A logo has to hold up in very different places, in the header of a website, on a shop sign, as the icon of a mobile app and on the side of a pen. These surfaces have different proportions and sizes, so a single version of the logo is rarely enough.
A common mistake is for a company to live with a single logo file, stretching it or placing it on a background where it can barely be seen. The brand then looks slightly different on every surface, and at small sizes the name becomes unreadable.
The main version is usually the full logo, with the mark and the name together. From it come a wide, horizontal format for headers, a vertical version for square surfaces, a standalone mark or monogram, and for the smallest sizes a simplified icon, for example the favicon shown on the browser tab.
Colour versions
Next to the forms, colour versions are needed too. Alongside the colour logo there is a black and a white one-colour version, for example for a dark photo, engraving, one-colour printing or a partner's sponsor wall where only one colour can be used.
- The clear space, meaning how much empty space has to be left around it
- The minimum size at which it can still be read and recognised
- Which backgrounds it can go on, and when the negative version has to be used
- The file formats for print and digital use
On the versions made for small sizes we simplify the details. A thin line or a tiny letter that looks good on a poster blurs together on an app icon, so there the mark gets a cleaner form. If the brand appears in video a lot, an animated version can also be part of the family.
We design the variations to form a family. The mark stays the same in every form and only the placement of the lettering changes, so the brand stays consistent even if one version appears on one surface and another elsewhere. That is why we always present the variations together, side by side.
All the variations go into the brand guidelines with their rules, and we hand over the source files in vector and image formats, so everyone from the printer to the web developer works with the right file.
