Trying to pick the best logo of all time is a hard thing to do, the criteria is difficult to ascertain in it self.

1.) There’s the big name corporate logos which can be argued as ” a great logo” because of the company rather then the design.

2.) There’s the designers favourite where the criteria may revolve around the design itself rather then the company.

3.) There’ the bias opinion, (As I’m writing the article I could just put all my own logos on the list but I’m not going to do that.)

6.) Lastly, the most important factor is the technical and functional aspect along with it’s ability to communicate.

IMHO if anything in this world from music to movies and architecture to cars is considered as a classic, then it must stand the test of time. You can’t regard it as a classic unless it’s still as good, 10 years from now.

Creating a list of 10 best logos is too predictable. What I decided to do is create MY 7 most favourite underrated logo designs (10 was too hard to choose form and time did not allow for 10). Ones which I personally admire for one reason or another (including the above criteria) and ones which probably don’t get as much respect as they should do.

On another level it’s also safe to say that each of these logos have an effect on me with regards to design. Nothing to do with the business it represents but just simply logos which make me go Oooooooh. (probably a bit too much info)smile

To keep it interesting there are both the well known and the not so well known logos but all equally superb.

In no particular order – My favourite 7 underrated logos.

1.) Fed Ex

Nothing spectacular to look at but that’s exactly what makes this logo good; its simplicity. 2 colours, a sans-serif text, cute layout and most importantly the subliminal message which makes it a designers favourite. The hidden arrow, can you see it?

2.) AT &T

This is very much a personal favourite. Its communicates well creating a techy, corporate but friendly message with a difference (and it’s visually stunning).
The combination of cool colours, subtle gradients, dynamics, transparency and shapes makes me go “Ooooooh”. The icon sits incredibly well with the black, slim, curvy and contrasting text to add a hint of seriousness.

After this logo was created, countless emulations have been created by other companies.

3.) BT

A well known logo which hasn’t been adored by all, many designers even hate it but I love it. The old BT logo (man with a horn) was a classic but a bit horrible to look at. This on the other hand was a great move for BT. The new logo expressed exactly who and what BT were for the future.

A globe made from layers of technology with colours expressing the many areas they cover. The text works great for all targets as well as an identity for an institution.

4.) Limelight Group

I don’t know much about the business or designer but the design itself is quite well known for obvious reasons. Stylish, creative and executed brilliantly. Very different from the above logos with a quirkier feel, yet its still professional. Makes me smile.

5.) Sprint

Another personal favourite which makes me go Oooooh. The simplicity combined with the dynamic design just looks beautiful. You could pretty much put it in any colour and it would look good but the blue and yellow makes it original and creative yet conservative and modern.

6.) Qwell

How clever is that. An impossible Q made of several bright gradients. In terms of design ability, props to the designer.

7.) Bluewater

I have no idea what a horse has to do with a shopping centre but the sheer elegance of the logo makes it a favourite. The horse carries the sophistication that bluewater holds and the design of the horse and water together is executed superbly. Using one colour with the white backing to create the water is just great. Looking at the logo you can see the clever design where the horse and water merge together to create a seemless object. Are they water drops or is it the horse?

I could run this list on and on to make it a top 100 as there are so many great designs. Some don’t even see the light of day which brings us back to the whole point of logo design which is communication. Some of the best logos have don’t use a blatant message to relate to their b

A lot of the work a graphic designer produces is never seen. From logos and flyers to letterheads and websites, only one concept will make it through to be seen by the world.

Even when that final concept is chosen, most people don’t realise the hard work that has gone into a single image which may just be a small part of the final design. This can actually be seen as a good thing at times, for example with photo editing. If you can’t tell that the photo has been edited then the work done must have been pretty good but of course no one knows it.

Photo editing can come down to three sections and more often then not they are all used together:

Manipulating: Altering the original photo but not necessarily adding in anything new; adjusting what’s already there.
Eg. Using digital tools to carry out colour correction and special effects

Painting: Painting in new or removing certain sections of a photo.
Eg. Airbrushing a magazine cover, creating a background scene, refining details

Composition: Possibly creating a new image from the original one (layout).
Eg. Cutting sections out, adding in new elements and overlaying text.

What it involves:
A piece of graphic design can utilise all of these skills to create one document so as an example I’m going to show you what a graphic designer does when it comes to photo editing.

Brief: Seeing as this is an example I can do pretty much whatever I want but this can lead to design doom! I’ll give myself a brief to clarify the goal.

A banner for a HTML email, targeting VC’s. Must reach out and relate to them, be professional but also creative.

1. The idea - As mentioned in the previous episode, the idea is the hardest part. Luckily, after finding some stock photos I have inspiration.

2. Images - The image I have chose is one of Canary Wharf’s city scape. It’s a hi-res photo, not in proportion to the size of the banner (it won’t fit into the banner space) so I’ll have to re-size it and loose half of the original photo whilst also creating a new part.
photo editing 2

3. The image Is not the right size so I’m going to be clever and recreate it myself. With a selection of tools I’ll precisely cut out the city scape and the then the sea ( by tracing around them) to create two duplicate but separate elements.
photo editing 3

I’ll flip the sea horizontally to give it some natural consistency and then paint over the part where it joins give it natural look.

Lastly I’m going to trim off the edge of the city to make it look a little more natural (although it differs in reality).

At this point I’ll also do a little colour correction to make the image more vibrant ( more often then not, ill do this part at the end).

Now we have half an image that fits. (kind of:))

4. We’re missing a sky and the easiest way to solve that problem would be to add in a sky from another photo but finding a matching sky can be a pain because they change constantly in tone, texture and content.

I’m not going to do that. I’m going to be clever again and paint it in an alternative sky by matching the colours to the original photo to create one seamless skyline.

5. The image looks good but not finished. Now for a little creativity.
photo editing 6

6. With the use of some 3d text created in another piece of software, I’ve created a pound sign which matches the perspective of the scene.

7. With a little more creativity I’m going to give it a classy designers touch, (creating the pound sign needs a tutorial of its own).
8. After doing so I’ll add in some more detail on the lighting and shade to make it look more real and then give it an extra kick with some water splashes and a reflection to set it into the scene more effectively.

9. Looks good but what does it mean. It needs some text to make it clear. I choose a classy black serif font to counteract the creative splash of the pound sign and lay it over a white transparent block.

10. There we have it, a HTML emailshot header. Saved and optimised for web.

It sounds quicker then it actually was and the idea can take up most of your time. Each step will then provide a problem which may take multiple attempts to solve. (eg. The perspective of the pound sign) and in general its about exploration and judgement.

If this was for a client I’d probably have created a couple more concepts (taking just as long) in which only one would have been chosen and the rest would have gone to the design dump yard.

What does a graphic designer do? – Turns a good photo into an effective message.

Part1 discussed the point, who is a graphic designer. In this part I think presidence is taken by the biggest and most important job a graphic designer has; thinking.

Ideas, concepts, roughs, drafts, brainstorming, call it what you want, it is the key role of a graphic designer. You might be a great artist but without an idea you only have an empty sheet of paper.

Creating ideas may not be that hard, we can all do it but creating workable, successful ideas is a challenge. Throw in a set of rules (a brief) and now you have limitations on the thinking process. The idea must reach a goal whilst following a criteria, yet still be creative! Last but not least can that idea be executed?

Ideas are common components which surround businesses but for a graphic designer, ideas are the business. Without an idea there is no springboard to start from, no guideline to adhere to and no goal which means no business.

So how does a designer produce ideas?
Sometimes it comes in a flash and sometimes it takes days to get it right. My motto is GET RANDI!

No I doesn’t mean that! (is that all you think about)smile

GET Research AND Inspiration.

They go hand in hand and one will not appear without the other. Research for a designer comes in many forms ranging from an intensive study of design history to exploration of the clients industry. The goal is to be inspired and find the beginning of an idea.
Likewise the process can work backwards. Maybe you’ll be inspired by a billboard advert and then you’ll go away and fully research the style to refine the concept.
It can happen in many ways but the common factor is Research & Inspiration.

Before any project will start, a graphic designer will research to get that brilliant idea.

A huge problem which creative types may suffer from is a creative block. I find that this occurs for a few reasons:
- Trying too hard
- Not enough research & inspiration

Trying too hard basically brings a lack of concentration. Whether you have an overflow of ideas or none, the lack of concentration will tear apart any attempt of creativity. The key is to step away and compose yourself. Take your time and rethink the process by clearing your mind and slowing down.

If you’re trying too hard then it’s possibly because you haven’t done enough research or the brief was not decisive enough leaving you nothing to go on. Once again rethink the process and clarify the brief.

It’s incredibly hard to create a good idea but its the backbone of what the designer will produce, that’s why its so important as the job of a graphic designer.

After finishing the final design its easy for others to say “Oh I could have done that” but the question is would you have thought of it! That’s what a graphic designer does;

They think and then think again.

Subliminal marketing is a technique which uses graphic design elements to communicate a message subconsciously. It uses deep connotations and stereotypes that exist in society to tap into the audiences mind and ultimately reinforce a sale.

Subliminal marketing is a common technique appearing in almost every piece of marketing we see and you’ve probably utilised it yourself (without knowing.)

- When you visit a business based website and see groups of people dressed in suits, smiling, that’s subliminal marketing.

- When you buy a magazine with a pretty airbrushed woman on the cover, that’s subliminal marketing.

- When you see a tv advert for a new car driving through countless empty roads, that’s subliminal marketing.

It comes in every form of media from print to web, packaging, logos and magazines to movies. You could say that it’s graphic design at its best.

It has an old successful history and used on a daily basis with good intentions. We don’t actually take the time to look and study every advert (like the ones above) because there so monotonous and obvious that they’ve become apart of our daily lives but subliminal marketing also has another subliminal level, one where the strategy quietly delves into a taboo subject and questions can be raised.

Subliminal marketing its also:

- A way of targeting someone you wouldn’t normally advertise to.

- A way of surpassing obvious immoral associations whilst your are actually making those associations with the brand

You may not notice the controversial implications made because they were far too subtle or they weren’t targeted at you but more often then not, they are there. In these cases it can create conspiracy theories, controversy and intrigue. The clever design and strategy can be a form of subliminal marketing itself, making viewers seek out the advert and actually ask themselves “Is the subliminal element actually there?”

Maybe the human mind works too hard, maybe it was a just a coincidence, or maybe not.
Judge for yourself with the advert below.

Example:

Captain Morgan Rum – Print Advert in the 1990’s

First Glance:

This is an advert I found pretty much at random (American music magazine) because it looked like it had room for discussion and it does have much more impact in reality, printed on a glossy A4 sheet. At first glance it seems like a great photo of your typical bar scene with great graphical design. It was placed in magazine with over 100 pages and at least 50 of them were adverts so the idea is that the reader will casually skip from page to page taking a quick glance at the advert before moving on. All the elements suggest that Captain Morgan means “Good Times”.

On a subliminal level -

Is it just me or is the whole advert just a little sinister!
If your were to specifically take out Captain Morgan and his hat, the advert would have a different (happier and casual) feel but the branded elements themselves bring in an eerie approach.

Captain Morgan – Clearly drawn and positioned to look devious:

- Smothered in Red
- Devilish goatee, moustache and eyebrows.
- Peering downwards from the top
- Hiding behind the page
- Ripping down the page
- Devilish grin
- Voyeuristic
- Entering the real world and temptingly holding the bottle in an almost pouring gesture
- Looks like Hook
- Wearing a pirate bandanna (criminal)

Red hat

- Placed on the lady not the men (Targeting ladies, or is it?)
- Not drawn in, its real but not in the original photo, it has been superficially placed there afterwards (no shadow round the
back of her head, no affect of the hat on the ladies hair)
- She wore the hat on her own accord (its her hand on top of the hat)
- Her hand has been composited in (superficially) like the hat itself

The scene

- 2 guys, one girl (usually and typically it would be even numbers)
- The photo has been saturated (not to black and white but almost)
- The only vivid colours are those of the brand

Although at first glance it’s a relaxed setting with smiles all around, on closer inspection, the girl seems to have a tensed smile whilst looking down at the drink maybe suggesting some hesitation and falsity.

The common image of a curtain with bricks in the scenery is a popular setting for nightclub/bar’s giving that retro/stylish, modern bar scene, yet the perspective of the brick wall is wrong. It has been superficially placed in and gives the idea of an outside alley with the shadowy background immerging into the curtain.

Lastly an out of focus glass appears at the bottom suggesting that you, the viewer is also there watching everything; (even Captain Morgan) which no one else sees.

Text – The Captain was here.

Written in red with a calligraphy relaxed style, it appears friendly and fun but also connotes the type of font you would use to create horror. Like wise the phrase in conjunction with the elements brings something a little creepier to the ad. “The Captain was here”, almost like its out of a horror movie. Short, simple but highly interpretable in several ways.

Conclusion
This could all mean nothing except that Captain Morgan is the bringer of good times but upon inspection you cannot deny the alternative messages and mood that’s been created.

Almost like Captain Morgan is the devil with an ulterior sinister motive, creating temptations with his two helpers.

It also asks the question who is the advert actually targeted at?

THE END

There is a long list of subliminal marketing materials which cause intrigue whether it be good or bad. Walt Disney has been famed for it (in a negative light), Apple done it and my favourite modern example is the Territorial Army adverts which is smothered with subliminal messages.

Next time you see an advert, packaging, a magazine or even a movie, look for the subliminal messages.

Colour
Type
Layout
Persona
Language
Images
Composition
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Narrative
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