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LOGO
DESIGN AND CORPORATE IDENTITY
The history
of logo design and Corporate Identity
Enduring
trade names such as Coca-Cola, Kodak and Heinz appeared
around this time. However many of the logo designs
from this era were cluttered with allegorical mottos,
since few were actually designed from the hand of
professional artists or logo designers.
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A well known story of a logo design in our recent
times began in the 1800's. Marcus Samuel, a curio
dealer in London started selling shell-covered boxes
to children and tourists. As his Shell Shop prospered
he took on new merchandise of various kinds, adding
jewels, kerosene and later oil. Eventually his company
went world-wide by 1830, and consolidated as the Shell
Transport and Trading Company in 1897. Because of
his early specialty, the company adopted the simple
drawing of a seashell as its trademark. It has since
become the world's best known logo design.
One of the most enduring logos from this era is the
Rock of Gibraltar. The rock achieved fame as impregnable
to sieges when in 1779 1783 the Spaniards failed and
failed again to recapture it from the British. To
position the company as a great financial institution
with this known strength, in 1896, Prudential adopted
the Rock of Gibraltar as the company logo design.
As the symbol tells the story better than words, it
remain as one of the most effective trademark ever
conceived.
Another enduring logo design from this era is the
original script "GE". It was appeared sometime
in the 1890s, possibly as a decorative element for
the merchandise of General Electric Company. Though
not without much scrutiny, it was adopted and evolved
as a general trademark and corporate identity name
survived to this day.
It has been said that World War III has already started.
The war is fighting it out in business competitions.
In the free enterprise society, instead of national
flags, logos and trademarks are seen everywhere. You
are likely able to find hundreds of logos and trademarks
in the privacy of your home, and be exposed to ten
of thousands of these signs and symbols on your way
to work if you live in a cosmopolitan city. One can
consider that logo designs and trademarks are the
shields and banners of warring sectors, or the guideposts
of the business-oriented society, which embody the
commercial reputation of products and services, encourage
the production of quality products and enable consumers
to facilitate purchasing decisions.
The competition in the marketplace is fierce. There
are nearly two million of registered trademarks in
the United States alone, and over a hundred thousand
new trademarks being registered every year. With a
deluge of new trademarks annually pouring into the
existing vast pool of registered trademarks in use,
virtually every form of business needs to be well
identified. Developing a clear and positive visual
identity is essentially the cornerstone for a new
company to establish itself in the market place against
well entrenched competitors. Equally true is that
when an established company evolves and business solutions
change along with new demands of the time, the need
for a revamped distinctive identity that can continue
to reflect and communicate with the audience is a
vital part of the company's business strategy.
The two most common constituents of business identity
are a name and a mark. First and foremost, a company's
name is the key factor in creating a corporate identity.
After the content of the name, the most crucial aspect
in an identity development is the form of the company's
visual identifier--be it a literal signature, typography,
or wholly based on the graphic symbol alone, or combining
logotype, graphic symbol together for greater recognizability.
The symbol-only logo is generally an ultimate choice
in design, but it is generally more difficult to associates
successfully to a company's identity; it also requires
extensive time and money to promote. Combination logos
designs are cost effective because they can increase
psycho-emotional value and appeals to a wide variety
of audience more effectively. Our own observation
reveals that contemporary corporate identity design
is exceedingly leaning toward this trend.
Have questions about us or our services?
Please contact us Toll Free: 1.866.816.5646
(North America residents only) or by e-mail: support@aboutlogodesign.com |
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