2011 Logo Design Trends

2011 Logo Design Trends

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2011 Logo Design Trends

Logo Lounge, for the past nine years, has posted annual logo design trend reports and they have just released the 2011 logo design trends report. I would love to hear your thoughts on the showcased trends.

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Do these identity / branding trends effect you or your process? Do you agree with these suggestions? Have you noticed any other trends?

Disclaimer

On this topic of trends, one should not follow trends for the sake of following them. As Bill Gardner points out:

Every year, it’s worth noting that this is a report on trends, not a recipe book of styles. It is also not a finite list: There are other valid trends out there that are not mentioned here.

The report should serve you as an ongoing view of where logo design is headed. The word “trends” in itself can have a very negative cast, but in truth, trends aren’t bad. They reveal our growth. It’s our take on them that allows us to move even further forward.

Gradients

Gradients

Juvi

Juvi

Vibrate

vibrate


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O

o

Earth

earth

Monoline

monoline

Series

series

Brown

brown

Dandruff

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dandruff

Concentric

concentric

Loopys

loopys

Banded

banded

Comma

comma

Buckys

buckys

Fruit

fruit

Back Again

backagain

Isometric

isometric

Blackhole

blackhole

PickUpSticks

pickupsticks

Reactive

reactive

Medallions

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medallions

Do these identity / branding trends effect you or your process? Do you agree with these suggestions? Have you noticed any other trends?’

© Artwork shown is copyright of their respective owners. Designer’s names & clients can be found on the original posting linked above. Original compilation by Bill Gardner.

About Jacob Cass

Jacob Cass is a brand designer & strategist, educator, podcaster, business coach and the founder of JUST Creative, an award-winning branding & design consultancy that doubles as an industry-leading blog. Get in touch.

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55 thoughts on “2011 Logo Design Trends”

  1. Wonderful Logos Jacob. Really appreciate your work. Me too wants to make logo. I hope I can get any idea after looking at your bunch of logos.

    Thanks again.

  2. Dandruff = distressed. I’ve seen lots of this coming out of Middle America (or the Middle States, I dont mean to slight you all). Having lived in NY, I’m sure their success is specific to a certain region. Nice round up Bill! -Keena

  7. yeah jacob……..these logos are awesome, and they really worth of effecting my desing process, and thanks for the awesome post.

  8. This is a pretty eclectic mix and covers nearly all current logo styles I wouldn’t feel that this collection shows a definitive trend as such however, it is a nice showcase.

  10. I really like this year’s logos. They are all very dynamic. Even the simplest design seems to be almost in motion. Congrats to all the designers!

  12. Is it not bad to have trends for logo design. Trends can be short lived and tend to date. As designers are we not required to design something that can stand the test of time and trends don’t tend to.

  15. Fantastic, just what the design community needs more trends for us to copy off so we can create super homogenous designs.

  18. I’d have to say there’s quite a bit of a shift from flat monochrome marks throughout. More color, more variation and as always a careful balance between organic and geometric.

    Some of these are really quite nice, squeezing all that subtext into such a small mark can be challenging at best. All in all I celebrate the ‘Juvi’ category the most, they seem joyful and rely on modern illustration more than abstraction (much more room for expression there I find).

    Thanks for sharing!

  20. Trends are nice and all, but I prefer timeless logos, where all gradients and special effects, if I can call it that, are stripped away. Iconic, simple.

    Some of these examples had way too many details in my opinion, but some where good. Trends can be cool sometimes too.

  23. Those little orange dots with the numbers really detract from the logos. Think of it like an art gallery. You don’t want to put a bunch of orange stickers around a painting.

  26. hi jacob, these are awesome collection, can you please tell me what tools you use to design logos.

  27. Very interesting! And for me it’s more like: All this has already been done, now go and TRY to design something new!

  31. Great article. Gives me a bit of a challenge when I want to break out of a trend.

    Out all trends I must say I like the Graident one the best. Why because it gives the logo a bit of depth without the 2.0 or 3D look.

    Another favorite would be the O, I can’t explain why thou.

  39. Nice research Jacob. I get the impression some ‘trends’ won’t work that well offline and some will date quite quickly too, but for the here & now some of these are pretty nice!

  41. Is it not bad to have trends for logo design. Trends can be short lived and tend to date. As designers are we not required to design something that can stand the test of time and trends don’t tend to.

  42. Not really feelin any of these. Feels like they’ll be out of date within 2 years and need a redesign.

  45. Amazing collection you got and really enjoyed checking out the logos. Love the design and style of each one and i got a lot of new inspiration in your logo designs. Thanks for sharing this, looking forward for the next post.

  46. Thanks for the great post.
    Honestly, I think that these trends will always affect my design process, both of my own accord, and from input from my clients. Sometime making a logo that fits with the current trends is perfect for a company’s identity, but like you say, following the trends for the sake of being trendy is a big risk. This can really date your logo, and once the trend has passed (like for example to vibrating trend) the client and/or designer might realise that the logo really isn’t that great, and that by using the current trends they have made a logo that is harder to recognize, and needs to be updated. Changing your logo all the time does not result in a steady, recognisable corporate identity!

    One trend I think you have missed out that should have been included is the environmental trend that is very popular at the moment. In these times of worry about the environment, many business like to use logo’s inspired by the environment to promote their business as “green” and environmentally friendly.

    Checkout my take on current logo design trends at http://designered.ctrl-alt-designs.net/?p=41.

  47. Vector graphics are synonymous with Web 2.0 layouts are cleaner and more appealing and that shows up in TRAFFIC. Even if it is simply in the logo. Everyone should have a top-Notch vector logo even if they can’t afford the whole site.

  51. Many of these look neat in color and may be representative of current trends, but they are not going to work in black and white. A properly-designed logo needs to be effective in both in both solid and full color as well as be scalable to very small sizes. Most of the examples completely fail this test. Designing to be trendy is one thing, but you can’t overlook useability or common sense.

  53. Hello Jacob, I have been following your Twitter profile for a long time. I have seen this blog post on your tweets. This is my 1st time visit on your blog. I must say, this is a great blog. This article what you have put up – really helpful for the newbies. Thanks a lot and loved your work. Keep it up! Best of Luck!

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