Logos #1 : 20 Creatively designed Logos with hidden messages

The first thing that comes into our mind when we hear about a company or see an advertisement; is their logo. The amount of simplicity, yet creativity imbibed in such logos make them so memorable. Corporations often develop marketing strategies aimed at creating a logo that will become a memory trigger for decades to come. Companies like Apple, Coca-Cola, Google, IBM, Pepsi, and Yahoo! have proved themselves by employing a logo design that has revolutionized the globe. Famous logos have these two things in common: distinctiveness and simplicity. The more distinctive a logo is, the more recognizable it becomes. The more complex a logo is, however, the less likely it will be that people will remember it.

Successful logos stand the test of time, though there are times when a logo may need to be updated to reflect the changing times. Some designers even take it further to embed hidden messages which is quite unnoticeable at a first glance. I have featured a bunch of such logos here. They are sure to ignite the inspiration in anyone who appreciates the creativity behind these marvelous pieces of art.

Amazon : This logo made famous by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com doesn’t reveal the true message at first sight. On correct inspection it shows the smile in the yellow color depicting customer satisfaction. Also, the smile runs from A to Z meaning that this store has everything from A to Z.

365 Design: One can always hide messages within the typography of a logo. This one is simply awesome. If you look closely, you can notice the number 3, 6 and 5 carefully crafted in the logo.

BigTen : An academic union, founded in 1896 consisted of 10 universities. But in the year 1990, one more was added, Pennsylvania State university. They wanted to stick with the same name. So, to indicate the addition of the 11th university, instead of changing the name, they embedded a 11 around the letter ‘T’.

Baskin Robbins : This logo uses the virtue of creativity to support the company’s trademark. The industry has 31 flavors of ice-cream. So, the number 31 was highlighted in the letters ‘B’ and ‘R’.

Brandclay : Simplicity redefined, innovation rephrased. The logo depicts the hands using clay to build the letter ‘b’ which quite clearly says ‘building the brand’. Quite an innovative logo!

Carrefour : It is one of the biggest European retailers, and in French, it means “Crossroads”. The logo symbolizes this word via two opposite arrows. They also added the first letter of the name, because if you look closely you’ll see the letter ‘C’ in the negative space between the two arrows.

Continental : At a first look, you may probably guess what the company does. They manufacture tyres. As you can see, a 3D depiction of a tyre is represented in the letters ‘C’ and ‘o’.

ED Logo – “Elettro Domestici”. This means “Home Appliances” in English. The designer changed the concept of traditional logo designing through this logo. The designer has amazingly used the negative space to demonstrate the letter “E” and “D” making the logo look like an electric plug.

This is one of my personal favorites. The number 8 was used to design all the letters which actually depicts the word ‘EIGHT’. Amazing use of typeface, i must say.

Eight 20 : This is a small consulting agency. On the first glance, it is tough to notice the connection between the logo and the brand. But, as geeky as it may appear, when the dark square is represented as ‘1’ and the light squares by ‘o’, you will notice that it represents 80 and 20 in binary. Thats what i call ‘Hidden’ 😉

Elle Hive : These guys are tractor manufacturers. So, the logo is quite perfect in the sense that it appears as a tractor from above. And it also resembles the letters ‘E’ and ‘H’.

Elefont : An elephant’s trunk in its negative space is inscribed within the typeface ‘e’

Marriage Logo : Well, The logo stands for itself, don’t you think? 😉 … well at least during the time of getting married.

FedEx : The most popular postal service with its most popular logo design. The arrow between the letters ‘E’ and ‘x’ in the negative space depicts ‘Moving Forward’.

FUGA : It is a logo for Architecture Center Of Budapest and looks more like a maze but if you follow the white space, the four lettered company name will become evident.

Green Labs :  This is very easy to decipher. It gives a depiction of a Tree with a Brain which resembles ‘Green’ and ‘Labs’.

Hartford Whalers : Usage of negative spaces to depict the letter ‘H’. It also shows the letter ‘W’ with a whale tail on top.

Horror Films : A regular film reel made to look like a horror house look. Awesome Creativity.

Wrong Right : Its wrong and right … not quite hidden as we thought but creatively designed.

Sun Microsystems :  One of the most famous ambigrams in the world. The word ‘Sun’ can be read from any direction. This logo was created by Vaughan Pratt of the Stanford University.

Well, thats about it. Keep waiting for next week for some more of really cool logos!!