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Procter and Gamble, the world’s largest consumer packaged goods company, earlier this year quietly rolled out a new logo from Landor Associates. The lack of fanfare was understandable, given P&G’s history: the company unsuccessfully battled outlandish rumors that its century-old “Man in the Moon” logo was satanic, finally removing the mark from its packaging in 1985. Since 1991, the company has relied on basic “P&G” logotypes; the new logo puts the type in a circle of P&G’s traditional dark blue and recalls the old mark with a light blue crescent shape.

The old logo was not without its weaknesses. P&G had always had great success promoting its famous brands (Ivory soap, Tide detergent, Crest toothpaste, etc.) much more heavily than itself, so the Man in the Moon mark, appended at small size to obscure parts of the product packaging, was unfamiliar and meaningless to the consumer. It practically invited people to come up with an interpretation for it, and they did, to disastrous effect. (Ironically, P&G had briefly stopped using the symbol in the 1860′s, considering it “meaningless,” but quickly reconsidered when a merchant rejected as “not genuine” a shipment of candles that lacked the mark.)

The logo had been redesigned by sculptor Ernest Haswell in 1931 in an ornate style out of step with modern marks. As early as 1961, Modern Packaging magazine had called it “tiny, oddly out-of-date and almost unnoticed.” In 1991, corporate identity guru Tony Spaeth, citing its “visual weakness,” used it to illustrate the point that “sometimes the logo is indeed a problem, if not the problem” with corporate identity.

The new P&G logo represents part of the company’s effort to increase its profile. As Landor puts it in describing the mark, “For the first time, P&G is starting to talk to consumers as one company, not just as individual brands, in an effort to build awareness and trust.”  Internally, the mark is cleverly being called the “New Phase” logo, in a reference to both the new awareness campaign and the phases of the moon (although, unfortunately, while the old Man in the Moon symbol depicted a waxing moon, one that is growing in size, the New Phase logo shows a waning moon that is fading into nothingness).

The most obvious change from the most recent logo to the New Phase mark is the switch from logotype alone to symbol with logotype. As we saw last year with Microsoft’s new logo, and with logos in general, such a switch is quite common today. Analysis of United States Patent and Trademark Office data on logos bears this out.

Percentage of new logos featuring logotypes and logotype/symbol combinations

Among all US logos as well as logos within the personal care and home care industries that P&G is a part of, logotype/symbol combinations are increasing in popularity, while logotypes alone are becoming less common. P&G’s adoption of this new logotype/symbol combination is squarely in line with current logo design trends.

Percentage of new US logos featuring specific design elements

Looking at the individual elements that make up the New Phase identity, it appears that crescent moons and circles as borders or carriers are not particularly popular today either among logos as a whole or within the personal and home care industries (and Man in the Moon-style lunar faces are practically nonexistent). However, as noted here last year, circles are enjoying renewed popularity in logos and blue has equaled red as the color used most often in logos. The use of ampersands in wordmarks is on the rise as well (a trend that is often reflected in the graphic design world’s own logos).

We may extend our analysis by looking at the “trendiness” of the design elements associated with the new P&G logo, which can be measured as a ratio of the share of each element among new logos from the last five years to the share of each element among “dying” logos over the same period. Using such a measure, values above 1 indicate design elements that are relatively “hotter,” while values below 1 suggest “colder” design elements.

    “Trendiness” of design elements, 2007-2011

The most prominent aspects of the New Phase logo, the circle and the color blue, are currently somewhat trendy, suggesting that P&G and Landor have created an identity that, while certainly not groundbreaking, is appropriate for a large, conservative company seeking a refreshed look. Indeed, the new logo is simple and attractive, works well in contemporary applications, and reflects P&G’s long history.

However, it may be that the logo’s nod to that history, in the form of the crescent moon, may be its biggest weakness. There was no great impetus to bring back the moon. Virtually no one outside of P&G held positive associations with the Man in the Moon logo; most of the the public was only aware of the mark due to the rumors that sank it in the 1980′s. Reintroducing the moon in the new mark not only might allow for the rekindling of those old rumors, it creates the possibility of new negative associations. Today, unfortunately, the crescent moon is seen by a certain number of Americans as symbolic of the Islamic religion that they foolishly fear and abhor.

The 2010 controversy surrounding the introduction of a new logo for the Department of Defense’s Missile Defense Agency illustrates the potential for graphic symbolism to spark anti-Muslim sentiment among the same types of people who fell for the P&G logo rumors in the 1980′s. Hopefully, Procter and Gamble will be able to avoid any such nonsense related to its new mark, but perhaps it might have been better to avoid such possibilities by simply starting fresh with a logo that ditched any historical baggage and steered clear of potential new controversies.

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Last year, an Emblemetric analysis showed that logotype/symbol combinations were becoming increasingly popular relative to logotypes (wordmarks) or symbols alone. A prominent logo design trend among these logotype/symbol combination marks involves a wordmark in which one or more letters have been replaced with pictorial design elements. The resulting mark is neither symbol nor wordmark, but one that gives the appearance of having been cobbled together using disparate pieces, much as Frankenstein’s monster was assembled. These “frankenmarks,” if you will, have seen a resurgence in popularity over the last decade.

“Frankenmarks” as a percentage of all new US logos

An analysis of United States Patent and Trademark Office data shows that frankenmarks first enjoyed a period of popularity in the 1970s and 80s, peaking in 1983, when 6.04 of all new US logos were frankenmarks. After declining in prominence in the 1990s, they surged  back into heavy use in the early 2000s. By 2009, they accounted for 6.21 percent of new US logos.

Among the design elements used most frequently in frankenmarks are stars (appearing in percent of 5.02 percent of frankenmarks), hearts (3.54%), and globes (2.83%), elements that are not only common symbols but that can easily stand in for commonly-used letters such as “o” and “a.” Design elements that appear in frankenmarks at a much higher rate than in logos as a whole include zippers (found in frankenmarks at a rate 4.34 times higher than in all logos), buttons (4.33 times higher), paper clips (4.18 times higher), and handcuffs (3.82 times higher).

How did the earlier period of frankenmark popularity (1975-1984) differ from the later period (2003-2011)? The particular design elements incorporated in frankenmarks changed somewhat. From 1975 to 1984, t-shirts were 5.54 times more likely to appear in frankenmarks than in the later period, while candy canes were 4.97 times more common and tridents were 3.13 times as prevalent.

From 2003 to 2011, magnifying glasses were 9.35 times more likely to appear in frankenmarks than they were in the earlier period, syringes were 4.42 times as likely, and bells were 41.5 times more common.

Interestingly, designers of contemporary frankenmarks seem to feel less need to have the pictorial elements of their logos correspond graphically to the letters they are replacing. This results in marks that a viewer reads by essentially “filling in the blanks” to account for the missing letters. While this is not typically a problem when the mark uses common words, legibility of less-well-known words or brand names may be threatened.

All in all, frankenmarks often seem to reflect a certain design amateurishness. Their designers’ attempts to combine wordmarks with symbols are frequently clumsy and overreaching, resulting in marks that can appear cheap and gimmicky. They rarely exude a sense of permanence and they don’t seem to last in use: indeed, of the logos filed between 2003 and 2011, 36.4 percent of the frankenmarks have “died,” compared to just 32.8 percent of the other logos. Those looking for a new logo should think carefully before adopting a frankenmark.

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Texas “state shape” logos

The outlines of US states are often used as design elements in the nation’s logos. The shape of a state can be a meaningful symbol of identity for its residents.

US state quarter coins featuring state outlines

In the “50 State Quarters” program, which ran from 1999 to 2008, each US state was given the opportunity to be represented on the back of a US coin. Fifteen of the fifty states chose to include their state outlines as part of the coin design.

By examining United States Patent and Trademark Office data, we can see that the state of Texas features over twice as many “state shape” logos as its nearest competitor, California. Nearly one-quarter of all “state shape” logos depict Texas. This is not surprising, given the strong sense of state pride that Texans exhibit, the state’s large population and geographic size, and the fact that the state’s shape itself is distinctive, memorable, and relatively easy to use in a design context. 

 Percentage of US logos featuring outlines of the nation and of the state of Texas

By 2011, the percentage of new US logos featuring the shape of Texas (0.072%) had nearly equaled that of logos depicting the outline of the United States itself (0.075%), although this was due more to a decrease over time in the use of USA outline logos than to an increase in Texas state shape logos.

If we take the relative population of US states into account in our analysis, a slightly different picture emerges. The states of Alaska and Maine, each with much smaller populations than Texas, surpass it in terms of state shape logos per capita, perhaps putting a small dent in Texas pride.

Do you have a favorite logo that features the shape of a nation, state, province, or the like? Contact us and share it!

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As China rings in the Year of the Snake, it’s a good time to look at the increasing prominence of the nation’s logos. The recent growth of the Chinese economy has brought with it a big jump in the number of trademarks that Chinese firms are filing in the United States. By 2011, Chinese companies accounted for 2.56 percent of the logos filed for trademark registration in the US.

Chinese logos filed for US trademark registration, as a percentage of all US logo filings

Are there any logo design trends associated with this influx of Chinese marks? Analysis of United States Patent and Trademark Office data shows that, over the period from 2007 through 2011, certain design elements are much more likely to appear in logos from China than in non-Chinese logos.

Totally unsurprisingly, Chinese logos are 30.6 times more likely than other logos to contain inscriptions written with Asian characters.

Similarly, Chinese logos are 7.35 times more likely to feature depictions of Asian men and 4.39 times more likely to include Asian women.

Polygonal shapes containing bars or lines seem to be a popular element in Chinese design; they are 3.99 times more likely to appear in logos from China. Notably, abstract marks in general are 1.64 times more common in Chinese logos.

Pandas are 3.67 times more likely to appear in Chinese logos.

Circles with bars or lines are featured in Chinese logos 2.50 times more often than in non-Chinese logos.

Geometric figures forming letters are 1.99 times more likely to appear in Chinese logos.

Shaded triangles are 1.77 times more common in Chinese logos.

“Swooshes” appear in Chinese logos 1.52 times more than in other logos.

 Design elements as a percentage of all logos filed by US companies

The graph above shows the five abstract logo design trends popular within Chinese logos in terms of logos from American companies only. Swooshes, shaded triangles, and geometric figures forming letters have all enjoyed relatively recent popularity in US logos, suggesting that their prominence in Chinese logos may be due to logo trends spreading worldwide. But the relative paucity of US logos featuring circles with lines and polygons with lines indicates that these logo design trends may be more specific to China. Even in an increasingly globalized economy, it appears that there is still room for regional and national variation in logo design styles.

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FutureBrand’s redesign of Massimo Vignelli’s classic 1968 American Airlines logo and livery is the first big identity design news of the year. How does the new “Flight Symbol” relate to larger trends in U.S. logo design? Let’s investigate…

American’s 1968 logo

The most obvious change from the old American logo is the switch from a stylized depiction of an eagle in flight to an abstract version. By going abstract, FutureBrand has dealt with a couple of nagging problems related to using birds in airline logos.

from Communication Arts, January 1963

The first is that airline bird logos have long been clichéd. Even a half-century ago, in 1963, a Communication Arts article detailed the work of designer Jim Cross in redesigning the identity of aerospace giant Northrop (now Northrop Grumman). Cross, noting the overabundance of birds in flight in aviation logos, did away with Northrop’s bird symbol and replaced it with a simple wordmark.

Secondly, airline bird logos reek of old-fashionedness. Discussing his work for United Airlines in a 1981 Los Angeles Times interview, the legendary Saul Bass noted, “Almost all airlines begin with a birdlike mark, but when we leap into jet technology, the safety factor becomes more important. You can’t go around with flapping birds any more.”

American’s new Flight Symbol is sufficiently abstract to mitigate these concerns.

Interestingly, it seems that had Vignelli had his way, American would have dropped its bird long ago. As he related to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Vignelli did not want to include the traditional American eagle in the logo unless it was depicted fully realistically, so Henry Dreyfuss was enlisted by American to shoehorn an eagle into the design.

Some insight into the origin of the Dreyfuss eagle comes from a 1969 New York Times interview, in which Dreyfuss argues that “Designing a trademark is one of the most difficult things in the world. You have to become completely saturated in what you’re doing.” Reporter Philip Dougherty notes that Dreyfuss then “confided that American’s new mark was born on a paper napkin in the Plaza bar and one began to wonder just what kind of saturation he was talking about.”

In its abstraction, the new Flight Symbol is able to suggest elements beyond the flying eagle, such as a star and an “A” monogram. The design also incorporates a red-and-blue color scheme, the U.S. flag (on the plane’s tail), a single diagonal element, and it is abstract in general. Analysis of United States Patent and Trademark Office data allows us to assess the relative use of each of these design elements since 1968 among logos of all industries and those of the transportation industry in particular.

Percentage of new US logos featuring specific design elements

The associated avian design characteristics (eagles, birds in flight, wings) seem to be declining both in general and in transportation industry logos in particular. In order to preserve the visual heritage of its logo, American must employ design elements that imply a certain datedness. As noted above, however, the abstract nature of the Flight Symbol helps to allay these concerns. Other elements, such as stars and U.S. flags, have enjoyed somewhat more common use in recent years.

We may extend our analysis by looking at the “trendiness” of these design elements, which can be measured as a ratio of the share of each element among new logos from the last five years to the share of each element among “dying” logos over the same period. Using such a measure, values above 1 indicate design elements that are relatively “hotter,” while values below 1 suggest “colder” design elements.

“Trendiness” of design elements, 2007-2011

As the graph above shows, the “hottest” aspect of the design is the single diagonal, which is essentially the only new element added to the old Vignelli/Dreyfuss identity. This suggests that FutureBrand has done a good job of implementing a contemporary look that nicely augments and preserves American’s traditional identity, weighted down as it is with somewhat dated elements.

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2012 marked the 40th anniversary of Paul Rand’s 8-stripe IBM logo (top left) and, according to some chronologies, the 45th anniversary of the less-used 13-stripe version (top right). These marks launched a thousand imitators and defined the look of high-technology logos for years. But before they could do so, they were subject to the same sort of armchair design criticism that today’s social media have made so common. As Rand recounted in a 1991 article, his pitch to add stripes to the IBM mark he had previously designed prompted one IBM executive to snort, “It reminds me of the Georgia chain gang.” A prison uniform may have been the most obvious visual referent for stripes at the time, but the IBM logo quickly changed that.

Striped 1970s and 80s logos from John Mendenhall’s “High Tech Trademarks”

As the computer industry and related high-tech fields took off in the 1970s and 80s, they spawned companies that looked to Big Blue for inspiration when adopting logos. John Mendenhall’s excellent 1985 book, High Tech Trademarks, displayed dozens of examples of these striped marks. Moving beyond the IBM comparisons, Mendenhall saw in them the imagery of the integrated circuit: ”This intricate circuitry with its intriguing pattern of lines, often tapering from thick to thin, is the physical embodiment of unseen power.  It is appropriate then that these linear compositions, seemingly random yet actually highly structured, have become the visual metaphor for an entire industry.”

Percentage of new US logos featuring stripes, by industry

Analysis of United States Patent and Trademark office data shows that use of stripes in logo designs peaked in 1986, when 9.9 percent of all new logos and 22.4 percent of new computer-related logos featured stripes. But the trend quickly died off amid criticism of the glut of lookalike marks, as stripes went from being seen as technical, precise, and advanced to simply cold, impersonal, and anonymous. By 2011, only 1.8 percent of new logos and 1.9 percent of new computer logos were striped.

Striped logos as a percentage of all new US logos, 2002-2011, in select industries

Where are striped logos to be found today? The graph above shows the prevalence of new striped logos within selected industries over the last ten years. Decidedly lower-tech industries such as machines, metals, and vehicles, perhaps late to the striped-logo party, are more likely to use stripes than their high-tech counterparts.

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Perhaps the most significant development in twentieth-century logo design was the rise of the abstract logo. In the United States, the burgeoning corporate identity field helped spread modernist German and Swiss design philosophies, resulting in many pictorial logos being replaced by clean, stark, abstract marks. Such logos were particularly favored by expanding American corporations whose business activities, as they became more varied and technologically complex, could no longer be depicted in a simple, realistic trademark.

Abstract logos faced a strong backlash from Americans accustomed to more realistic symbols. A 1966 Printers’ Ink cover story asked whether these new trademarks were “Imagery or Tomfoolery?” In 1972, Tom Wolfe called abstract logos “the creamiest piece of pie-in-the-sky that American graphic arts have ever sold to American business” and said that they “make absolutely no impact…except insofar as they create a feeling of vagueness or confusion.” Karrie Jacobs in 1987 noted that “Logos, then, evolve backward with complex, multifaceted trademarks down in the primordial muck and geometric marks of amoebalike plainness up at the top of the ladder.”

Abstract and realistic logos as a percentage of all new US logos

Analysis of United States Patent and Trademark Office data shows that the use of abstract logos peaked twice in the last half-century, although abstract logos have never been more common than realistic marks. In 1971, 42.3 percent of new U.S. logos were abstract, but that figure dropped over the next several decades.

By the mid-1990′s, abstract logos began a comeback that culminated in 2001, when 45.8 percent of new logos were abstract. This spike was almost certainly driven by the late-90′s dot-com boom and the wave of abstract swooshes that accompanied it. Look for Emblemetric to examine this trend in a future article.

The last decade has seen a significant drop in the use of abstract logos, with a corresponding increase in realistic symbols. In 2011, 36.0 percent of new logos were abstract, while 61.8 percent were realistic.

Industries with high rates of abstract logo use

 Industries with high rates of realistic logo use

The graphs above show that, not surprisingly, abstract logos are more common in high-technology industries and those where the product or service cannot be easily depicted, while realistic logos are more prevalent in industries where the product has been long established and its consumption occurs on a personal level.

Overall, whether a logo is realistic or abstract seems to have little effect on whether it survives or “dies” over time. Of the realistic logos created since 1960, 34.8 percent are still in use as trademarks, compared to 35.6 percent of abstract logos.

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The single-letter monogram is a basic and classic form of logo that still enjoys wide use today. Looking back through United States Patent and Trademark Office data, we can see that the use of such monograms peaked in the US in 1970, when they made up 6.7 percent of new logos. By 2011, just 2.4 percent of new logos were single-letter monograms.

Single-letter monograms as a percentage of all new US logos

Further analysis reveals which letters are most popular for use in single-letter monogram logos. By comparing the prevalence of particular letters in monograms relative to their use as the initial letters in all trademarked words and phrases, we can see which letters are disproportionately used as monogram logos. For instance, “M” is the first letter in 6.3 percent of all trademarked words, but is used in 9.4 percent of single-letter monogram logos. This gap of 3.1 percent is the highest for any letter, indicating that “M” is most favored for use in monograms. The table below shows these figures for all letters.

Percentage difference between use of letters in monograms and use of letters to begin all trademarked words and phrases

M   3.1%
V   2.0%
A   1.7%
X   1.4%
K   1.4%
W   1.4%
Z   1.2%
H   1.1%
Q   1.0%
E   1.0%
G   0.8%
R   0.5%
Y   0.2%
N   0.2%
U   0.1%
J   -0.3%
I   -0.5%
D  -0.8%
O   -0.8%
B   -0.9%
S   -1.2%
F   -1.3%
L   -1.8%
P   -2.2%
C   -2.6%
T   -4.5%

Interestingly, the four most popular letters for monograms (M, V, A, and X) are vertically symmetrical, while six of the seven least-popular letters are vertically asymmetrical.

Which letters are currently “trendy” for use in single-letter monograms? We can answer this question by analyzing data from the past five years related to new trademarks and “dying” trademarks. The table below shows the ratio of the share of each letter’s use in new monograms over the last five years to the share of each letter’s use in dying monograms over that period. So if a letter appears in 10 percent of new monograms and 10 percent of dying monograms, its ratio is 1, meaning that it is not at all trendy in a positive or negative way. However, if a letter appeared in 40 percent of new monograms and just 20 percent of dying monograms, its ratio would be 2, meaning that it would be very “hot.” Likewise, if a letter were used just 10 percent of the time in new monograms and 30 percent of the time in dying monograms, its ratio would be 0.33, making it quite “cold.”

“Trendiness” of letters in single-letter monograms, 2007-11

O   1.43
V   1.36
U   1.26
E   1.23
B   1.20
W   1.20
G   1.19
F   1.09
T   1.05
R   1.04
K   1.03
A   1.03
Z   1.01
Q   0.97
I   0.97
S   0.95
H   0.95
Y   0.94
L   0.94
P   0.91
J   0.90
M   0.89
N   0.80
X   0.78
C   0.75
D   0.66

“O” leads the way here, perhaps in part due to the popularity and success of the Obama campaign’s “O” monogram, while old standbys “M” and “X” seem to be losing steam.

Single-letter monograms, although their greatest popularity appears to be behind them, remain a viable option for logos. The suggestion here is that formal characteristics of letters themselves, particularly vertical symmetry, may impact which letters are more likely to be turned into monograms.

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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the United States, and the associated pink ribbons are everywhere. Over the last several decades, such “cause ribbons” designed to raise awareness of various issues have become extremely common visual symbols. The graph below shows the recent sharp increase in the use of ribbons in US logos.

“Ribbon” logos as a percentage of all new US logos

The popularity of the ribbon symbol took off in the United States in 1979, when yellow ribbons were tied around trees in support of the American embassy personnel held hostage in Iran. This practice was inspired by the song “Tie A Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Ole Oak Tree,” which had been a hit for Tony Orlando and Dawn in 1973. The song was based on an American folk tale of a man returning to his hometown after serving a prison sentence. He had written a letter to his old girlfriend asking her to tie a yellow ribbon around an oak tree if she still loved him; as his bus pulls up he sees “a hundred yellow ribbons ’round the old oak tree.”

MADD door handle ribbon, Red Ribbon Drug-Free Youth mark, Arthur Ashe looped ribbon with tennis ball logo

The use of cause ribbons began to spread in the 1980s and 1990s, as yellow ribbons took on a meaning of “supporting the troops” and red ribbons were used in the anti-AIDS movement. In 1989, a cause ribbon first appeared in a registered US trademark, a symbol of MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) depicting a red ribbon tied around a car door handle. In 1990, the National Federation of Parents for Drug Free Youth used a red ribbon logo, and in 1993, the now-familiar looped ribbon first appeared in another red ribbon mark used by Arthur Ashe’s organization in its fight against AIDS.

While ribbons had traditionally been used in logos to depict gifts (as in Paul Rand’s original UPS logo), awards (Pabst Blue Ribbon), or as banners for text, cause ribbons quickly assumed a prominent place in logos. By 2011, 21 percent of logos containing a ribbon of any sort featured a cause ribbon.

The looped ribbon symbol ultimately became so popular that the United States Patent and Trademark Office came to consider it a “universal symbol,” like the Christian cross or the peace symbol, meaning that it cannot be registered as a trademark without being graphically modified in a distinctive way.

Color is obviously an important aspect of cause ribbons, as different colors signify various causes. The graph above shows that as cause ribbons have proliferated, the variety of colors used in ribbon logos has exploded. While 95 percent of ribbon logos featuring colors between 1980 and 1999 used either red or blue, since 2000 other colors have seen dramatic increases in use. Most notable among these is pink, which has become nearly as popular as red and blue in ribbon logos, a testament to the success of the breast cancer awareness movement.

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When it comes to logos, it’s still a man’s world. Since 2000, male figures in US logos have outnumbered female figures by 3 to 1. A look back at logo design trends over the past 60 years shows that this is not a new state of affairs.

Percentage of new logos featuring male and female design elements

As the graph above shows, there has not been much change in the relative percentage of logos featuring males and females since 1950. Perhaps most notable here is the slight overall decline in male logos, which may be the result of the contemporary trend of designers using what Michael Bierut calls “neutered sprites” to represent people in general, when in the past they might have gone with more graphically elaborate male figures. (Gender-neutral figures such as Bierut’s sprites are not included in this analysis.)

Percentage of new “gendered” logos featuring male or female design elements

We see above that this ratio of male to female logos has not changed much over the years; again, it appears that 3 out of 4 new logos that have some gendered element are male as opposed to female, with a slight decline in that ratio over time that may be attributable to the “sprite effect” discussed above.

 Percentage of “gendered” logos featuring male or female design elements, by industry

Across all years, 76 percent of gendered logos feature male design elements, while 24 percent contain females. There is variation from these averages across industries, however. Logos from industrial categories such as firearms, construction, and telecommunications are more likely to include male figures, while among logos related to clothing, pharmaceuticals, and alcohol, there is a more pronounced tendency toward featuring females.

Will the gender gap in logos ever be closed? There certainly do not seem to be a lot more women appearing in logos. Designers seeking to avoid giving off an impression of sexism seem more likely to use a genderless figure, rather than a female one, to represent a generic person. If women are to catch up to men in logos, it will probably be due to more male figures being replaced by “neutered sprites,” not to any increase in the use of female design elements.

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Thursday’s unveiling of Microsoft’s new logo was the biggest logo design news of the year to date. Let’s take a look at the new mark in terms of how it relates to trends in United States Patent and Trademark Office data on logo design.

Perhaps most notable is Microsoft’s switch from a logotype (or wordmark) alone to a logotype/symbol combination.

Percentage of new logos featuring logotypes and logotype/symbol combinations

The graph above shows that among both logos in general and computer-related logos in specific, logotype/symbol combinations are becoming more popular and logotypes alone are becoming less popular (and as Emblemetric’s Logotype vs. Symbol analysis reported, logotype/symbol combinations are currently trendy, while logotypes alone are not). And although combination marks are slightly less common among computer-related logos than among logos as a whole, Microsoft’s decision to change to a logotype/symbol combination is consistent with trends both in its industry and in general.

Looking at the symbol itself, it is quite simply a square element made up of smaller multicolored squares. The graph below shows the prevalence of both squares in general and groups of three or more squares as design elements in new logos over the last three decades. Data for computer-related industries is again contrasted with data for industries as a whole.

Percentage of new logos featuring “squares” and “3 or more squares” as design elements

It is apparent that squares have long been a logo design favorite for computer-related businesses. And over the last ten years, just 6.08 percent of all logos featured squares of some sort, compared to 9.62 percent of computer logos. Logos featuring three or more squares accounted for 1.05 percent of all logos, while among computer logos, the figure was double: 2.10 percent. Microsoft is certainly sticking close to industry conventions with its use of squares in its new logo.

Percentage of dying logos featuring “squares” and “3 or more squares” as design elements

The graph above shows that logos with squares and 3 or more squares are not dying out (i.e., being abandoned or canceled, or expiring) at alarming rates, so Microsoft is not hitching its wagon to some fading trend with this new logo.

 Percentage of new logos featuring red, green, blue, and yellow

Microsoft’s use of the combination of red, green, blue, and yellow in its new symbol is not typical of computer-related logos, or logos in general, for that matter. The graph above shows that the percentage of new logos featuring this combination has never approached one-half of one-percent since 1980.

But Microsoft has long associated itself with this color combination, dating back to the very first red/green/blue/yellow computer-related logo, the original Windows flag, filed for trademark registration this week in 1991. Indeed, 20.3 percent of all such logo registrations are Microsoft’s. The company’s challenge now is to “own” this combination, given that it is also used by Google and eBay.

In all, the new Microsoft logo strikes a nice balance between bringing the company’s visual image more in line with contemporary design trends and retaining distinctive elements of the Microsoft graphic identity.

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In the first ten months of 2011, there were 44,227 logos filed for trademark registration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Among them:

• The two most common design elements were “shaded circles” (found in 4.3 percent of the logos) and “shaded rectangles” (found in 3.8 percent of the logos); see Logos Taking Shape
• The most common color used was red (of logos featuring colors, 23.84 percent contained red and 23.69 percent contained blue); see The Color of Logos
• The most common USPTO industry classification was advertising/business management/administration (16.2 percent of the logos fell into this category)
• Logotype/symbol combinations accounted for 87.1 percent of the logos, while logos that only contained symbols made up the other 12.9 percent (logotypes alone are not included in this analysis); see Logotype vs. Symbol
• The state producing the most logos was California, with 14.9 percent of the total; see Logo Geography

The EMAX VPMA logo, above, a trademark of Encore Legal Solutions of Los Angeles, represents a web-based legal support service system. It may not be 2011′s most beautiful, best-designed, or most effective logo, but it fits the criteria above perfectly and is therefore the most typical, making it Emblemetric’s Logo of the Year.

Continue reading »]]> Geometric shapes are some of the most basic design elements of logos, but designers and businesses have been cautioned for years about the drawbacks to relying on them. Almost a century ago, in his 1916 book Trademark Power: An Expedition Into An Unprobed and Inviting Wilderness, Glen Buck warned that ”round trademarks are as numerous as cart-wheels and quite as lacking in distinction.”

Similarly, in 1954, Jim Nash wrote in The Trademark Reporter that “a quick look at existing trade-marks shows that abstract shapes, such as squares, diamonds, ovals, triangles, and so on, have been used by so many firms that they have lost their interest,” and Lippincott & Margulies declared in a 1958 issue of their in-house magazine Design Sense, ”our markets are visually oversaturated with more than 9,000 diamond symbols, not to speak of the multitudes of look-alike squares, triangles, circles, and assorted forms.

Studying United States Patent and Trademark Office data, we can evaluate the popularity of geometric shapes as design elements over time. The graph below shows the percentage of new logos in each year since 1950 that contained at least one of eight specific shapes (circles, ovals, triangles, diamonds, squares, rectangles, quadrilaterals, and polygons, defined in this case as shapes with five or more sides).

 Percentage of new logos featuring any shape element

This percentage has remained remarkably consistent over time, although it’s worth noting the drop over the past several years. In 2010, the figure fell to 49.22 percent, representing the first time since 1944 that less than half of new logos featured shapes.

 Percentage of new logos featuring specific shape elements

The graph above shows the relative popularity of the eight shape types over the years. Circles and rectangles have been most common, with rectangles enjoying a decided advantage in the 1980′s and 1990′s, only to be overtaken by circles in recent years.

Percentage of logos featuring shape elements by industry

The popularity of shapes in logo designs varies across industries. The graph above illustrates this point for seven selected industries. Circles are most common in healthcare and telecommunications logos and least common in insurance. Chemical logos feature more triangles, diamonds, and polygons than the other industries. Squares are most common in insurance and least prevalent among beverage marks.

“Trendiness” of shape elements

The above graph’s vertical axis represents a ratio of the share of shape type in new logos in a given year to the share of shape type in dying logos from that year. So if circles appear in 20 percent of new trademarks in a year and 20 percent of dying trademarks in that year, their ratio is 1, meaning that they are not at all trendy in a positive or negative way. However, if squares were in 80 percent of new trademarks and just 40 percent of dying trademarks, their ratio would be 2, meaning that they would be very “hot” for that year. Likewise, if triangles were used just 20 percent of the time in new trademarks and 60 percent of the time in dying trademarks, their ratio would be 0.33, making them quite “cold.”

Looking at the graph, we can see that circles have virtually never been “out” over the last two decades, while rectangles have not been in vogue for much of that period. Squares have enjoyed periods of trendiness, including over the last several years. Their compatibility with new visual forms of identity such as favicons and social media profile photos may push them to greater heights in the future.

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“Leaf” logos filed for trademark registration in 2011

One of the most prominent trends in logo design in recent years has been the proliferation of leaves as design elements.  As companies have attempted to adopt images that reflect our society’s increasing concern for the environment, the leaf has become visual shorthand for eco-friendliness.

Percentage of new logos containing leaves

The graph above shows the sudden jump in leafy logos over the past decade (the analyses here are concerned only with logos containing generic leaf images; logos featuring specific leaves such as maple, oak, and holly are not included). By 2009, the percentage of logos with leaves reached 3.87 percent, before dropping off slightly in 2010 and 2011. It may be that we have seen this trend peak.

 Leaf logos by industry

Of course, the leaf logo trend has not taken hold equally across all industries. The graph above shows that logos in industries such as agriculture, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals are much more likely to feature leaves: for example, in 2008, almost 16 percent of all new agricultural logos contained leaves. But even those industries such as insurance and advertising that would seem to have little use for natural or “green” images have seen marked increases in leafy logos.

Percentage of “dying” logos containing leaves

The flipside of the leaf’s popularity as a design element is that more and more “dying” trademarks (those that are abandoned, canceled, or expired) contain leaves. The graph above shows this increase. By 2011, 3.44 percent of dying logos contained leaves, nearly matching the percentage of new 2011 logos with leaves (3.68%). It appears that the leaf is transitioning from logo design trend to logo design cliché.

Continue reading »]]> A common question in branding and identity design concerns the relative effectiveness of logotypes (stylized typographic expressions of a company or brand name) and symbols (graphic icons that represent a company or brand).

Those from a marketing background often pooh-pooh graphic symbols and recommend the use of logotypes, which promote a name above all else. Jack Trout, writing for Forbes in 2007, declared:

“Logos have been with us for thousands of years…The Roman legions had them. In the middle ages, every two-bit duke with a handful of knights had one plastered on their shields. There were crests or coats of arms everywhere. But none ever amounted to anything. What lived on were the names of the people involved or the places the big battles were fought. What does that tell you? It’s not about the symbol. It’s about the name connected to the symbol.”

Designers, not surprisingly, have more appreciation for the power of symbols relative to logotypes. In a 1999 Communication Arts article, Mark Fox discussed Nike’s decision to detach its Swoosh symbol from its logotype:

“After the connection between a company and logo…is sufficiently understood by the public, the power of the logo can, on occasion, be increased by dropping the company name. Beyond making the symbol translingual, the lack of text can allow the logo to possess a certain ineffable quality that suggests far more than it could before. The ancient Hebrews realized this and, as a result, had a proscription against writing the name of God. That which is named is always less powerful than that which is unnamed.”

Analysis of United States Patent and Trademark Office data can shed some light on the relative use and success of symbols and logotypes.

Relative Use of Graphic Trademark Types

The graph above shows that, over the last five decades, the most common type of graphic trademark filed for registration in the US has moved from the logotype alone to the combination of logotype and symbol. The prevalence of the unaccompanied symbol has risen slightly, but it remains the least common of the three options (of course, many companies will register multiple versions of their trademarks, featuring logotype, symbol, or both).

“Trendiness” of Graphic Trademark Types

By factoring in the types of trademarks that are “dying” (being abandoned or canceled, or expiring) in a given year, we can get a sense for how “trendy” each of these types has been.

The above graph’s vertical axis represents a ratio of the share of graphic trademark type in new logos in a given year to the share of graphic trademark type in dying logos from that year. So if symbols account for 20 percent of new trademarks in a year and 20 percent of dying trademarks in that year, their ratio is 1, meaning that they are not at all trendy in a positive or negative way. However, if logotypes made up 80 percent of new trademarks and just 40 percent of dying trademarks, their ratio would be 2, meaning that they would be very “hot” for that year. Likewise, if combinations of logotypes and symbols were used just 20 percent of the time in new trademarks and 60 percent of the time in dying trademarks, their ratio would be 0.33, making them quite “cold.”

We can see that for much of the past two decades, symbols were “hot” while logotypes were “cold.” Only in the past few years has the logotype/symbol combination become hotter than symbols alone, while logotypes alone continue to seem to be dying out at a faster rate than they are being created.

Graphic Trademark Type by Industry

Looking at selected industries, we can see that symbols alone are used most often in pharmaceutical and alcohol trademarks, and least often in advertising and hospitality. Logotypes alone are used most in chemical and pharmaceutical marks, and least often in hospitality and medical marks. Combinations of logotypes and symbols are used most often in the hospitality and medical industries, and least often in chemical and pharmaceutical trademarks.

Another way to assess the relative success of the different types of graphic trademarks is to look at how long they survive in use, from the time they are filed for registration until they are abandoned, canceled, or expired.

Lifespan, in years, of graphic trademark types

The graph above shows that, among trademarks that have died, those using logotypes alone had the longest average lifespan (11.7 years, followed by symbols alone (8.07 years) and the logotype/symbol combination (7.08 years). While a trademark’s survival over time does not necessarily mean that it is an effective mark, such longevity should be seen as a positive thing in general.

Continue reading »]]> Color has become an even more important aspect of logo design in today’s web-based world. How has color been used in US logo design over the past several decades? Analysis of United States Patent and Trademark Office data can provide some answers.

Use of Color in US Logos

The graph above shows the relative share of color use in US logos over the last two decades (logos that did not contain these colors, or that did not feature color at all, were omitted from the analysis). The vertical axis indicates the percentage of logos filed for trademark registration in a given year that contained each color; these percentages add up to 100 percent for each year.

A few trends stand out here. Red, which was by far the most popular color used in logos in the 1990′s, has been caught by blue; they now are used about equally. Green has seen a modest rise in use, most likely due to increased environmental consciousness in American society. And orange has enjoyed a slight increase in popularity.

“Trendiness” of Color Use in US Logos

Another way to address this issue is to analyze the colors used not just in new logos, but in logos that have “died” (i.e., trademarks that have been abandoned, canceled, or expired). The graph above provides a measure of trendiness by combining color data from new logos with color data from dying logos.

The graph’s vertical axis represents a ratio of the share of color use in new logos in a given year to the share of color use in dying logos from that year. So if red accounts for 20 percent of the use of color in new logos in a year and 20 percent of the use of color in dying logos in that year, its ratio is 1, meaning that it is not at all trendy in a positive or negative way. However, if blue were used 80 percent of the time in new logos and just 40 percent of the time in dying logos, its ratio would be 2, meaning that it would be a very “hot” color for that year. Likewise, if green were used just 20 percent of the time in new logos and 60 percent of the time in dying logos, its ratio would be 0.33, making it quite “cold.”

With this in mind, we can see that violet was a trendy color in US logos for much of the 1990′s, before cooling off in the last decade. Orange, brown, and green have been hot in recent years, while red has languished somewhat. Over the last three years, the lines on the graph converge around the middle, suggesting that no color is particularly hot or cold.

Use of Color in US Logos by Industry

Color use in logos can also be addressed in terms of particular industries. The graph above shows the relative use across time of eight colors in the logos of seven selected industries (again, these shares sum to 100 percent).

While there are not drastic differences in color use across these industries, some results are notable. Red is used most often in the logos of the beverage and hospitality industries, and least often in insurance and medical services. Blue is used most in telecom and insurance, and least in hospitality marks. Green appears most often in chemicals and least often in telecommunications.

Continue reading »]]> Are there geographical aspects to logo design? In other words, do logos differ based on  the location of the companies and organizations they represent? An examination of United States Patent and Trademark Office data may provide some insight.

Share of US Logo Trademark Ownership, by Region (1884-2011)

In the graph above, we can see that companies in the western US have claimed the largest share of US logos, while 18 percent of logos registered in the US have foreign owners. Broken down by state, California (14.4%) is home to the most logos, followed by New York (8.8%), Florida (5.2%), and Texas (5.1%).

Share of US Logo Trademark Ownership, by Region

Looking at the data over time, it appears that, since 1960, the East and Midwest have lost ground in terms of their share of the nation’s logos, while the West and South have seen gains. This is not surprising, given the shifts in the US population over this period.

Further examination of the data allows for identification of content-related design trends among the logos of the different geographical regions. The following results are based on analysis of logos filed for registration over the past ten years.

East

Logos of Eastern companies and organizations feature the following graphic elements at significantly higher rates than are seen in US logos as a whole:

• Basketballs: 107 percent higher than average
• Pills: 77 percent higher
• Open books: 48 percent higher
• Mythological beings/superheroes: 45 percent higher
• Dogs: 30 percent higher

 West

Logos of Western companies and organizations feature the following graphic elements at significantly higher rates than are seen in US logos as a whole:

• Marijuana plants: 151 percent higher than average
• Surfboards/snowboards: 123 percent higher
• Mountains: 65 percent higher
• Cacti: 61 percent higher
• Skeletons/skulls: 57 percent higher
• Peace symbols: 47 percent higher

Midwest

Logos of Midwestern companies and organizations feature the following graphic elements at significantly higher rates than are seen in US logos as a whole:

• Corn stalks: 154 percent higher than average
• Pizza: 116 percent higher (Domino’s and Little Caesars are based in Michigan)
• Trucks/vans: 85 percent higher
• Baseball bats: 76 percent higher than average
• Cylinders: 69 percent higher (probably due to their use in logos related to manufacturing)
• Rabbits: 67 percent higher (Playboy is headquartered in Chicago)

South

Logos of Southern companies and organizations feature the following graphic elements at significantly higher rates than are seen in US logos as a whole:

• Tobacco leaves: 121 percent higher than average
• Alligators: 69 percent higher
• States of the US (not including Texas): 67 percent higher
• Crosses: 57 percent higher
• Fishing tackle: 55 percent higher
• American flags: 36 percent higher

Foreign

Logos of Foreign-owned companies and organizations feature the following graphic elements at significantly higher rates than are seen in US logos as a whole:

• Alcohol bottle labels: 177 percent higher than average
• Heraldic lions: 72 percent higher
• Dragons/griffons: 40 percent higher
• Three or more ovals: 39 percent higher
• Coffee beans: 33 percent higher
• Squares that are completely or partially shaded (such as the Orange mark): 19 percent higher

Foreign logos are also the most likely to contain abstract, artificial, and curved design elements.

In general, these geographic characteristics of logos are interesting, but, for the most part, not too surprising. However, some seem to cry out for explanations that are not immediately obvious. Why do Eastern logos feature so many dogs? What explains the popularity of abstract elements such as ovals and shaded squares among non-US companies? Perhaps further research may offer some answers. Do you have a theory? Contact us and share it!

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2011 logos featuring two stars in a circular border

The use of two stars as a design element in US logos increased by 170 percent in 2011 over the preceding five-year period. Looking back over time, we can see that, following a pronounced dip in the 1970′s, logos with two stars have been claiming an increasing share of new trademark filings for the last three decades.

Logos with two stars, as a percentage of all logos

What explains this rise? Looking through US trademark registration images, it appears that many of the “two-star” logos employ a similar graphic device: the two stars are used as markers or dividers within a logo’s circular border containing text. Analysis of US trademark data shows that the percentage of “two-star” logos that include a circular border element has increased sharply in recent years.

Logos with two stars in a circle, as a percentage of all logos with two stars

Consequently, logos with two stars in a circle have become more prevalent in general, with particular increases occurring in the 1990′s and 2000′s. 

Logos with two stars in a circle, as a percentage of all logos

Of course, this graphic convention is nothing new; for instance, university seals have been employing it for decades:

But the recent popularity of this visual device may be attributable to perhaps the best-known logo to use it: that of Starbucks. The coffee chain first used the two stars in 1987 and retained them in its 1992 logo (below). It’s not a stretch to attribute the rise of this logo design trend over the last couple of decades to the ubiquitous Starbucks siren.

The Starbucks connection makes more sense when this logo design trend is examined in terms of the industries associated with the marks. Aside from the relatively small industry categories of firearms and yarns, the “two stars in a circle” design element appears most frequently in the logos of the hospitality industry (restaurants, bars, and hotels). Of course, in 2011 Starbucks famously dropped the circle and stars from its logo, so it would not be surprising to see this trend lose steam soon.