| The following post analyzes logos by industry. The industries looked at include: The fashion industry (eye glasses, high end fashion, low end fashion), the hospitality industry (hotels and restaurants), the internet industry (metaverse companies, Silicon Valley, social network companies), the media industry (movies, movie studios, publishing companies), the liquid refreshmen industry (beer, soda), the sports industry (baseball, basketball, British football, National Football League) the toy industry (companies, toy lines), and the transportation industry (airlines, cars, motorcycles).This article will posit that logos in a particular industry tend to have marked similarities. The implications for logo design would be that a company creating a logo may want to be aware of the industry style in order to make a decision to employ that style and communicate they are part of that industry or break away from that industry style to show their company is different from other companies in that industry. |
Fashion Eye Glasses Logos The following eyewear logos are pictured above Brooks Brothers, Disney Eyewear, DKNY, Dolce & Gabbana, Fisher Price, Goldfinch Original, Lulu Guinness, Oakley, Polo, Prada, Ray Ban, Ted Baker and Versace. The eyewear logos are pretty much identical to the logos these same companies employ for their clothes. The one exception is Disney which does use the word “eyewear” in their eyewear logo. |
Fashion High End Logos The following high end fashion logos are pictured above Christian Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi, Gucci, Jean Paul Gaultier, Lanvin, Prada, Versace, and Yves Saint Laurent. There is almost an exclusive use of logotypes as opposed to pictures or pictorial symbols. Versace is the expection and has a simplified face as part of its logo. The color scheme of the logos is black and white and almost no color is used. There is an almost Zen aesthetic at work with these logos. |
Fashion Low End Logos The following low end fashion logos are pictured above Adidas, American Apparel, Anvil, Augusta Sport Wear, Champion, Chestnut Hill, Code V, Cross Creek, Cubavera, Desert Wash, Fruit of the Loom, Gildan, Great Republic, Hanes, Harriton, Izod, Jerzees, Jonathan Corey, LAT, Outer Banks, Rabbit Skins, Van Heusen, Weatherproof and Yupoong. Chesnut Hill, Outbanks, Weatherproof, Cubavera, Fruit of the Loom and Rabbit Skins all employ pictures or pictorial symbols in contrast with the lack of such pictures in high end fashion logos. The low end fashion logos are also much more colorful than the high end logos. |
Hospitality – Hotel Logos The following hotel logos are pictured above Four Seasons Hotel, Hyatt, Mandarin Oriental, MGM Grand, New York, New York, SP Hotels and The Sutton Place Hotel. New York, New York, Four Seasons, SP Hotels and the Mandarin Oriental all use pictorial symbols prominently over the type. |
Hospitality – Restaurant Logos The following restaurant logos are pictured above A&W, Applebee’s, Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Denny’s, Dunkin Donuts, Hooters, IHOP Restaurant, In-N-Out Burger, Jack in the Box, KFC, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Noodles & Company, Outback Steakhouse, Red Lobster, Subway, T.G.I. Fridays and Wendy’s. Wendy’s and KFC use pictures of faces. Wendy was the niece of the founder of Wendy’s so this face is a representation of an actual person. KFC uses a simplified picture of the actual Colonel Sandburg who founded KFC way back when it was named Kentucky Fried Chicken. An actual person is being represented in both cases. Presumably in a restaurant the cook or manager is important to the business as compared with other industries which stay away from this sort of picture in favor of much more abstract pictures. Red Lobster, Buffalo Wild Wings and Hooters use animal representations in their logos. The Noodle Company, Red Lobster Chipotle, Dunkin Donuts and Applebee’s use representations of food or drink in their logos. In general restaurant logos use more pictures than other industry logos. |
Hospitality Tourist Country Logos The following national tourist logos are pictured above Andalucía, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, the Bahamas, Brazil, Britain, Bulgaria, the Caribbean, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyrus, Czech Republic, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Dubai, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Maldives, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, New Zealand, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Scotland, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tasmania, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, Uruguay, Vietnam, and Venezuela. The logos of this industry sector have a cookie cutter look and many of the logos use a cursive font. |
Internet Metaverse A metaverse is an online virtual world. The following metaverse logos are pictured above Active Worlds, Areae. Croquet, Cybertown, Cyworld, Dreamville, Dubit, Entropia, Everyscape, Forterra, Freenzoo, Gaia Planet, Habbo, Hipihi, Immersive, Kaneva, The Manor, Microsoft Virtual Earth, Moove Online, Multiverse, Muse, NGIworld, Ogoglio, Outback Online, Playdo, Questville, Second Life, SimK, The Sims Online, Snoa Entertainement, Sparter, The Palace.comThere, Toontown, Towerchat, Trion, Uonenet, Virtual Magic Kingdom, Virtual Worlds SIG, Vpchat, Vzones, Weblo, Why Robbie Rocks, Whyville, World Bridge, World Wind, Worlds Unlimited and Worlds.com. The logos tend to employ more “cutesy” fonts that are very colorful. Entropia Universe uniquely uses an actual picture. |
Internet Silicon Valley The The following Silicon Valley logos are pictured above 3Com, Aadaptec, Actel, Actuate, Adobe, AMD, Amdhal, Apple, Applied Materials, Aricent, Asus, Atari, Atmel, Bea, Business Objects, Cisco, Cypress Perform, EA, Ebay, Facebook, Fujitsu, Gaia Online, Google, Hewlett Packard, Hitachi, Intel, Intuit, Juniper, Logitech, LSI, Maxton, McAfee, Memorex, Microsoft, NetApp, Netflix, Netscape, Next, Nintendo, Nvidia, Oracle, Palm, Pay Pal, Redback Networks, Sandisk, Sap, SGI, Sony, Sourceforge, Sun Microsystems, Symantec, Tellme, Tivo, Verisign, Verita, VMware, Webex and Yahoo. Apple, Symantec, Sun Microsystems, 3Com, Next and Tivo employ pictorial symbols. Apple uniquely employs the symbol of an apple minus text in its logo. |
Internet Social Network The following social network logos are pictured above AC, AirSet, Allmydata.com, Allpeers, Almondrocks, Aoatra, Backfence, Blinx, Blish, Blogbeat, Bloglines, Blogniscient, Blood, Bluepulse, Boltfolio, Bpx, BR, Browsr, Cafepress, CalendarHub, Castpost, Chatsum, Clipfire, Clipmarks, Clipshack, Congoo, Dabble, Del.cio.us, Dig, Diigo, Dogear, Dpolls, Egosurf, Eskobo, Extra Tasty, Facebook, Favoor, Feedburner, Feedmarker, FeedSky, Feedster, Feedtier, Findory, Fireant, Flagr, Flickr, Fotolog, Frappr, Fruitcast, Furl, Gather, Gcast, Gobbncom, Goffice, Goowy, Graveei, Grouper, Gtalkr, Gumshoo, Homeportals, Hula, Ikarma, Imvu, Ineds, Inform, Jambo, JellyBarn.Inc, Jeteye, Jookster, Jots, Jotspot, Kiko, Lexxealpha, Looklater, Lost FM, Lulu, Magnolia, Mayomi, MeasureMap, Meebo, MeetWithApproval, Mefeed, Mercora music search, Mozy, MySpace, Myvideokaraoke, Nativetext , Netvibes, Newsalloy, Newsgator, Newsvine, Ning, Noodly , Nuvvo, Oddpost, Omnidrive, Ookles, Opeonomy, Opinity, Orb, Ourmedia, Oyogi, Pageflakes, Panda, Pandora, Pegasus, Phanfare, Picturecloud, Planzo.com, Plazes, PodDater, Pozzinger, Projectspaces, PubSub, Pxn8, Qoop, Quimble, Rallypoint, Rbloc.com, Reddit, Remember the milk, Renkoo, Riffs, Riya, Rollyo, RSS Mad, Shadows, Shoutwire, Shozu, Shutterfly, Simplyhired, Simpy, Skobsie, Smarkets, SmugMug, SpinSpy, Spongecell , Spotrunner, Squidoo, Standpoint, Streamload, Strongspace, Superglu, Ta-da lists, Tagworld, Tagyu, Tailrank, Techmemeorandum, Threadcloud, TinFinger, Trumba, Truveo, Veoh, Vimeo, Vizu, Volumecom, Vsocial, Wayfaring, Webjay, Wikipedia, Wink, Wonder, Wordcast, Writeboard, Writely, Xdrive, Yakalike, Yedda, Yelp, Youb.com, YouTube, Yubnub, Zazzle, Ziggs, Zigtag, Zimbra, Zoominfo and Zoozio. The logos of the social network sites are very similar to the metaverse logos in that they tend to be colorful and cutesy. The big exception is Wikipedia that uses a pictorial symbol that combines a globe and letters and this symbol looks “serious”.Liquid Refreshmen – Beer Logos The beer logos pictured above include Anheuser-Busch (Budweiser, Bud Light, Select 55, Bud Light Lime/Wheat, Chelada, Bud Ice, Michelob Family, Shocktop, Kirin, Busch, Natural Light/Ice, King Cobra Malt, LANDSHARK, Rolling Rock, Kokanee, Hurricane, Bacardi Silver, O’Douls, Tilt etc.), InBev (Bass, Becks, Stella Artois, Leffe, Hoegaarden and Boddingtons Pub Ale), Anchor Brewing, RedHook Brewing, Kona Brewing, Widmer Brothers Brewing, Gordon Biersch Brewing, Firestone Walker Brewing, Speakeasy Ales & Lagers, Crown Imports (Corona, Familiar, Victoria, Pacifico, Negra Modelo, Modelo Especial, St. Pauli Girl, and Tsingtao), Guinness Import / Red Stripe / Smirnoff Ice, Heineken USA, Newcastle and Blanco Basura.Liquid Refreshment – Soda Logos Sunkist, 7-Up, Sierra Mist, Vault, Barqs, Mr. Pibb, Diet Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Diet Coke, and Mug Rootbeer. |
Media Movie Logos The following movie logos are pictured above 007, 12 Monkeys, Back to the Future, Batman, Beverly Hills Cop, Die Hard, Dr. No, The Godfather, Lethal Weapon, The Mask, Planet of the Apes, Pulp Fiction, Rambo, Rocky, Scarface, Star Wars, Superman and Top Gun. The Godfather, 007, Superman, Top Gun, Batman 12 Monkey and Scarface all employ pictorial symbols. There is also more use of colored logotypes as opposed to simple black and white logotypes. |
Media Movie Studio Logos The following movie studio logos are pictured above 20th Century Fox, Dreamworks SKG, MGM, Paramount, RKO, Universal Studios, Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros. The most notable similarity between the movie studio logos is their great use of the color blue. Secondly, with the exception of the Disney logo, the logos all have tonality in order to give the text a 3-D look. Paramount, MGM Universal, RKO, Colombia and DreamWorks used fairly detailed pictures as part of their logos. Even Disney employs a pictorial symbol that represents Cinderella’s castle at their theme parks. Perhaps the pictures make the point that the studios make films that are crystal clear. |
Media Publishing House Logos The textbook company logos picture above include Bloomsbury, HarperCollins, Penguin Press, Pink Unicorn Publishing, Puffin Books, Scholastic, Simon & Shuster and Steidl. Every publishing company on the list has a picture! Ironically companies that specialize in text all use pictures in their logos! |
Media TV Show Logos The following TV show logos are pictured above 30 Rock, Angel, Arrested Development, Bernie Mac Show, Big Shots, Bionic Woman, Chronicles, The Bernie Mac Show, Bone , Boston Legal, Brotherhood, Buffy the Vampire Killer, Californication, Carpoolers, Cashmere Mafia, Chicago Hope, Chuck, Dark Angel, Dexter, Dharma & Greg, Family Guy, Gossip Girl, Heroes, How I met your Mother, The Hughleys, Jericho, Journeyman, Kyle XY, The L Word, Living with Fran, Malcolm in the Middle, Millennium, Moonlight, Pretender, Prison Break, Private Practice, Reaper, Reba, Stalked, Terminator: The Sarah Connor, Tru Calling and Yes, Dear. Most of The TV show logos do not employ pictures or pictorial symbols but rely on logotypes exclusively. The exceptions are Weeds, Heroes which replaces the ‘O” with a simplified eclipse, and Millennium which employs a serpent eating its own tail, a symbol of eternity. |
Press Business Logos |
Press Newspaper Logos |
Sports Baseball Logos The Major League Baseball logos pictured above include the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Atlanta Braves, the Baltimore Orioles, the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago Cubs, the Chicago White Sox, the Cincinnati Reds, the Cleveland Indians, the Colorado Rockies, the Detroit Tigers, the Florida Marlins, the Houston Astros, the Kansas City Royals, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Minnesota Twins, the New York Mets, the New York Yankees, the Oakland Athletics, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the San Diego Padres, the San Francisco Giants, the Seattle Mariners, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Tampa Bay Rays, the Texas Rangers, the Toronto Blue Jays and the the Washington Nationals. The Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cleveland Indians have a cartoon face. Eleven of the logos have a baseball acting as a background for the letters. There is a similar pattern of ball usage in baseball logos as in basketball logos but this system does not extend to British football logos. |
Sports Basketball Logos The following National Basketball Association (NBA) logos are pictured above Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Charlotte Hornets, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs, Seattle Supersonics, Toronto Raptors, Utah Jazz, Vancouver Grizzlies, and the Washington Wizards. The Charlotte Hornets, Vancouver Grizzlies, Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, Atlanta Hawks, and Minnesota Timberwolves all employ cartoon animals in their logo. The Boston Celtics have a cartoon leprechaun in their logo. Cartoons are much more prominent in NBA logos than in any other industry sector. 15 of the logos also have a basketball picture in their logo. |
Sports Football Logos The following British football logos are pictured above Arsenal, The Celtic, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United. The British football logos resemble a coat of arms. Heraldic symbols are employed widely. Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea have a football symbol in their logo. The football symbol is used as decorative detail with the exception of Tottenham Hotspur. The football logos in contrast to the basketball and baseball logos do not use cartoons. Other symbols besides the all used in the sport are of more prominence in the football logos as opposed to the baseball and basketball logos.Sports National Football League Logos The NFL team logos pictured above include the Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, New York Jets, Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Diego Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, St. Louis Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans and the Washington Redskins. |
Toy Company Logos The toy company logos pictured above include Crayola, Fisher-Price, Hasbro, Lego, Mattel, Megabloks, and Spin Master. Fischer Price, Lego and Mattel have red backgrounds and white letters. Megablocks, Hasbro and Spin Master have blue backgrounds. None of the logos use pictures which is similar to the logos of toy lines. The lack of pictures seems counter-intuitive. Perhaps toy companies have found that pictures can confuse young consumers. |
Toy Line Logos The following toy line logos are pictured above Captain America, Cars, G.I. Joe, Lego, Marvel Legends, Robotech, Spider-Man, Spider-Man & Friends, Star Wars, the Transformers and the X-Men. The most interesting commonality is the lack of pictures or pictorial symbols and the exclusive use of logotypes. Five of the 13 logos employ a chrome color scheme. |
Transportation Airline Logos |
Transportation Car Logos Thecar logos pictured above include Alfa Romeo, Alvis , Borgward, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Crosley, Fiat, Jaguar, Ford, Hillman, Hyuandi, Isuzu, Jaguar, Kia, Lamborghini, Maserati, MG, Mini, Renault, Rolls Royce, Simca, Singer, Stuggart, Tatra, Triumph, TVR, Vaurhall, Volkswagon, Volvo and Wolseley. What makes car logos distinctive is the use of color to give the illusion of a shiny metallic surface. The illusion of shiny silver chrome is the dominant color scheme of car logos. |
Transportation Motorcycle Logos Themotorcycle logos pictured above include Abler, AJS, Alpino, Aspes, Atala, Ardit Werk, Blackburne, BMW, Branchi, Brough Superior, BSA, Bultaco, Cagiva, Calthorpe, Chater Lea, Ducati, Garelli Agrale, Greeves, Harley-Davidson, Heinkel Tourist, Hesketh, Honda, Horton, Indian Motorcycle, Kawasaki, Laverda, Levis, Matchless, Moto Guzzi, MV, Norton, Puch, Royal Enfield, Rudge, Suzuki, Terrot, Triumph, Victoria, Vincent and Yamaha. There is a lot more color in motorcycle logos than in car logos. |
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