The logo of the English Standard Version of the bible is a seal inset with an elegant monogram which evokes officialdom, veracity and trust along with a little pizzazz in a move designed to showcase the strengths of the translation while drawing on the equity of the ancient book.
Located in Upland, California, Johnson's Hot Dogs presents a warm, friendly impression with its caricatured literal hot dog mascot. Harnessing the power of visual identity to create positive first impressions, the family owned "hot doggery"'s logo punches above its weight with a mark that outshines those of typical locally owned, very small businesses. Shunning the well beaten path of Microsoft Word produced word marks, the logo's strength lies in its distinct imagery and colors which not only sets it apart from competitors, but gives its own business personality.
There's something very pleasant and homely about the logo of Cindy Crawford Style - a partnership between model, Cindy Crawford and U.S. retailer, J.C.Penney - which combines a simple but elegant CC monogram with soft pastels in an appeal to homemakers and housewives.
Sophisticated and creative, the logo of premium fashion label, Holmes and Yang - the brainchild of actress, Kate Holmes and stylist, Jeanne Yang - uses implied lines to spectacular effect as a way to set its brand apart from the minimalist san serif wordmarks so commonly adopted in the fashion world.
Formerly known as Southern Wedding Photography, the Flying Pig Photography name was borne out of both the blandness of the former name and a desire to more accurately convey the company's experience and philosophy. The flying pig was selected as the mascot both as a visual way to express fun and fantastical whimsy but also as a metaphor for "something extraordinary". With an elegantly illustrated flying pig set against a sky of navy blue and framed by a puffy cloud for dimension and perspective and anchored with whimsical typography to match, the end result is quite lovely.
Although the contrasting red and blue give the mark a one dimensional feel, the punctuating icon above the Howard Johnson typography adds charm to a logo which doubles a roadside sign and presents its accommodation as unabashedly simple, clean and inexpensive.
When a brand like Xerox, which has such strong name recognition, adds an icon to its word mark, it only serves to compete for attention, confuses the focus and dilutes the brand's strength.
Lively and engaging, the logo of Ontario, California based shopping center, the Ontario Mills, uses soft pastels, vintage stylized floral imagery along with Bristol FH typography to promises shoppers a vibrant, welcoming shopping experience.
An occurrence more frequently associated with small school or little league teams, the Indoor Football League's, Wichita Wild, tears a page straight out of the local amateur league playbook by adopting the logo of a professional sports team from across the pond playing in Australia's National Rugby League, the Wests Tigers. Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, the Wests Tigers would no doubt appreciate the compliment, but barring a written agreement and a compelling reason, this amounts to identify theft.
UPDATE: We received an anonymous email claiming that the "tiger part of the logo is a generic logo available online with no copyights associated with it. It is not the property of either team, and was found searching through logos". We have not been able to verify this because no links were provided.
While the logo of Alibris (pronounced “uh-LEE-briss”) is very plain in style its strength lies in the distinct color palette to which it effectively ties its brand. The mark employs overlapping rectangles whose reserved hues of brown, orange and blue evoke antiquity and literature associations in keeping with its role as an "online marketplace for independent sellers of new and used books, music, and movies, as well as rare and collectible titles".
Named for a fish common to the area which is fun to catch and whose name is fun to say, the mark of minor league baseball's Pensacola Blue Wahoos adheres to Brandiose's design philosophy that if "it [can] fit in another city ... it’s time to go back to the drawing board". Employing typography which mimics that of the iconic Pensacola Beach sign and colors which uniquely represent the feel of the city, the logo is a vibrant and fun visual metaphor for the area and the club's minor league baseball experience.
Combative logos are the order of business for most American sports teams and rightfully so because of sport's parallels to military battles. The Continental Indoor Football League's Saginaw Sting is no exception, employing a aggressive, soaring wasp as a visual metaphor to represent what is an abstract team name. If the role of a sports team's identity is to promote competitive loyalty and solidarity, this mark succeeds admirably with a color palette reminiscent of traditional army hues.
Private, for-profit college, United States University, attempts to project gravity, sobriety and academic credibility with a university seal mimicking those of its older, more respected cousins (and possibly those of the federal government). Undermining this to a degree is the almost comical magnitude of its out-sized name playing on the idea that if being named after a state is good, then being named after a country is fifty-fold better. Setting this aside, it's a beautifully and elegantly rendered mark which tends to succeed within the limitations of its field.
Paso Robles based Clayhouse Wines plays to its strength with a logo whose cursive signature reflects the hand-crafted nature of its wines and the four generation legacy of the family owned winery. It's balanced visually with a sophisticated rendering of 'WINES' neatly tucked underneath to create what is a simple, but effective mark.
