Like A Boomerang, They Come Right Back

Logos may stand in the background for a few decades, but they always make a comeback. This can be good and bad. Take a look at this Flickr page, which shows a collection of vintage logos from a mid-70's edition of the book World of Logotypes.

Many are similar to modern logos. The logo in the top right of this page is similar to the current Motorola logo. Companies still use clear and identifiable shapes today, as well as the use of one letter to represent the brand. Since the core concepts of logo development are the same today as they were 30 years ago, so are the bad choices.

Today’s logos have a strong connection between the brand and the customer; poor logo choices do not. In these examples, many logos seem to lack that strong correlation to the brand. For example, in the United States Postal Service logo, there are nine stars. Why does the logo use nine stars? Thirteen for the original colonies or fifty for the number of states (post-1959) are the typical numbers for stars relating to the U.S. Only nine colonies were needed to ratify the Constitution, but somehow I don’t think that was USPS’ reasoning for the number. My colleague commented that many logos look like “someone just slapped it on top of a letterhead to make it official.” There may be a lot of truth to that.

When branding or rebranding your company, be sure the logo has substance. Connect it with the brand and with your target audience, but don’t over-think it. It’s okay to take hints from the past, just don’t go overboard.