Hasta La Ideas

As part of the research for our Top 20 logos issue, we asked various designers and writers to nominate their favourites. We thought you’d like to see all of their choices and the reasons behind them. Here is the final batch of choices

Tony Spaeth, Identity Works:

1. CBS by William Golden
“Starkly simple. I think this draws its power from our deepest survival genes, like the ability to react to the eyes of a predator. It may be hard for anyone under 70 to appreciate the excitement this mark conveyed to a generation raised on radio. For us, it endures.

2. IBM by Paul Rand
“The 1960 version with eight bars. Previously it was Rand’s slab serif letterforms, that conveyed importance and aggressive confidence. Adding ‘speed stripes’ lifted it exponentially to a new level, more innovative and daring. And wow, how brilliantly it endures, easily sustaining such ‘pet brand’ modifications (to use Mollerup’s convenient phrase) as the Smart Planet campaign graphics.”

3. Canadian National Railway by Allan Fleming
“Another brilliantly simple conversion of initials into a unique visual mark, one that also conveys the idea of ‘railroad’. It was usually pictured on the business end of a locomotive, and it looked great.”

4. Merrill Lynch by Gene Casey

“I choose the Merrill Lynch bull over various eagles and even pandas, which I consider too easy. This bull was starkly modern yet he kept his animal integrity, lending his aggressive authority to an otherwise faceless crowd of names (“the thundering herd”) and to decades of campaigns. To a remarkable degree, the bull was the brand.”

Michael Bierut, Pentagram:

1-5. Nike, Target, Apple, CBS, Chase

“They are all simple, reductive and non-literal, yet each seems ‘right’ for the thing it symbolizes. As a result, all are amazingly flexible and each has the capacity to both express and transcend trends. I also suspect that any of these, if designed today, would be criticized as being too simple, ‘like something my five-year-old could do’.”

Paula Scher, Pentagram

CBS by William Golden

“Iconic, simple, meaningful and formalistically beautiful.”

Coca-Cola
“Still beautiful, iconic and original and populist (every brand has always wished they had a logo like it).”

Fedex by Lindon Leader/Landor

“The arrow is a gift of god (the applications could use an update).”

MoMA by Matthew Carter
“The simple Franklin Gothic typographic form of the small ‘o’ next to the caps was rendered perfect by Matthew Carter. After I worked with it, I was astounded by its power, beauty, simplicity and recognizability.”

V&A by Alan Fletcher
“Best acronym logo I can think of. Best use of an ampersand I can think of, and the best by our hero Alan Fletcher.”

John Bateson

Deutsche Bank
“Banks were still using type like Palace Script when this was designed in 1974. Based on Constructivist principles it said everything visually you want from a bank – stability, safety, solid equilibrium and growth.

Michelin
You just smile when you see him or even mention his name. All about how to create a big personality for small strips of rubber. Everlasting.

Erco
A simple idea for this German lighting manufacturer. Expressed through pure typography, beautiful.

British Rail
Cliched, clumsy and copied across the globe.  Just tracks and arrows, but I can’t think of a railway system without it,  a true identifier.

NASA
It said to me ‘I’ve seen the future and it works.Science and exploration should always look like this.

Bill Gardner, LogoLounge

1. Red Cross
Arguably one of the most recognized logo/symbols in the world and consider this, which came first, the logo or the name? In 1863 when adopted, this was a symbol for a first aid society concerned with the care for the wounded in wartime. One of the few situations where a description of a logo becomes the name of the organization. It’s also interesting to note that you can park a logo on any color field you wish but not the Red Cross. This mark must be used against white as a symbol of peace and surrender. This mark carries a steamer trunk loaded with symbolic messages and application protocol and the public gets it. What a great teaching tool when explaining the impact of a logo.

2. Apple
Interesting to note that 4 of my 5 picks are literal descriptors of the name of the entity and Apple is certainly that. This is the newest of the logos I’ve selected although it has been 35 years since it was first drafted and packed top to bottom with bright rainbow stripes. Only the last fifteen years has it been knocked back to a monochromatic solution, but the strength of the original shape is so strong that the logo survived this dramatic personality transplant. Truly it is a logo that stands on its own with out a wordmark. You can discuss the iconic nature of the logo or the bite or “byte” of knowledge from the apple but the real strength of the mark has come from bold application. Apple has been willing to maintain relevance with consumers by allowing for variation of logo surface and appearance but never violating the fundamental shape.

3. Target
A perfected symbol that really found its greatest value with brilliant application. I think a universal truth about the best logos is that they have achieved their stature partially through design, but definitely through application. The Target bull’s eye is simple, memorable, distinct, and in the states had become the imprimatur of smart style. Starting in the early part of the last decade this logo became the central visual focus of any Target commercial or marketing effort. Such a panoply of application had never before been attempted but it was all done in a smart contemporary way that turned shopping at Target into a cult event.

4. Mercedes Benz
Gottlieb Daimler created the three pointed star in 1909 to represent the hopeful domination of air, sea, and land by his motors. That three pointed star was a pretty unremarkable logo until some one in the twenties put a ring around it to allow the mark to be used as a hood ornament. Starting with a merger in 1926 and up until relatively recent times, the official Mercedes-Benz logo was the three pointed star surrounded by a circular laurel leaf wreathe and the name as well. All the time this kick ass hood ornament was what the public thought of when they pictured the companies logo. It has taken on a life of it’s own beyond the product or the automotive industry, representing wealth, or lampooned for decadence. Sometimes the beauty of a timeless mark just occurs through osmosis, but not very often.

5. Shell
Raymond Loewy’s 1971 update of the Shell Oil logo was a watershed moment in reductive design. From a design perspective this mark understood line weight, rhythm, color, and set a standard for the petrol industry to respond to. Suddenly the ribs of the shell became rays of light exemplifying a clean burst of energy from a humble mollusk. Not an easy thing to do. Perhaps more importantly, this design accounted for application in an industry with strange considerations. Your customers may be driving at a high rate of speed and need to identify a station at a great distance. Silhouette, color, and pattern trump typography every time under these conditions.

Peter Knapp, Landor

Mexico Olympics

Glorifies the track,the Olympic rings, a country and a moment in graphic design in one integrated,celebratory way.

NASA

The previous nasa logo (aka the worm) promised to keep the star trek flame burning, a crisp, clean future that was imbued with implicit technology and optimism.

BBC

Unequivocal, understated, clear and concise. No embellishment, just an expression of the bare facts.

Fedex

Bold, direct and directional. Simple standout by simple colour and simple typography…and yet there is the ‘Easter egg’ effortlessly within.

Connie Birdsall, Lippincott

Chanel
Simple elegance.  The Chanel logo reminds me of my sitting on my mother’s lap as a child.  She’d allow me just  the smallest dab of her Chanel #5 perfume. To this day it represents my ideal of elegance, simplicity and timeless beauty.”

Mobil
“I love the simple red O in Mobil.  The identity is just really smart and very graphic.  The flying horse is a wonderful, fanciful and memorable icon that has always made me smile.”

Unilever
“The imagery of all of the brands represented in one letter is fantastic.  Modern, fun and an exceptionally beautiful composition.”

Sprint
My favorite Lippincott logo.  I feel it was a remarkable update capturing the pin drop movement and just the right amount of tension in the elements. Beautifully drawn.

IBM (rebus)
Pretty perfect all around.

Sagi Haviv, Chermayeff & Geismar

FedEx
Designing a wordmark that is visually memorable is a serious challenge. Lindon Leader achieved one of the best with the discovery in the negative space between the E and the X, which is never overtly called out.

CBS Eye
With this icon, William Golden not only handed CBS unrivaled ownership of the concept of the “eye” but also set a very high bar for every logo designer since. With the proliferation of graphic identity designs over the last 50 years, it has become increasingly difficult today to create and claim any mark so simple, bold, and basic.

Mobil
In 1964, my partner Tom Geismar was brave enough to do the absolute minimum necessary to make this name distinctive, bold and memorable. The result is a timeless mark that never gets old, and therefore perfectly exemplifies the effectiveness of the modernist approach to identity design.

Bulgari
When it comes to fashion identities, none match Bulgari’s classic, elegant mark. I admire it because its distinctiveness is achieved with a simple letter swap recalling the traditional Latin style.

Santander
This graceful and simple icon strikes the perfect balance between abstract and pictorial, between positive and negative forms. This is an achievement to be envious of.

If you missed out on our April Top 20 Logos issue but would still like a copy, we have a few left. Just call +44(0)207 292 3703 to order one.

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