What makes a good logo design?

When it comes to seeing a logo that makes you wonder, “Why didn’t I think of that?”, what exactly is it about the design that gives you that impression?

There are four elements that can be seen in every great logo:

1. It’s describable
2. It’s memorable
3. It’s effective without colour
4. It’s scalable i.e. effective when just an inch in size

Points 1 and 2 go hand in hand, because if you can’t describe what a logo looks like then how will you be able to remember it?

Point 3 is important because colour is secondary to the shape. Adding colour to your logo should be left to the very end of the process, because if the mark doesn’t work in black only, no amount of colour will rescue the design.

Point 4 is vital for things such as office stationery (pens, pin badges etc.). All those little things that people often forget about.

I’ve chosen a logo to illustrate the four points:

The above logo is for Open University (OU), the UK’s leading distance learning organisation. You can view the OU website by clicking here, where you’ll see the logo used in context (and in a much smaller size).

There are a number of text variations to accompany the OU mark. This gives greater freedom for those reproducing the logo in different formats. For example, the top right mark (above) wouldn’t fit on the side of a pen as well as the centre right version (above).

What I enjoy most about this mark is its simplicity (the ‘O’ inside the ‘U’). The OU logo has evolved over the years. It didn’t always have the glass effect that is a common trend amongst today’s logos. You can read more about logo trends by clicking here. It’s important to remember, however, that trends don’t last.

Take a look at how the OU logo used to appear across it’s range of marketing materials (below):

The same dinstinctive, memorable, scalable, describable, reproducable mark was used to set the Open University apart from its competitors.

Do you have a favourite logo that uses the four critical elements? Perhaps there’s another element that you think should be shown in a great logo.

Let me know about it, and if you have any thoughts on this article (in agreement or disagreement) please do leave a comment below

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