When creating memorable and significant branding collateral like logos, graphic designers add a lot of value to a logo design using their experience, technical expertise and specific tools for creation. It’s worth remembering that you can’t generally conjure up an effective logo if you decide to spend only £5 on getting it made. Logos that resonate some meaning with your customers need to be developed with purpose.
A business logo should fulfil three aims -
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Represent your company’s brand
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Be recognisable when potential customers see it
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Engage your target audience so they feel something.
Through years of experience, graphic designers become accomplished with clever logo development by adding hidden or subtle meanings in the designs, something that helps create an emotional connection with the brand. They can do this in three ways:
1. Use negative space
Negative or white space is the area within a logo that, on first sight, doesn’t appear to add anything exciting. This is until you notice the reason it is there and how it symbolises part of the brand. The most recognisable and effective logo at doing this is the FedEx logo where the white space between the ‘E’ and ‘x’ creates a perfect arrow, which
represents FedEx’s fast and efficient service.
Infiniti Graphics has done a similar thing for Fleming Software with a hidden ‘F’ and ‘S’ in the logo.
2. Incorporate business offering
When a logo can be interpreted on more than one level, you have something eye-catching and meaningful to the viewer. It can show one particular thing, and yet display something else at the same time, usually to do with the business or its offering. Amazon does this effectively with their cheeky arrow from ‘A’ to ‘Z’, showing off how you can buy anything and everything, from the beginning to the end of the alphabet.
Infiniti Graphics designed a logo for African holidays business Archer & Gaher Adventures, where the design of a peacock incorporated the map of Africa to illustrate their offering.
3. Create some exclusivity
Creating some magic in the logo design isn’t always about making something pretty. It’s also about adding meaning and feeling, to connect to your audience. Sometimes the magic of the design isn’t noticed at first glance, so when the cleverness of the design is recognised, it creates a sense of exclusivity.
Infiniti Graphics created a logo for demolition specialist Demcom using ‘The Golden Rectangle’ (or Golden Ratio), which is a common mathematical ratio found in nature that can be used to create pleasing, natural looking compositions. The letter ‘M’ in the design are formed from this ratio, and represent the grabber of an excavator.
Standing out from the crowd is useful for getting people to notice your brand. Doing this with a surprise ‘hidden meaning’ logo can help you take a couple of steps ahead of the competition, as your logo is how customers remember and define your business. If they feel like they’re already in a relationship with you by discovering a hidden meaning in your logo, you might win them over already! It’s like a secret only they know. Once customers know and they see your branding again and again, they’ll feel part of a special club… which is a nice place to be.
If you’d like to discuss a branding design project with us, drop us a line on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call us on 01353 882111. You can also find out more information on our graphic design service here.
