European Design Awards best logos 2008
The European Design Awards (EDA) winners have been announced. Here I feature the chosen designs from the two logo categories, adding some thoughts on my own top three.
Designers living and working within Europe were eligible to enter.
Brand logo 2008
A brand logo (or logotype) is a symbol designed to represent a product or service. Following are the brand logo award winners from 2008.
Agency: gewerk GmbH + Co.KG
Country: Germany
Website: www.gewerk.com
Client: Senate Department for Urban Development, Berlin
Agency: élitradesign
Country: Italy
Website: www.elitradesign.it
Client: Facoltà di Architettura di Alghero, Università di
Agency: El Paso, Galería de Comunicación
Country: Spain
Website: www.elpasocomunicacion.com
Client: Sancti Spíritus Wines
Agency: El Paso, Galería de Comunicación
Country: Spain
Website: www.elpasocomunicacion.com
Client: Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Agency: Barfutura
Country: Spain
Website: www.barfutura.com
Client: GETXOPHOTO
Company logo 2008
A company logo (or logotype) is a symbol designed to represent a corporation. Here are the company logo award winners from 2008.
Agency: Valladares, diseño y comunicacion
Country: Spain
Website: www.valladaresdc.net
Client: Dulce Xerach
Agency: am + d creative communications
Country: Spain
Website: www.www.amd.nl.com
Client: Besturenraad
Agency: LOOVVOOL
Country: Estonia
Website: www.loovvool.com
Client: Punane Puu
Agency: o.pudov
Country: Russia
Website: www.pudof.ru
Client: Fund of Social Communications
Agency: Vidale-Gloesener Sarl
Country: Luxembourg
Website: www.vidalegloesener.lu
Client: Luxembourg et Grande Région Capitale Européenne de
My top 3 logos from the awards winners
For those who don’t speak German, ‘Berliner Mauer’ is German for Berlin Wall. I’m sure many of you remember the scenes when the wall was broken through, and this simple logo design works in two ways. The geometric mark captures both the breaking of the wall, and helps separate the two words with the placing of the ‘gap’.
I also enjoy the simple logo for Sancti Spiritus Wines. The icon is practical, working well at small sizes because detail is kept to a minimum. The simplicity allows for ease of memorability, and it’s relevant – you can clearly understand how the mark relates to the product.
The OK monogram for the Fund of Social Communications appeals to me, mainly because of how easy it is to remember. Without an understanding of the brief, I can’t say just how effective it is. However, even though I haven’t seen the logo in some time, I distinctly remember it from the Eulda 2006 winners. That’s good going. The logo was designed back in 2004.
Building upon what I’ve just said, it’s difficult to accurately judge the effectiveness of logo designs without knowledge of the design brief, and the EDA website doesn’t offer much in the way of info. What appeals to you might not appeal to the target audience.
On a final note, it’s worth remembering that with any logo design awards, the overall quality is determined by the submissions (a point I needed to reiterate during the preliminary rounds of the Logo Design Love Awards).
Your top 3 logos?
Which of the award winners appeal to your design tastes? Were they all worthy of winning?
28 appreciated comments, click here to add one
Chaitanya VRK
I like
1. BERLINER MAUER, Excellent conept explained in a simple way.
2. D__X, The green pulse between D and X, is simple and memorable.
3. Sancti Spiritus, A very sexy wine bottle. And the snake like finish gives a different kind of feeling something like a flow in your spine.
Jun 19th, 2008
kristarella
Your top three are almost my top three ;)
I was pretty surprised at some of these, I’m not a big fan of the crazy colours going on in the second and fourth ones. Maybe they mean more if you’re familiar with the institutions.
My faves are,
Berlin Mauer – I thought it was boring at first, but then I saw it was for urban development and your explanation about the Berlin wall makes it even better
Sancti Spiritus – it’s so simple… it’s a corkscrew, but wait… it’s a bottle too! Cute.
Espace – I love the use of simple lines to create the illusion of 3D space
Jun 19th, 2008
David Airey
Chaitanya, Kris,
We chose two the same (Berliner Mauer and Sancti Spiritus). You both have a keen eye. ;) If I was to choose another, it’d probably be the Espace one, similar to you, Kris. I also appreciate the slight 3D illusion.
Jun 19th, 2008
Toon
I have to say Berliner Mauer is my favorite also.
Jun 19th, 2008
Daniel Campos
1. Berliner Mauer
2. Luxembourg et Grande Région Capitale Européenne de
3. Dulce Xerach
Wonderful!
Jun 19th, 2008
David Airey
Hi Toon,
It’s been a while. Good of you to stop by, and I hope you’ve been keeping well lately.
Daniel,
Thanks for your own top 3.
Jun 19th, 2008
Van Hong
1. Berliner mauer – So simple and sophisticated.
2. Sancti Spritius
No third place for me, but Get XO Photo really hits a sweet spot with me, for a few “non-design” factors. The split with “photo” makes you see “pho,” which immediately gets you salivating. (especially effective in places where even lots of non-Vietnamese diners love it)
Hugs, kisses, pho… *getting” hugs, kisses, pho. mmmmm. it’s turning on something primal in my lizard brain, and the simplicity of the font & placement lets your carnal reaction sit by itself, unmitigated. Idea porn?
Conversely, I’m so grossed out by Punane Puu, I couldn’t even look at the logo above it. Unforgettable and distinctive, certainly.
Jun 19th, 2008
Kelly
David,
The Berliner Mauer is stunning. It reminds me of Barnett Newman’s “zip” paintings, which have a color break placed within them and are generally themed around spiritual contemplation.
Kind of heavy for a logo, but before I read down to what Mauer meant, the design already had a meditative quality for me that fits perfectly with the words.
There are a lot of good logos here. That’s nice to see.
Regards,
Kelly
Jun 20th, 2008
Trish
I agree with you on everything, but would add Punane Puu as my third choice. Love the brain and spinal cord as a tree. Knowing the Berliner mauer represents the wall takes that logo from plain to fantastic. Love the way the Sancti Spritius wine bottle morphs into a cork screw. Simple and lovely in so many ways. The reason I dropped the OK logo is for the reasons you state. I mean, once you mentioned it, I do remember seeing it somewhere before, but being an American where every third word is OK, I’m afraid it doesn’t stand out long enough for me.
Trish
Jun 20th, 2008
Trish
Ok, just got back from the http://www.loovool.com website (the creators of Punane Puu) and I believe it to be the best graphic portfolio I’ve ever seen. Great range of logos and design with a lot of original font creation. Wonderful use of illustrations and graphic elements. Definitely been a long time since I went, “Oo”, “Ah” and “Oh”, so much in a long time. The best part about it is it wasn’t a requirement that I know the language (couldn’t navigate through many of the others because of that). Rates with a local favorite, http://www.numberfivedesign.com, and industry wise woman, http://www.macnabdesign.com, for a great portfolio experience.
Trish
Jun 20th, 2008
Tracey Grady
Berliner Mauer (like Kelly, I picked it before I knew the meaning of the word “mauer”) and Spiritus Sancti. No third favourite. Those were the two that really leapt out at me.
Isn’t it interesting how consistent the responses are in the comments!
Tracey Grady’s last blog post…Reasons to keep your web portfolio short and sweet
Jun 20th, 2008
LaurenMarie - Creative Curio
I’m glad you explained the Berliner Mauer logo and now that I know what it means, I think it’s the best logos presented.
As a total random side note, my elementary school music teacher was Mr. Mauer. I never knew it meant “wall.”
LaurenMarie – Creative Curio’s last blog post…The Quick and Easy Guide to Color Correction Part 2
Jun 20th, 2008
Mirko
The Berliner Mauer logo is by far the best for me. I love those minimalistic designs that say it all.
Jun 23rd, 2008
nicetype
Berliner Mauer is very strong, I’m happy that my favourite got the award.
The Sancti Wines has a nice mark, but the type treatment is rather weak. Customer intervention? Who knows.
The Pudov logo has already won other awards, so it’s no big surprise that they also got EDA, excellent logo.
Another impressive mark is that of C broadcasting by Studio Dumbar, very inspiring (but that was brand implementation award).
I am truly surprised to see Espace, D_X, Punane and Eduvadis (ok, it’s a logo system, which jurors mostly love) in the shortlist, really nothing special.
Original typefaces shortlist is also interesting, off to blog them :)
Jun 23rd, 2008
David Airey
Thanks very much for everyone’s opinions.
I’ve been in the Netherlands for a time-out, so excuse the general response while I wade through a full inbox. Just wanted to give my appreciation for your time.
Jun 24th, 2008
Joe
Of the list, only one really strikes me. It is the Sanctis Spiritus logo. It is compact, to the point, and memorable. Three things that always make a logo work for me.
Jul 1st, 2008
Frank
Hmm, i think the Berliner Mauer logo is a rather weak one.
I do get the idea behind it but shouldn’t a good logo have a mark/icon that can stand on its own ? Like, take away the typography and it should still be able to be recognizable and identifiable.
That’s not the case with this logo here.Take away the word(s) and all you are left with is two generic rectangles – not very distinctive i’d say.
Jul 2nd, 2008
David Airey
Frank,
Good logos don’t always require a mark / icon that can stand on their own. The two elements have no need to be separated.
Jul 7th, 2008
Trish
Agreed. The Berliner Mauer logo should never need to have its text separated from the wall graphic. It is a tight logo that already works at any size and in color, grayscale and b&w. I’m not familiar with a standard that requires good logos also have a stand-alone mark. Where did you hear that? Just curious.
Trish
Jul 7th, 2008
Gilbert
I would say Punane Puu has the best logo for a beverage company, because it has the type of plant, or what ever it is, and the color gives off a more thirst quenching vibe/feeling.
Mar 11th, 2009
Diego
I´m sorry but the OK logo its to dam similar to the logo of Cargo Line, IF NOT THE SAME!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.cargoline.de
Jun 18th, 2009
kristarella
Diego,
That’s true. Does that make it bad or ineffective? Those two logos could have been created completely separately from one another. The designer for OK may never have seen Cargo Line or vice versa. As far as I can tell (I don’t read German) the two companies are not in related fields, so it’s very possible it’s coincidence.
Jun 19th, 2009
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