Apple. Nike. McDonalds. Coca Cola. These are the brands we think about when we talk about timeless logos. Iconic logos. Logos that outlast a generation.
It is every brand designers dream to create a logo that becomes a timeless icon – but how?
The designer Jessica Hische speaks about that topic in her talk at Config 2024 – Jessica is mostly known for her work Wes Anderson, Mailchimp or Instagram. She calls herself lettering artist or «procrastiworker», and of course all of her work is a great source of inspiration.
So, what makes a timeless logo?
1. Be a successful company
What do have Apple, Nike, McDonalds or Coca Cola in common? It is not a certain shape, a style or the minimalism of their logo. It is even simpler: They are successful companies. Market leaders for generations.
If you want to create a timeless logo, you will have to make sure that you are (or work for) a successful company. The graphic quality of brand mark doesn’t matter too much, as long as you can associate the logo with the company. Take Coca Cola: Their script font isn’t too approachable or readable, but you can easily associate it with a product that you have known since your childhood.
The Apple logo has been iterated over and over in the last decades, but the famous «apple with a bite» has remained the primary identification point for the brand. If your company is successful (over a long period of time) and your brand remains recognisable, you are on the best way to create a timeless logo.
2. Have your logo designed by a famous person
Not every timeless logo has been designed by a famous person, but it helps. If the logo designer is famous, it helps to expose the logo and elevate it’s qualities. Take the logos for abc, IBM or UPS – all products of Paul Rand. United Airlines, at&t or Warner – works or Saul Bass, otherwise famous for his movie title designs.
If your logo has been created by a famous person and isn’t touched too much in the decades after, it becomes easier to claim that it is timeless rather than «it’s a product of it’s era».
3. Don’t use trends and gimmicks
Okay, here is one that you can actually influence: Avoid trends. To put it in the words of Kim Bodia in «Old Men in New Cars 2”: «It’s all about knowing what you don’t want – not doing it”.
So whenever a new gradient, illustration style or animation comes around, just cut it out. Stick to your original thinking and visual problem solving. This will create a good, and in best case, timeless logo.
4. Sweat the details
It’s the hard work that you can see. Make sure the vector is right, that you have clean shapes and that you go through all the iterations you need. Sweat the details. I like Jessica’s example of reworking a logo for the guitar brand Fender: The script fonts quality is determined by how authentic its line endings look like, so she spends time on that. Proper typography, kerning & tracking make a logo not only readable, but high quality.
If you manage to make these details not only work, but also delightful, you are on the best way of creating a timeless logo.
Watch Jessica’s talk in full here: