Trademarks
All companies of each sort have a trademark, of which is designed by a Graphic Designer. This last week in e-Com we have been learning more about trademarks and the many types that exist. types include: symbols, pictographs, letter marks, logos, and combination marks.
Symbols are marks that don't have any type and are used to identify corporations, agencies and institutions. They're very gestalt, however without any type, they can be hard to match with their company and also are very expensive to promote.
Pictographs are symbols that are international. Examples would be the no smoking sign and disables parking space sign. However they can be confused with marks from corporations.
Lettermarks have letters and numbers rather that pictures to form their trademark, always being an abbreviation of the name. These are usually very bold and outgoing making them expensive to promote.
Logos are word/s in type are the full name. They're easy to prove and give the full name but, have a complex gestalt.
Combination marks are a combo of symbols and logos, w word being pared with a graphic image. This is also known as a signature. While these are very easy to recognize they have a very complex gestalt.
Key Ideas
Marks are very important and come in all types, an important aspect about designing them is to first decide what kind of mark to design, whether it be a symbol or logo. Symbols should all be designed to be with a one color aesthetic, only adding another color when the symbols needs a certain part to be enhanced. Before making any kind of mark, what should first be considered is how much money is available, as some marks are more costly to make and promote than others.
I was taught a lot about marks and I believe the most valuable trait I learned was the difference between all the marks and the advantages/disadvantages that go a long with each of them. I hadn't very aware of the importance off which kind of mark to use until now.
Conclusion
In graphic design the type of mark used when creating one is incredibly important. There are so many kinds of marks each of them with their own uniqueness and disadvantages. Learning about them will improve my work when designing one.
