It’s not easy to design an attractive and meaningful logo. After all, there are so many things that you need to get right- typeface, kerning, icons, colors, and more. This is why it’s strongly recommended that you either hire a professional to design the logo for you or use an advanced logo maker online to ensure that you get the best logo for your website or blog.
It may also a good idea to see a few bad examples to understand what a good one should look like. Some of these are:
1. TSA Checkout
This is what happens when you don’t think it’s important to get feedback from others. Well, the font and yellow background are fine for the context, but surely the designer could have avoided showing a surprised man getting molested by a mysterious figure.
2. Pepsi
How much money do you expect Pepsi paid for this new logo? Well, according to CBS news, the it paid a whopping $1 million for this slightly modified logo! What’s even worse is that branding experts and consumers to this date fail to see what’s special in the new design. In fact, many have openly ridiculed it and there are memes all over the Internet depicting the logo as a plump man which is fitting since well all know that Pepsi is loaded with sugar which can make you really fat really fast.
3. Mont-Sat
An innocent child may not see what’s wrong in this logo, but no adult can unsee what this mischievous satellite dish is up to. Of course, the grin on the face doesn’t help either.
4. Gap
Gap’s original logo that remained the same during 1990-2010 was considered one of the best as it was simple yet memorable. However, when the company unveiled another logo in 2010, then it drew backlash almost immediately. In fact, it puzzled almost everyone as a common thought prevailed- why would the company choose Helvetica which is one of the oldest fonts in the world?
The people weren’t wrong. Helvetica is so overused that it can’t possibly help a brand to stand out. Besides, there are all kinds of creative typography font styles in the world that a designer can choose to create a truly unique and attractive logo. Yet, Gap chose to disappoint everyone by making a lazy pick. That said, it eventually realized its mistake and switched back to the original design.
5. London 2012 Olympics
You can’t become a good designer unless you know the features that make a good logo such as relevance, timelessness, and versatility. Unfortunately, the London Olympics 2012 logo failed to capture any of these.
It’s no secret that the Olympics games are some of the biggest international sports events. So, when the designers came with a design that looked so messy and incohesive, it didn’t sit well with the fans of the games. Many said that the logo looked like a small girl who is using a desktop, while others pointed out how the designers totally ignored the famous monuments and cultural aspects of London in the design. At any rate, the logo failed miserably on all fronts.
6. Anthony Byrne
7. Kids Exchange
This is another example that shows the importance of letter spacing. Imagine the embarrassment that both the designer and the store owner would have been able to save if either of them had thought about adding just a single space between “KIDS” and “EXCHANGE”.
Bottom Line
It’s true that few people are gifted artists and graphics designers. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t create decent designs without some innate talent. If you are willing to learn and get the fundamentals right, then you can easily create some of the best logos yourself. If anything, you can do a much better job than the disasters of logos above.
