Logo design resources | Logo Design Love

Feb 25, 2008read the 141 comments

Useful design resources

I’ve searched my bookmarks and gathered your top tips, culminating in this selection of sites, books, articles and designers.

Resource topics

Click a topic to jump to that section.

Type foundries

Arnhem typeface
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Hoefler & Frere-Jones, H&FJ works with brand leaders in every sector, developing original typefaces and licensing fonts from its library of nearly 1,000 designs
Porchez Typofonderie, an independent digital type foundry in France, designing, manufacturing and selling high quality typefaces
OurType, founded in 2002, OurType is managed by three partners: Fred Smeijers, Corina Cotorobai and Rudy Geeraerts
Village, the union of eleven young type foundries who have decided to go it alone, together
P22, creates computer typefaces inspired by art, history, and sometimes science
FontShop, around for 16 years, since the dawn of digital type
Process Type Foundry, from a studio in Golden Valley, Minnesota
Colophon, set-up by Brighton-based studio Entente
Type foundries worth a look, a slightly larger resource, with commentator recommendations, too

Books

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Logo Design Love: A Guide to Creating Iconic Brand Identities — get a free chapter from my book
Designing Brand Identity: An Essential Guide for the Whole Branding Team by Alina Wheeler
Symbol by Angus Hyland and Steven Bateman
Logo by Michael Evamy
Decoding Design by Maggie Macnab
Marks of Excellence by Per Mollerup
LogoLounge 4 // LogoLounge 3 // LogoLounge 2 // LogoLounge
Tres Logos // Dos Logos // Los Logos

Catch a few more recommended reads here: A few good books.

Logo history

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History of popular logo designs, categorised in alphabetical order with a search feature, too
The Evolution of Tech Company Logos, how famous logos came to be, from Neatorama
The Evolution of Car Logos, more historical insights over on Neatorama
Branding Firefox, a short insight into the history of the Firefox browser

Trends

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“Logo trends” is a bit of an oxymoron. Granted, a logo should live and grow with a brand, but it shouldn’t adhere to the latest, greatest fads. Because of which I don’t much like these trend features, but I know they prove popular, so here you are.

2011 trends // 2010 // 2009 // 2008 // 2007 // 2006 // 2005 // 2004 // 2003
Bill Gardner of LogoLounge takes us through trends from the last decade according to the logos that have been uploaded to his website — and that’s a lot of logos.
Logo trends in 2009 // and in 2008
From LogoOrange.com.

Articles

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100 unused logos and what they reveal about my design inclinations
An excellent insight behind the designer by Armin of Speak Up.
6 reasons why a logo should cost more than your lunch
Tara of Graphic Design Blog writes a short but sweet article.
Logo Notions
Jeff Fisher’s insightful collection of logo design articles on Creative Latitude.
Logos with a meaning
An extra insight into a selection of logos, by Ivan of CreativeBits.
How many speech bubble logos have you seen lately?
A fraction of what’s going down out there in Web Bubble Logo Land.
The LogoWorks saga
A huge collection of articles about the multi-million dollar business, LogoWorks.
Is your logo design phallic?
A little logo humour to lighten the mood.

Wolda // 2008 winners showcase
This is what used to be called Eulda (below), but has since expanded into the World Logo Design Awards (Wolda)
Eulda 2007 winners // 2006 winners
The winning entries from the European Logo Design Awards (Eulda) from 2007 and 2006.
Identity: Best of 2007 winners // 2006 winners
The results of an international logo design competition, judged by a very experienced panel.
Logo Design Love Awards
View the winners from the inaugural Logo Design Love Awards, featuring the “best” blog logos around.

Blogs

logolog
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Identity Designed, case studies from around the world
Identityworks, by Tony Spaeth
Brand New, Armin Vit focuses on corporate and brand identity work
Speak Up on Identity, from the now defunct Speak Up

Showcases

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Style guides and manuals

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Further resources

La Logotheque
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Iconic logo designers — a rundown of the worlds most iconic designers
Corporate identity catalogue — showing typefaces and Pantone references for some of the worlds main identites
Forums for design feedback — upload work for what’s hopefully constructive criticism
LogoLounge, paid registration for inclusion in the book series
Designguide’s logo gallery — English translation of a German site about design and logos
LogoPond, similar to LogoLounge, except free
The big page of branding and corporate identity resources — covers manuals, guides, trademarking, laws, and more, from LogoOrange.com
Sites for vector logo downloads — for when you need a well-known EPS file in a hurry

Hopefully that’ll keep you occupied for a while. If you know of any more design resources, do let me know.

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141 appreciated comments, click here to add one

Zinni

Insanely great resource, I think you should also add the book “Logo Design” that came out some time last year (the one with the purple foil stamp on the cover)

This book has some great case studies in the front, and is every bit as good as the logo lounge series… I hope the do a follow up.

Feb 25th, 2008
jesusOmar

Great resource… thanks for another excellent post.

Feb 25th, 2008
Jacob Cass

That is a perfect list. Totally Dugg. And thanks for the link to JCD and the Guest Article mention.

Feb 25th, 2008
Steven Snell

Great resource David. Thanks for mentioning my post.

Feb 25th, 2008
inspirationbit

great addition to my bookmarks.
How long does it take to put a resource guide like this?

Feb 25th, 2008
David

Thanks for the mention David, great list here I didn’t even know of some of these, Thanks.

Feb 25th, 2008
David Airey

Vivien, glad you wanted to bookmark this. I pieced it together in around two or three hours, spread out over a week (kept having to leave it and come back to the draft at a later point).

Feb 26th, 2008
Jim

I wrote an article a while back called 9 Rules to creating a logo you can live with and still get paid, and I think it’s something all relatively new logo designers should think about.

The list you’ve put together is excellent! Some great resources and inspiration in there.

Feb 26th, 2008
Mark Lester

Great resource David!

One to bookmark!

Thanks for making my day!

Mark

Feb 26th, 2008
Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

David -

Thanks for the multiple inclusions.

A great list. If I were to suggest one addition it would be Tony Spaeth’s Identityworks (http://www.identityworks.com/).

- J.

Feb 26th, 2008
David Pache

David, thanks again :^)

Feb 26th, 2008
Jermayn Parker

Im dizzy after just looking at what you have written…

Most of it is not for me but definitely for my graphic designer, guess I wont be expecting anything soon from him :|

Feb 27th, 2008
johno

Some great resources there, David. Thanks for putting this together. And I’m looking forward to the results of the Logo Design Love Awards.

Feb 27th, 2008
Frank

Awesome resources !

May i add 2 logo books to the list i can’t live without:

“Logo, Font & Lettering Bible” by Leslie Cabarga, which to me is the single most amazing book when it comes to logos – full of information, practical advice and so not “just another book of 1000 logos”.Link here:

http://www.amazon.com/Logo-Font-Lettering-Bible-Comprehensive/dp/1581804369/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204233084&sr=8-1

“Idea Index” by Jim Krause; ironically Jim has written another, different book specifically about logos – still i find “Idea Index” to be a lot more helpful in terms of getting ideas for logos.It’s an incredible wealthy pool of idea resources and perfect for the time when you have a “designer’s block”.Link here:

http://www.amazon.com/Idea-Index-Graphic-Typographic-Treatments/dp/1581800460/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204233315&sr=8-1

Geez, actually i am giving away top secret industry secrets here but hey, both books deserve it ! ;)

Feb 28th, 2008
David Airey

Jim, I enjoyed your article. Thanks for linking through to it.

Jeff, great suggestion. I’ll add it shortly.

Johno, thanks again for recommending type foundries. They’re excellent. I hope the Awards nominees live up to expectation.

Frank, I’ll have to add those books. Cheers for stopping by.

Mar 3rd, 2008
Fubiz

Impressive selection. The links are good!

Mar 4th, 2008
Tom B.

David-

Thanks for compiling such a comprehensive resource.
Can you (or any guests) take a look at our newly launched website and let us know what you think.

http://www.performancelogo.com

Thanks – Tom B.

Mar 13th, 2008
David Airey

Hi Tom,

I like the video presentation from your co-founder (or is it you?). Perhaps adding a name beside the video would help. People like to know who they’re watching.

Also, how about breaking up your portfolio page a little? Placing logos with descriptions, or ordering them better as opposed to here and there.

Mar 14th, 2008
Marta

Eu adoro estes livros: Tres Logos // Dos Logos // Los Logos !!!! São muito bons !!!!

Jun 17th, 2008
Joe

Excellent resource list! Bookmarked and recommended to other designers!

Jul 1st, 2008
Sachin Bhavsar

How can you skip to add

http://www.logosauce.com/
http://www.logotwo.com/
http://www.web2logo.com/

Jul 9th, 2008
Tom

Hi David,

great site with useful resources! I know many of your recommended books and would also recommend the book “Lingua Universalis: Global Wordless Understanding”.

Best regards,
Tom

Aug 10th, 2008
Chelle

I am so bookmarking this for the next time i need to do a little logo designing! Thanks for this great list!

Aug 17th, 2008
logo

Very useful, thanks.

Feb 18th, 2009
Nick Matsa

Nice and useful information
it think Parachute® has also got really good corporate typefaces

Mar 26th, 2009
Mark Sequeira of mjaStudios

I LOVE the page. I am helping push you up the web rankings by linking you to a few places and also on my facebook page.

Thanks again!
Mark

Apr 8th, 2009
alpharice

Great resource David!

May 4th, 2009
Muzica Nu Ucide

Yup, a very resourcefull list indeed. There is one thing you shouldn’t do in the future: when writing down links – they all open in the same window, wich takes me away from the page I’m on. So the best thing to do – from a PR point of view and usability too – is always to make the links open in a new window, so the user won’t have to click “Back” button or get irritated by that.

Pardon my English and, once again, this article is good work!

May 27th, 2009
vysakh

Nice resource, Thanks very much.

Jun 7th, 2009
Ovi Dogar

Wow…amazing collection… and very useful information!

Keep posting! ;)

Jun 30th, 2009
Gabe Ruane

For the ‘further resources’ category, have a look at Http://www.identityarchives.com for keyword-based searches. It’s a solid tool for visual research, allowing for searches based on stylistic and subjective details.

Aug 4th, 2009
Matty

This list is incredible it is huge! Well done for providing such an excellent resource. This page is being bookmarked now.

Aug 26th, 2009
Douglas Bonneville

Just found this page…what a great resource. What are the links below the comments? Are they extra resources or pingback/trackbacks (whatever the difference between those 2 are :) )

I love the Firefox logo article up there. I have a copy of the NIV “Children’ts Bible” that inspired the original fox design. It was the story of Samson when he tied burning torches to the tails of paired-up foxes and set them running to burn the Philistines down…which some people correlate to Internet Explorer. Or maybe just IE6 :)

Oct 19th, 2009
Douglas Bonneville

Firefox inspiration source:

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/2210/originoffirefoxlogo.jpg

Oct 19th, 2009
David Airey

How great to see what the Firefox logo was inspired from. Thanks, Doug.

The links below comments are indeed trackbacks. I added a heading to them, then removed it when I realised the heading shows on posts without any, which looked odd. I know there’s some php “if” and “else” code that gets around that, but I was too busy at the time to go studying.

Oct 19th, 2009
Douglas Bonneville

The upcoming replacement for Firefox is tentatively called “Donkey Jaw”. Just kidding :) (See the “Book of Judges” around chapter 15 for the punchline).

Oct 20th, 2009
frost

Wow David, how did you find that Firefox inspiration? Is that really where it came from!? What an obscure and random place to draw inspiration, but I guess that’s where the best types of inspiration are drawn from hahaha.

Oct 21st, 2009
Michelle

WOW what a massive list of resources all for logo design, this is great and must have taken you hours of putting together for us to read, thanks :)

Nov 7th, 2009
Fabrizio Van Marciano

Brilliant list of resources. Been going through them over the weekend so great thanks for taking the time to put together and sharing.

Dec 21st, 2009
Ana De Leon

awesome source. I am actually working on a logo design in my vector and raster class and this is so helpful!

Feb 5th, 2010
John Miles

Wow- what a great resource for designers and inspiration. I’ll be placing a link from my website to this one. It’s always inspirational to find a new resource that simply inspires me to do better.

Mar 30th, 2010
Ben Stokes

Great website – first time on here and have stumbled on some brilliant posts, the logo design resources you have posted will come in handy for sure. Great stuff . . . thanks.

May 2nd, 2010
Juancho

Thanks. just bookmarked this site for future reference :) awesome resources :)

May 3rd, 2010
Ed DeJoliet

These resources have been a goldmine of valuable info. Please keep them coming.

I have gained a ton of ideas.

May 22nd, 2010
Samantha Wright

Brilliant collection, I have enjoyed going through the websites. Taken some time though.

Jul 22nd, 2010
Michael Spiro

Excellent David,

Thanks for the effort of putting industry resources like this together…

MS

Oct 1st, 2010
David Airey

Happy to help, Michael. Thanks for the visit and comment.

Oct 1st, 2010
Fergus O'Donoghue

Great post…amazing to see that the Firefox inspiration was actually Biblical!

Nov 20th, 2010
James

I am looking for a reasonable designer to make a logo for my new beverage company. I am launching the product and need to have a slick logo soon. I will be putting it on the bottles and 4-pack carriers and want some one who is good at a modern minimalist style.

Anyone send me prices and I’ll give you more information on the project.

Thanks,
James@TeavineisDivine.com

Dec 28th, 2010
Abdus Salam

I am Abdus Salam, logo designer from Bangladesh. I have read the book. It is a really good resource for a logo designer.

Also thanks for such a helpful post.

Regards,
Abdus

Feb 20th, 2011
Andy Williams

I’m just trying to work out what to look at first. I’ll have to spend my morning bookmarking!

Mar 17th, 2011
Steve Sprague

David-

I know it’s tough to really “trend” logo design- but where do you see it going? More and more, I am watching intricate, swirly marks going away in favor of blocky or rounded web 2.0.. That’s not big news- But I am seeing a trend to change up a lot of long-standing marks. I happen to know someone that is working on a total re-imagining of the Lowes logo.

Good idea or bad?

Mar 25th, 2011
David Airey

It depends entirely on the project, Steve. There’s no catch-all answer. Where do I see it going in general? There’s already a huge move toward BrandWorlds (a term coined by Simon Manchipp at SomeOne) where every aspect of the brand is pulling in the same direction. As such, less and less importance is placed upon a logo in isolation.

Mar 25th, 2011
Kelly Muir

“Useful design resources” is an understatement. Fantastic job!

May 18th, 2011
Rory Sleed

What a fantastic resource!

This entire site is gold for any designer – from beginner to senior. So many resources to follow up on now.

Thank you so much!

Jun 21st, 2011
Kev

Bookmarked this, fantastic thank you.

Sep 10th, 2011
Raja Sandhu

I just chanced upon this, David, so cool! — a great compilation of resources.

Feb 12th, 2012
Jake

Hi, the link to 2010 logo trends does not appear to work.
Cheers.

Feb 22nd, 2012
David Airey

Thanks a lot for letting me know, Jake. Fixed now.

Feb 24th, 2012