A logotype is a brand’s name set in distinctive lettering. In everyday speech we call the whole mark a ‘logo’, but designers draw a distinction: the logotype is the lettering (the word ‘threewaves’) and the logomark is the graphic symbol (our waves). Depending on where it appears, a brand can use the full mark, the logomark on its own (in an app icon, for example) or just the logotype.
How can you tell if a logo is good?
The test is practical: a good mark works at a small size (a 32-pixel icon), in a single colour, on light and dark backgrounds, and in vertical and horizontal layouts. It’s recognisable without reading the name and doesn’t depend on a fashionable effect that will give away its age three years from now. That’s why in our branding projects we show the mark in real use from the start: on a business card, an avatar, a shop sign, an invoice.
A logo on its own isn’t branding
The mark is the heart of the system, but recognition only comes from a consistent whole: colours, typography, graphic style and usage rules, in other words a visual identity. A logo without a system is like a signature with no consistent handwriting: it’s there, but it looks different every time.
Related terms: visual identity, slogan.
