Monday, July 30, 2012

New Logo Ideas - Minimalism in Logo Design – A Creative Trend or Sluggish Designing?

The idea of creating Minimal Logos has been derived from the art of minimalism, which involves reducing the design to its rudimentary features. Hailed by many as a popular and creative logo design trend, this form of logo designing is on its rise nowadays. Designers of all ages are voicing the same slogan “Simple is Better”. But let us be honest for a second and think…is it really better? Or are we just trying to be evasive?
Before you guys jump to any conclusions, let me clarify that my purpose is not to downgrade minimalism. What I wish to ask my fellow logo designers is that are we really using this trend in all due fairness? Or are we simply trying to procrastinate from work?

• Minimalist Logos – Is It Really Understood?

Most clients believe whatever the designer explains them. Even if there is no minimalism in the logo, the client would deem it as a minimalist logo just because the designer has convinced them. The true purpose of minimalism in logo design is to exhibit the company’s message using the least possible design elements. But if used out of context, it can spell danger for any entity. A famous case in point is the Gap logo redesign blunder. The company wanted to simplify its logo but couldn’t succeed in impressing their customers. Eventually, they had to revert to their old logo.
 
Gap logo redesign blunder
 

• Minimal Logo Design – Some Famous Examples:

In order to get a deep understanding of how minimalism works within a logo, consider the following examples of famous logos:

Nike

Nike
 
The ever-lasting Nike Logo with its famous ‘Swoosh’ is a perfect example of how to employ minimalism in logo design. It is simple and relevant. The sign perfectly depicts the culture and performance of the company. The Swoosh is evocative of the Greek goddess of Victory called Nike.

FedEx

FedEx
Who can ever forget the memorable FedEx logo that cleverly disguises an ‘Arrow’ between ‘E’ and ‘x’? Again this art of minimalism was not done without purpose. The arrow is used to signify the progress and advancement of the courier giant.

Amazon

Amazon
 
The Amazon logo is another great example of how to employ minimalism in logos. To a layman, it would look like an ordinary logo with no creativity. But if you observe, the arrow beneath is pointing from the letter ‘a’ to ‘z’ showing that the business deals in everything from A to Z.

Big Ten

Big Ten
Another good case in point is Big Ten old logo. It cleverly hides the numeral ‘11’ in the logo depicting the number of playing teams in the tournament back then.

• Why is Minimalism Taken For Granted?

Sometimes, logo designers take minimalism as a pretext to avoid effort and hardwork. In other words, they try to evade from working on a logo design project. In a few cases, designers also pass off an incomplete design as a minimalist logo which is highly uncalled for. Out of the many reasons that I have heard of designers using the minimalism, some are listed below:
• ‘It’s the hottest trend right now.’ • ‘Minimalist logos are easy for novice people to understand.’ • ‘We don’t want to confuse the target audience.’ • ‘Simple is always better and creative.’
But let us be honest guys…are these reasons sufficient enough to use minimalism? Is it really why we employ minimalism in logo design? Or is it that we adopt a simpler and safer path to avoid extra working on a project? Take a look at some of these inspiring logos that depict minimalism and be the judge.
inspiring-logo-1 inspiring-logo-2
inspiring-logo-3 inspiring-logo-4
inspiring-logo-5 inspiring-logo-6
inspiring-logo-7 inspiring-logo-8
inspiring-logo-9 inspiring-logo-10
 
 

No comments:

Post a Comment