could host many ideas. The older a
8 3000 SHAPE & SYMBOL LOGOS
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symbol becomes, the less literal it is, and the
greater its capacity to contain more diverse
symbolism.
Some symbology is very old, yet even these
samples continue to grow in meaning. The heart
is a familiar symbol to most, and its origin and
evolution demonstrate this growth very well. The
basic heart shape can be traced back to the third
millennium B.C. In art and carvings, the heart-
shaped ivy leaf was used to represent life and
living things. It may also have represented
tenacity and, by extension, long-lived devotion.
In the twelfth century C.E., when the tree of life
was depicted in art, often in religion documents,
its leaves were heart-shaped (today such shaped
leaves are called cordate, cor being Latin for
heart). In the fi fteenth century C.E., the notion of
the red heart evolved. Because of blood, red was
considered a color for life, health, love, and good
luck, and soon red heart-shaped leaves were
seen, deftly twisting these two similar but distinct
strands of symbology together.
The notion of the red heart spread across Europe
and became widely adopted by the Catholic
Church to represent sacred and everlasting love.
That the red heart did not look like an actual
human heart was as unimportant then as it is now.
Love and caring comes from the heart, which—
emotionally—we feel is housed somewhere deep
within us, as the actual organ is. But intellectually,
that love and caring is represented by the image
of the shape of the upside-down red ivy leaf.
Many ancient symbols have similar histories.
They succeed over time because people have
>
Spirit AeroSystems uses an unconventional star
to indicate direction and lift toward the stars. (Identity
created by Gardner Design.)
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MASTER 9
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the mental ability to interpret symbology. When
we create new symbols and shapes today, we
rely on the exact same ability.
Consider two logo projects from our offi ce. The
design for the Swedish Council of America is
symbol-based (see page 8). The design for
Atigeo (left) is shape-based. Yet both succeed
because of the human intellect’s ability to
translate stored knowledge into a new and
distinct experience.
The Swedish Council design is clearly based on
a star, and simply the use of that symbol lends
the logo an offi cial or national feel. But adding
the variables of size, number, arrangement, and
color to the use of the symbol gives it greater
meaning.
The star is formed from negative space created
by the careful arrangement of three crowns,
which represent another familiar symbol from
Sweden’s national crest that represent the days
when Sweden, Finland, and Norway were all
under one rule. The parallelograms at the bottom
complete the star, representing the ocean that
spans beneath the continents, as the crowns
also represent traveling to the new world. The
colors are pulled from the Swedish fl ag, but the
white star on the partially blue fi eld also speaks
clearly of the USA.
The concepts of Swedish-ness and American-
ness are brought together in a new symbol, built
from other symbols. We are able to “read” and
understand the logo because of what we already
know about crowns and stars.
Atigeo’s logo is clearly not a specifi c symbol; it
>
Top down: Atigeo, Silk, Wichita Riverfest. Shape is instead a new shape. But it also depends on
logos such as the top two rely more on concept than the
symbology for the viewer to extract meaning.
form/shape of the logo itself. The Riverfest logo, though,
uses symbolic fl ames in a much more literal manner. Atigeo defi nes itself as a “compassionate
(All designs by Gardner Design.) technology” company that helps its customers to
better understand the world through data and
10 3000 SHAPE & SYMBOL LOGOS
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