Regardless if you are a marketer, content writer or a designer, your work is influenced both by the general principles governing the business communication and by the trends, which influence it year after year. Nowadays, an effective branding is more important than ever and logo design trends change rapidly.
As a company’s logo is the first visual element the potential customers interact with, the designers focus on creating logos that leave an everlasting impression, pass the test of time and convey the message of the brand in a way that resonates with the customers in the best way. And it’s a normal thing, as long as the businesses become more personal.
In the same time, in order to face all these challenging demands, the designers need to be more innovative, more creative and more inclusive. Even if the philosophy that stands behind the logo design never changes, trends have a huge importance. They inspire new and innovative ideas, helping the designers to create timeless and distinct, but still modern and contemporary logos.
As we said in the “9 graphic design trends you need to be aware of in 2017”, this is the year when we are witnessing a growing desire for counterbalancing the doubt with authenticity and simplicity. And we can see this not just for general graphic design trends, but also for web design, packaging, print design and especially for logo design trends.
That said, let’s take a closer look at the logo design trends that define 2017. Some of them are new, other are older trends that confirmed the last year and will become more popular in 2017.
1. Hand drawn logo designs
Hand drawn logo designs are not new. Because they emanate warmth, credibility, charisma and authenticity, they connect the brands with their customers at the intimate level and have been popular for years for some food and HoReCa industries, like wine shops, restaurants and coffee shops. The design of hand-drawn logos feels fresh, comforting, human and grounded, putting the brand in a special spotlight and attracting the attention of the customers. As the custom tailored fonts are a very special asset for the design industry and play the main role in this situation, the typography is the focal point you should focus in this particular case. In addition, I think we will also see an intense usage of the colors and color tones as a likely evolution of this trend.
2. Line art in logo design
Although it is a general concept that can be met in many industries related to design (as graphic design, interior design, architecture, fashion and so on), minimalism has multiple facets. In their graphic work, designers use clean and simple imagery and text in order to create a strong message, regardless if it’s about web design, print design packaging design and, the most important, logo design. Business people have been recently in love with this minimalist technique for logo designs, as it is very simple and it blends both text and image perfectly. The style consists in using a line with unchanging thickness that goes on like a twisted wire and draws a clear distinction between the generic colored logos and mono lines. If you pay more attention to these logo designs, you will be surprised by the crisp, clear and clean look they give you.
3. Negative space
Becoming more popular in 2016, the negative space logo design has not reached its full potential yet; and for sure, it will be a break-out trend this year. The style of this logo design is based on using the dual-imagery, where positive and negative space complete and compete each other for attracting the viewer’s attention. And by “cutting” Images out of negative space, the designers can create true masterpieces. It is a design style that, used properly, conveys your message immediately and makes your logo stand out from the crowd. That’s the main reason for which designers will continue to play with the negative space and will continue to explore it, in order to get a deeper understanding of this amazing technique.
4. Minimalism
In an industry where the general trend is to create big, bold and more complexed logos in order to attract the attention of the audience, the simple logo designs stand out from the crowd and catch the eyes of the customers.
As Leonardo Da Vinci said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”. Therefore, this trend, focused on removing unnecessary details and keeping just the essential, is so appreciated by both designers and customers. Excepting the incredible clarity of the minimalist logo designs, they are also practical and purpose-driven, conveying the message immediately.
Minimalism is expected to keep its popularity this year through simplicity and will also extend into the future with the minimal colors and effects.
5. Form simplification
5. Form simplification
In this time, when the flat design and minimalism gain more popularity, many brands are moving to simplification of their logos. Like minimalism, this trend will also affect the logo designs in 2017 and in upcoming years.
With simplified logos, brands make room for clearness in their visual communication, trying to portray uncluttered aesthetics and connect with the audience regarding clarity and precision.
Take a look at these visually busy logos that were exchanged for streamlined, simple designs.
6. Stencil typography
A visual hierarchy is a great way to create catchy and memorable logos, and the stencil fonts are excellent tools to use when your logo design concept requires the attention of your target audience. They have a strong, classic and defined vibe, being used to drive a point or emphasize a message. With the abundance of stencil fonts that could be found online, if you want to use them for your logo design project, all you have to do is to simply choose a font that is the best fit for you.
7. Geometric shapes
Geometric shapes are highly effective not only for general graphic designs, but also for logo designs and they have been trending maybe from the beginning. In the last years, we have seen increasing the usage of geometric shapes, the designers being fascinated especially by unconventional geometric patterns. For example, both symmetrical and asymmetrical colorful polygons dominated last year and simple geometric shapes are expected to be the highlight of 2017.
If you want to create stylish and unique logos, by using simple geometric shapes is one of the best choices.
8. Overlapping gradients
Overlapping is a relative new design technique, where simple geometric forms overlap to create unique, clean and elegant style for your brand identity. Although at the beginning it has been used mostly for animal-related logos, along the time, overlapping became more popular and gained its recognition among the world’s leading brands. Even if gradients were once considered as bold combinations and vibrant colors to add volume and depth, nowadays, they are all about simplicity.
Logo designers can achieve this goal by leveraging flat material design colors and muted colors. Due to its rising popularity, overlapping gradients is becoming a top logo design trend in 2017.
9. Animation
One of the most exciting trends this year is moving parts, which introduces both logo design variation in printed materials and web-based animated GIFs. In the age of video and mobility catching up, moving parts is one inspiring logo design trend that is sure to catch on with multiple brands and companies.
This trend is very similar to the cinematography trend where the moving parts logo attracts attention more than the static, providing a strong surprising element that can attract anyone’s interest.
Bottom line:
The above inspiring logo design trends are just few of the hottest trends that will continue in 2017, and even some years beyond. In addition, I’m sure the designers will also surprise us with fresh ideas and improved styles.
But the most important thing for creating a unique and remarkable logo is to choose that direction which suits the sensibilities of the brand you are designing for, as well as its future scope, before opting for a particular style.
Read more: 9 Graphic Design Trends To Keep An Eye On In 2017
Leave a Reply