Nike's swoosh to Amazon's smile: why we can't resist the power of logos

They might consist of little more than a piece of type. There could be a symbol. Perhaps there’s a splash of colour – but not always. From such seemingly unobtrusive elements, logos have invaded our lives, whether we like it or not.

Designing them is more difficult than it looks. Changing one that is established is fraught with risk for those designing and those buying.

We could pretend that logos are irrelevant, that we are way too sophisticated to be influenced by them. The evidence suggests otherwise.

When a big company rebrands it’s headline news and everyone from your gran to the chief executive has a view. For startups, along with raising cash and finding a name, a decent logo is critical. Logos and brands now play a central role in our lives – from identifying your charity of choice, finding your favourite beer on the shelf or spotting someone’s Twitter feed.

When creating them, small choices can have a big effect – fashion brands tend to use capitals with a space in between to imply luxury, whilst chocolate bars use soft, fluid lettering. Dull corporations love dull blues and breast cancer charities rotate around the pink end of the spectrum. These are the clichés, of course, and by definition always ripe for re-examination. Many logos that seemed odd at first, like London’s Olympic emblem or Airbnb’s new symbol, start to become familiar after the initial shock dies down.

What is that makes a logo good, or even great? Well, they are usually simple, hopefully memorable, ideally unique. The holy grail is probably something like FedEx’s: two colours, simple type, presents FedEx as a modern company, looks great on a van. It also includes a hidden symbol of a white arrow between the ‘E’ and the ‘x’, to be discovered by the keener-eyed observer – a subtle delivery of a more graphic nature. In my career in branding, the closest I ever got to that was probably my Shelter logo: roof on the ‘h’, simple type, job done.

A different take on these simple twists is the V&A’s logo. The designer cut off the upstroke of the A and put the ampersand in its place. Somehow, that little change makes it more unique. Nearly thirty years later, it’s still standing, and still outstanding.

Those three examples wouldn’t amount to much without regular use. The V&A’s logo sat in a corner for over a decade until they let it loose – now it’s often bigger than anything else on the museum’s posters. Brands build through scale and repetition, so it’s only now that Amazon is taking the smile in its logo (that points from ‘A’ to ‘Z’ – get it?) and using it on its own, nine years later.

You could try designing a logo yourself, and there are many examples that haven’t changed much since inception. Virgin’s was allegedly scribbled on the back of a napkin (quite who scribbled it remains unclear). In the late 90s, Google was just one of a squillion silly-name startups who picked a typeface, chose some colours, and went for it themselves. Nearly twenty years later, the type’s been on a bit of a diet, but the colours remain.

Alternatively, a keen design student might be the answer, but judging what’s in front of you may prove troublesome. When presented with the Nike logo by then design student Carolyn Davidson, Phil Knight’s reaction was ‘I don’t love it but maybe it will grow on me’ and duly paid her $35 dollars for her time. To be fair, she was later given a clutch of Nike shares worth well over half a million dollars.

As for actual design agencies, they come into their own when a great result needs to be guaranteed, or when there are so many voices demanding attention that outsiders are necessary. Making logos work across a myriad of applications is another reason help is called upon. When designing an airline livery, it began to dawn on me that how it worked in miniature on price comparison websites was as important to the client as how it worked 30 metres wide on a plane fuselage.

The web can make or break a brand, and things can unravel very fast. An online revolt of cargo-pant-wearing millennials apparently wedded to a blue square and some elongated type, killed Gap’s planned overhaul. The recent logo for the Tokyo Olympics was judged as copied from a Belgian Theatre company – it’s still not clear how they would have seen it – and that was that.

Despite how hard they are to design – and approve – the power of a logo is undeniable. Easyjet’s name may be written in a weird, gooey orange font, but it’s memorable and friendly. IBM’s stripes have become synonymous with technology. Apple and Shell? They’ve done away with writing their names altogether. That truly is the power of a great logo.

Michael Johnson is the founder of branding agency Johnson Banks and author of Branding In Five and Half Steps.

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