Why these Popular Logos take the Cake
1.29.2009 | Fonts, Inspiration, Logo's, Showcase, Tutorials, Typography
Hello everyone,
Its been a while since I posted but this one will be worth the wait. Here is a collection of logos that are simple and effective. I will also point out what you should look for in each design as most of them have subtle and hidden messages.
Designer:
Mike Erickson - Logomotive
Logo Design: Zip - The “I” has been replaced with a zipper to connect the Z & P
Designer:
Bojan Stefanovic - Logoholik
Logo Design: Forkwire - A fork formed into an @ symbol! Such a easy logo to remember
Designer:
Maumer
Logo Design: Pakuy - A packaging company. An broken down box in the shape of the letter “P”
Designer:
Toni - Tonfue
Logo Design: Elle Hives - Company designs compact tractors. The letters “E” and “H” make up the image of a tractor.
Designer:
Josiah Jost - Siah Design
Logo Design: Eds Electric - The male and female socket form a perfect capital letter “E.”
Designer:
Jason Cho
Logo Design: Piano Forest - Piano keys shaped like trees to resemble a keyboard/piano
Designer:
Mike Erickson - Logomotive
Logo Design: Birdlove - A creative use of a monogram - using the letters B and L to create a heart and also looks like 2 birds.
Designer:
Sean Farrell - Penflare
Logo Design: Logoreview wordmark - When you take off a piece of the “v” in the word “review” it forms a check mark (for review)
Designer:
Kevin Burr - Ocular Ink
Logo Design: Heartbeats - Two music notes bending to form a heart
Designer:
Lawrence Anderson
Logo Design: Tim Mather - Creative mark using the T and M to form a very memorable monogram.
Designer:
Josiah Jost - Siah Design
Logo Design: Horror Films - This is one of the most simple yet effective logos I’ve ever seen - a regular film reel turned so it looks like a scary ghost… classic
Designer:
David Pache - dache
Logo Design: John Smith Photography - Uniquely combining the letters j, s, and p to create a monogram logo.
As always, I hope this gave you some insight as to how some designers hide messages into their logo. Thanks for looking at my post and would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks and
God Bless,
Sean
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1.29.2009
Awesome collection Sean! I’ve admired these a time or two before. Beauties… Thanks for featuring a couple of mine!
1.29.2009
Great list. I had seen the Eds Electric logo and Forkwire before, but not the rest. The one for Pakuy is my favourite
1.29.2009
Nice list! Josiah’s one is my fav for sure! Thanks Sean!
1.29.2009
Definitely some inspirational work here. The creativity and thought process behind these logos are amazing! A + B = C for life.
1.29.2009
Great collection Sean. Thanks for including my Tim Mather logo design.
1.29.2009
Awesome!! Eds Electric got me most… Thank you for sharing.
1.29.2009
Those are nice but the last one looks like part of a musical note. I wouldn’t think it was for a photographer.
1.29.2009
These are wonderful– my favorite is Horror Films, and Piano Forest was also very clever. Heart Beats doesn’t look much like musical notes to me.
1.29.2009
Nice post. I gotta say the EH making a tractor and ED’s are something, they take the palm for me! Good jod to all though, great logos.
1.30.2009
Stunning! Very inspiring collection.
1.30.2009
Beautiful, classy, creative! Thank you for sharing and inspiring.
1.30.2009
Nice post, thanks. Very creative.
1.30.2009
Heartbeats instantly made me think of a bra, not a good logo.
1.30.2009
You should’ve included the arrow in the FedEx logo. I love that one.
1.30.2009
nice collection of logos man …
1.30.2009
Hey Sean, thanks for the mention. So many great and conceptual logos here. Man, it is so about time I start blogging. You keep me inspired. And hey, don’t forget about the hidden headphones in my Heartbeats logo. Cheers!
1.30.2009
So clever - I agree the Horror Films one is the best I’ve seen. And what a great name for a film company. Say what you see!
1.30.2009
while the logos are clever - the idea that any of the symbolism is hidden and needs to be explained is a bit condescending - don’t you think?
1.30.2009
@josiah - yeah no problem, “horror films” is going to be a classic logo forever
@andrew - yeah pakuy is very creative, nicely done by maumer
@bojan - no problem, forkwire has been a hit everywhere it goes
can’t wait to see what they do with it
@lawrence - he better start using it since its been featured everywhere!
@josh - yeah it sort of looks like a musical note, but using three letters to create such a “harmonic” logo is pretty hard to do, hats off to david pache for that logo
@amy - I was mistaken, they are music beats and also head phones!
@patrick - i’ll be doing more of these posts and the amazon and fedex logos will be included next
@kevin burr - yeah you better start blogging, you have some great logos and a lot of knowledge in this area - would love to hear musings from one of the pros
@michael - I wouldn’t say that they need to be explained, but just decided too anyways. I’m sure the average person/consumer can see the concept without having it have to be explained to them. This also registers in the “subliminal” category - i.e: fedex.. maybe 1 out of 100 people would see the arrow in their logo, but its still ranked as one of the top logo’s ever created.
1.30.2009
None of these seem like secret messages, they were pretty self explanatory and you could see what they were without the description. The collection is nice though, perhaps work on stories behind the design.
1.30.2009
Great examples of how logo’s should help tell the story.
Ed’s Electric is a great design. Piano Forest is very subtle, which I like, and John Smith Photography is very elegant and subtle as well.
1.30.2009
@logo design guru - to the average person who doesn’t design - i would completely disagree with you.
@kristof - yes those three are all very good
1.30.2009
This is a great collection of logos. I love the way that the logos have a “double meaning” - Zip, Piano Forest, Bird Love, Logo Review, Horror Films.
1.31.2009
Great post penflare! These are some awesome logos. I think Ed’s Electric is my favorite, it reminds me of the negative space arrow in the fedex logo.
1.31.2009
[...] The Secret Messages of Logos - Penflare Designs [...]
1.31.2009
Wonderful collection of logos. Kudos!
2.01.2009
The logos are all very good, but where’s the hidden meaning in a monogram? It’s just a nice combination of letters, maybe if you make a deeper analysis… who is tim mather for example? his monogram has to do anything with his profession?
2.03.2009
[...] The Secret Messages of Logos - Penflare Designs great read! The Secrets behind logos! (tags: design information inspiration identity article logo branding portfolio logos) [...]
2.05.2009
Thank you for including my logo
By the way.. this website/blog looks great !
2.11.2009
All of the logos are great. Thanks for a worthwhile post.
2.13.2009
The one I found interesting was the “Heartbeats” logo. My first impression of it was that of a pair of headphones with the headband in a heart shape, until I read the description of it being two musical notes. That’s an effective use of ambiguity in a logo, since both perceptions relate to the subject - heart, and music (beats).
2.21.2009
Stunning collection. I really liked the ZIP and ED’s Electric. Intelligently done.
2.22.2009
Great collection Sean, a lot of clever stuff going on!
3.18.2009
Heh some nice ones I’d not seen before, quick tell them about the fedex arrow ;oP
3.20.2009
Those are some killer designs, definitely more skilled than I in that area. Great inspiration to work towards though.
3.21.2009
Sean nice blog and thanks for the inclusions. Keep up your great work.
ME
3.31.2009
amazing work sean.. keep it up..
Manish Diwan - Mumbai (India)
5.03.2009
Hi Sean, thanks very much for the mention :^)
5.14.2009
Sean, I’ve seen some of them before naturally, but this is a very nice collection. How simple and yet powerful logos!
5.18.2009
This site jacked your post man: http://www.graphicdesignblog.org/hidden-logos-in-graphic-designing/
You should really call them out…seems to be some type of copy pasta splog all done to look like they are turning out legit content…but they aren’t.
5.18.2009
[...] Sean Farrell offers a gallery of logos that incorporate a visual pun or hidden image. Here’s an [...]
5.19.2009
[...] particularly fond of Ed’s electric. « Jet Blue Targets CEO’s affected by the [...]
5.25.2009
It is amazing that people can be so creative projecting logos. Thanks for the post.
5.28.2009
Excellent!Ingenious!
I will never look at Logos in the same way again.
My all time favourite is the FedEx logo though.
5.28.2009
Intriguing!! its absolutely wonderful…. would love to work in a branding company… the people are just so creative.
its a great post… i think i would keep coming back to check any new posts!
6.01.2009
[...] Design: Love me a logo with a surprising little visual twist: Why these Popular Logos take the Cake [...]
6.03.2009
Have always loved the ED’s ELECTRIC logo. It a stellar collection indeed. Good post!
6.11.2009
Sean, i enjoyed viewing all these. i thought they were all great. if i had to choose a favorite, i don’t think i could - well, maybe the piano forest. i did like that one. can you post more, please.
10.03.2009
Supah cool, Sean! I thought the “Heartbeats” one were headphones, but I see the notes, now, lol!
10.19.2009
I recently came across your blog. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Very informative and nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
10.20.2009
Outstanding!!! Never seen before…. I loved visiting this Blog as everytime I visit I’ll get something out of you guys…
11.17.2009
Wonderful, Conspicuous!!! ceaseless seen early…. I have worshipped visiting this Blog as everytime I visit I’ll get spoil out of you guys…
Nice collection of Logos…………
Thanks.