the good, the bad... and the just plain nasty

As a way of sort of warming up for the semester, let me show some examples of what I think works and what doesn't as far as logos go.

Let's go ahead and get the bad ones out of the way...

---------------BAD LOGOS---------------

I've always hated this one. Not only is their Ice Cream mediocre, but this logo is awful. I don't really see the significance in the cherry and why must it split their company name right in half? This makes me think you are supposed to pronounce the cherry as a sound.

Husbanken is a Norwegian bank... but from this logo I would think it is some sort of house of melting zombies. Why are they all deformed and piled on each other like that?

Four Point is some sort of movie production company. The logo wouldn't be half bad if it didn't make me think of an axe murderer. The red doesn't help either. It just looks like some psycho killer about to stab you to death... and well, I don't think that would attract new clients very well.



This company is a gym that uses energy efficient, solar powered equipment (umm... huh?). The logo is so sloppy and busy, it takes a while to recognize the figure on the bike. And does anyone else see something a little... how can I put this... phallic?

Where do I even start!? The colors are hideous, the typeface is amateur, and the Earth looks like it's been swallowed up in a giant net! Could this logo get ANY worse?

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Ok, now that we've suffered through that, here are some logos that I really love.

---------------GOOD LOGOS---------------

I love this store, their imported tea from all around the world, and their logo. I love the simple us of colors, the curves, and the motion it implies. I also think the type treatment works very well. If you visited the actual store, you would see their logo suits the atmosphere of the place very well.

Nomao is an interactive website where users can create a free account. I won't go in to depth about what the site does, but their logo is very cute. The bee character is repeated throughout the site in different ways. He is animated and is your 'guide' of sorts. I also like how they didn't over-do the globe and made it very subtle. If viewed at a large scale, the logo is very crisp and neat with great details and texture.

Maybe it's because I love their clothing, but the Puma logo has always struck me as fresh and appealing. Or maybe it's because I have a black cat named Kuma... but anyways, it is simple, sleek and easily recognizable. It also looks good on their clothing in a variety of colors and at various sizes.


I'm much more of a Nintendo/PlayStation fan. In fact I've never even owned an XBOX. But I feel both their old and new logos have great depth and texture. The colors are great and I love the little extended line on the 'B'.

I may be a bit biased because I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these games! But, I really enjoy the colors and mood of these logos. On their own they may not be anything extraordinary, but as a group they work very well together. The type is pretty simple, but it makes you immediately recognize them as a game from the franchise. The illustrations are all very beautiful and somehow relate to the particular games storyline.