Logo Case Studies
Social Network App Logos
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| Instagram logo |
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| Twitter logo |
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| Snapchat logo |
Above are three social network logos, which are used as their mobile/tablet app logo. Logos are used by companies and organisations to aid and promote instant public recognition. They are either graphic (made of symbols and icons) or are composed of the name of the company.
The first logo is Instagram. Instagram is an online mobile photo and video sharing social network service. Users take photos and videos and share them to Instagram, and also other social networks. Photos posted are a square shape, similar to kodak Instamatic and Polaroid images, which is what the logo is based on.
It is the logo with the most variation in colour, in comparison to the other logos. It is also the only logo which uses type. When thinking about how the most popular app's logos would look on a phone screen next to each other, the Instagram logo stands out amongst all of the primary colours. The brown colours suggest warmth, reliability, and stability, which reflects the brand.
I think that the logo works really well, and by basing it on a Polaroid camera creates character for the brand, and gives something for the users to relate too. If the logo was just a two toned graphic camera, I don't think the design would have been as successful.
It is the logo with the most variation in colour, in comparison to the other logos. It is also the only logo which uses type. When thinking about how the most popular app's logos would look on a phone screen next to each other, the Instagram logo stands out amongst all of the primary colours. The brown colours suggest warmth, reliability, and stability, which reflects the brand.
I think that the logo works really well, and by basing it on a Polaroid camera creates character for the brand, and gives something for the users to relate too. If the logo was just a two toned graphic camera, I don't think the design would have been as successful.
The second logo is Twitter. Twitter is an online social networking service that enables users to send and read shorts 140 character messages called "tweets".
This logo consists of a blue background with a white silhouette shape of a cartoon bird. The blue colour is a lighter blue than Facebook's, which helps to make them different when they are placed together on a users mobile device. The light blue colour suggests trust, strength, perspective, openess and communication - which are things that Twitter is about.
The shape of the bird leads the eyes upwards, and it has a natural shape. The signature bird logo makes Twitter internationally identifiable. The bird was actually called "Larry the Bird" and is named after Larry Bird of the NBA's Boston Celtics, until it was replaced with the above "Twitter Bird" in June 2012. The Twitter Bird apparently resembles a Mountain Bluebird.
By using sharp spikes and round, soft curves, it helps to communicate different things. The sharp spikes of the bird's feathers suggest, energy and movement, whilst the curves suggest happiness, youth, and community.
The last logo is that of Snapchat. Snapchat is a video and photo messaging application. Users can take photos, record videos, add text and drawings, and send them to a controlled list of recipients.
The logo consists of a yellow background, and a ghost shape silhouette in white, outlined in black. Using a yellow colour helps to suit the 10 to 23 target audience that Snapchat has, as yellow suggests fun, optimism, youth, energy and joy.
The ghost shape is Snapchats mascot, who is called "Ghostface Chillah" a name derived from Wu-Tang Clan's Ghostface Killah. The app was previously called "Picaboo" which relates to the ghost shape, which connotes "boo!".
In June 2014, Snapchat changed their logo from a smiling ghost to a faceless ghost. In a blog post titled "NoFace Chillah" they explained that users are the face of Snapchat, and that without a face, the ghost can be "reflective of the diverse experience shared by the members of our community". Like Twitter's logo, the soft shape of the ghost show movement, happiness, pleasure, and youth.
I think that logos like Twitter's and Snapchats are very successful, especially when they are instantly recognisable by just a colour or a shape. By using bold and soft designs, both have a masculine and feminine feel, and this attracts a bigger audience.
This logo consists of a blue background with a white silhouette shape of a cartoon bird. The blue colour is a lighter blue than Facebook's, which helps to make them different when they are placed together on a users mobile device. The light blue colour suggests trust, strength, perspective, openess and communication - which are things that Twitter is about.
The shape of the bird leads the eyes upwards, and it has a natural shape. The signature bird logo makes Twitter internationally identifiable. The bird was actually called "Larry the Bird" and is named after Larry Bird of the NBA's Boston Celtics, until it was replaced with the above "Twitter Bird" in June 2012. The Twitter Bird apparently resembles a Mountain Bluebird.
By using sharp spikes and round, soft curves, it helps to communicate different things. The sharp spikes of the bird's feathers suggest, energy and movement, whilst the curves suggest happiness, youth, and community.
The last logo is that of Snapchat. Snapchat is a video and photo messaging application. Users can take photos, record videos, add text and drawings, and send them to a controlled list of recipients.
The logo consists of a yellow background, and a ghost shape silhouette in white, outlined in black. Using a yellow colour helps to suit the 10 to 23 target audience that Snapchat has, as yellow suggests fun, optimism, youth, energy and joy.
The ghost shape is Snapchats mascot, who is called "Ghostface Chillah" a name derived from Wu-Tang Clan's Ghostface Killah. The app was previously called "Picaboo" which relates to the ghost shape, which connotes "boo!".
In June 2014, Snapchat changed their logo from a smiling ghost to a faceless ghost. In a blog post titled "NoFace Chillah" they explained that users are the face of Snapchat, and that without a face, the ghost can be "reflective of the diverse experience shared by the members of our community". Like Twitter's logo, the soft shape of the ghost show movement, happiness, pleasure, and youth.
I think that logos like Twitter's and Snapchats are very successful, especially when they are instantly recognisable by just a colour or a shape. By using bold and soft designs, both have a masculine and feminine feel, and this attracts a bigger audience.
Business Cards Designed Using Shape
Below are 6 different business cards that I designed for "Bright Ideas Design" company. The brief described them as "a young, funky company" who would like their business card to reflect that image. To start the process of designing a business card for the company, I created a mind map to brainstorm ideas. I thought of words that are associated with "bright", "design", "ideas", "funky" and "young", as this is what is important to the company.
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| Brainstorming ideas for the business card |
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| Design 1.a |
For this design I used a yellow background and a white speech bubble shape, with a bold, funky font called Poplar. The yellow colour suggests youth, energy, fun, energy, and joy. I feel that this is appropriate to communicate that Bright Ideas Design is a young funky company. Using Poplar font also does this. The yellow colour also shows that Bright Ideas Design is "bright".
I used a speech bubble shape to communicate the "ideas". This is because ideas are usually talked about and discussed. It also looks like a thought bubble, connote thinking about ideas. The curved corners of the shape suggest movement, youth and happiness, and the sharp corner on the bottom gives a bit of energy and life.
I added a contact email to keep the design simple (and of course, because it is a business card) and added a glow around the shape, to soften it a little bit.
The font that I used is called "Poplar". It has curved corners, small bowls, and is bold. I thought that it had a groovy, or funky look to it, so this suits the ideas of the brand. Whilst being funky, it is not too "old" and still looks youthful.
I added a contact email to keep the design simple (and of course, because it is a business card) and added a glow around the shape, to soften it a little bit.
The font that I used is called "Poplar". It has curved corners, small bowls, and is bold. I thought that it had a groovy, or funky look to it, so this suits the ideas of the brand. Whilst being funky, it is not too "old" and still looks youthful.
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| Design 1.b |
This design has the same reasoning as the design before, however it has an orange background colour. Orange communicates cheer, confidence, friendliness, instinct, optimism, and freedom. Based on this, I think that the yellow design communicates better ideas and feelings that suit the business.
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| Design 2.a |
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| Design 2.b |
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| Design 3.a |
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| Design 3.b |
Design 3.a and 3.b were actually my two first designs, but I felt that they felt old and not young, and this did not represent the company. The font I used for "Bright Ideas" is "Rosewood Std Regular". I liked that it was bold, but it was based on a chromatic design from William Page in 1874, and this suggests it is of an old stye. For "design" and the contact email, I used the font Helvetica, which I think contrasts well with the Rosewood.
Process
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| Creating a rectangle shape and filling with yellow. Document 85 x 55mm with 3mm bleed 5mm margin |
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| Creating the speech bubble. I used a rectangle shape with rounded edges and then a square shape rotated 45 degrees. |
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| Adding the logo |
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| Experimenting with the size of "design" |
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| I decided to go with the smaller "design". I then added the contact email address below |
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| Adding an outer glow to the shape |
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