The Boston Celtics are releasing an alternate logo, to be used on certain Adidas merchandise and also available for team owners, as reported by CBS Sports.  We so often see over-embellished logo designs in terms of color and effects like gradients, glosses and special colors or inks.  While we do not discourage the use of anything that makes a logo design look great; we can use this logo design to illustrate how a solid, confident, and professional one color logo design can often be superior.

One color logos read at a glance, and, if done strongly, leave a lasting impression in the customer’s mind.  The big thing portrayed by a company or business who uses a one color logo is confidence, and global reach.  It can be noted that CBS Sports’ logo is also one color, as is McDonald’s and many others.  One color says the business is established, immune to trend and here to stay.  As far as a classic franchise that is not going anywhere, well – the Boston Celtics are right up there and we applaud them for being retro-bold enough to go ahead with a beautiful one color logo design, even if it is an alternate.

One last thing we might add is the logo is almost an illustrated logo design, yet remains one color.  It portrays a full Leprechaun holding a basketball, with a pipe in his mouth.  Due to the iconic familiarity of the Celtic Leprechaun, we can almost see the shock or red hair and his Irish smirk.  Well played, Celtics; the fans in our office will be shopping for this logo when it arrives on the Adidas gear.

 

 

Since they say everything in Texas is bigger, we could not help noticing how huge the icon design, or symbol above the text is on this logo!  Woah there, cowboy… when designing a professional looking logo design the icon and the name should have equal weight, as a general rule.  Rules are made to be broken, however, especially where Texas is concerned; so we could live with just a small amount of downsizing to this icon, while still letting it be the dominant piece of the entire logo design.  This icon design is just…massive.

In regards to the whole thing, we will give it a Not Bad rating, based on originality and execution.  We see the “A” theme, for Arlington (and America?) and it has the look of a cattle brand. We can live with all of that, and it’s resemblance to Mall of America’s old logo design. It just doesn’t have a huge “wow” factor.

What bugs us most is the strange touching of the wave in the star, to the top of the “N” in Arlington.  Yikes, people.  Everything in the logo should have a reason. Sometimes doing something for the sake of doing it only, or acting on a serendipitous visual correlation like this can work. In this case it seems forced, and the straight line of the “N” does not really match the smooth curve coming down through the icon design. This just adds a point of tension in the logo, taking away from the icon and the name. I’m going to give the design studio the benefit of the doubt and guess that this occurred during the revision stage, by a committee (the worse thing that can happen to a logo is its presentation to a committee for disassembly).

Here we have the design, with our adjustments – por gratis.  We can only hope the City of Arlington takes notice of our benevolent aid with their logo.  Take a look below, and tell us there is not a better sense of balance and professionalism.  Ahhh.

This example is to show that the last bit of spacing and design is very important when considering your logo design.  When getting your logo designed, leave it to the logo design professionals and you will not have to make changes and redesign the logo down the road.

 

 

There has been some uproar over the content of the 2014 FIFA World Cup logo design.  The logo icon is made up of multiple clasped hands.  When one plays the game of soccer (or futbol, as they say) one always remembers the paramount rule of “NO HANDS”.  You can do almost anything, as long as you do not use your hands.

In developing the logo design, the usual reasons of inclusiveness, welcome and togetherness were given for the use of hands.  We see no problem with incorporating a theme into an icon design, but picking an opposing symbol to what the subject is about does seem questionable.

The other thing we would say about this World Cup logo design is that it relies on many gradients, making it cost double or more to print on anything.  On a lower end press, it will hard to maintain consistency. Our advice would be to make it all flat colors. A luminous, jungle feel could still be easy enough to achieve, and it could even be stamped in huge numbers at little cost.  In it’s current form, embroidering would be close to impossible.

We hope they have a flat version of it for certain uses; hopefully it does not lose too much when seen at a small size as well.  To make sure all of the necessary considerations are taken into account from the outset, get a professional business logo designed for your company. Don’t trust just anyone to take care of your own company image.

 

 

As we recently discussed in a Logodesign.com article, many companies use subliminal messages in their logos to convey a message.  One of those who have received some attention lately is Wendy’s.  The Wendy’s new logo, released last year, had people buzzing about the subliminal message in the ruffles of the redheaded girls collar.  Can you see it?  Look hard and you will see one comforting little word….      MOM.    Surprisingly, Wendy’s announced recently, it was merely a coincidence.  (Yeah…right)

 

Subliminal advertising is nothing new.  Advertisers spend a lot of time and money conveying the right message in their logo.  The purpose is sometimes to share a two-part message in one logo!  Take a closer look at some of the logos out there.  There are some real subtle marketing tactics with subliminal features that if you look real hard…. can you see them all?

Sometimes this subliminal technique is a little tricky, butyou have to be the judge.  Logos have changed more to “subtle” representations now a days and brand logos are an example of that.

We recently did one for a maker of custom golf carts. We found a way to convey his name subtly while showing some golf clubs and a golf cart wheel. Now people can either see the dog first, or the wheel/clubs combo first, but either way, there’s a second interpretation that, when discovered, strongly reinforces the logo in the viewer’s mind.

When using the subliminal technique with your logo here are a few points to keep in mind:

1. Is your subliminal message so hard to find that only a trained logo designer can detect it? If so, then rethink your design.
2. Overall does the logo convey your intended message?
3. What is the nonverbal communication?  Is the graphic trying to communicate some feature or selling point?

Logos can be a blast.   Who knew?!  Here’s a little video we found…. some more creative subtle messages in logos to feast your eyes upon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdbBzq5B9Es

http://www.businessinsider.com/subliminal-messages-hidden-in-logos-2013-6

Enjoy and…. next time you have a Wendy’s burger and wonder why you are thinking of home and the cozy, comfort of “mom”…now ya know.