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The digital transformation – accelerated by the pandemic in recent years, has created a lot of amazing new designs in branding. The sudden saturation in visual communication forced companies and startups to be more inventive or sometimes purposefully divergent to stand out.
While some logo trends are timeless, others change quickly. The new year will bring us not just a fresh start but new modern logo design trends. This blogpost was written to keep you up with the latest logo design trends, to stay ahead and stand out from the crowd.
A well-designed logo has the potential to lead any company to success. It is one of the important ways to differentiate one brand from another and make them recognizable in people’s eyes.
Without further ado, let’s dive into what are the most popular logo design trends 2023:
- Minimalism
- Monograms
- Negative Space
- Layering
- Geometric Shapes
- Hand-drawn logos
- Gradient and vibrant colors
#1. Minimalism
As you might have read in articles from previous years, minimalism always appeared in the top logos design trends for a long period of time, and for the coming year won’t be the exception.
If we look into the 7 principles of Effective Logo Design, we can agree that minimalism represents all of them. The main characteristic of this style is reducing the logo to its necessary elements in order to make it clear and uncluttered. This type of design has a strong potential to grab your customer’s attention making your brand timeless, and it is the reason why many businesses prefer to keep their brand logos minimalistic and versatile.
The best thing about using minimalist design is that it plays on the way our brain already works. Instead of remembering complex pictures, our mind simplifies images to store them in our memory. Minimal logos also have a great impact in small screens and are easier to recognize.
#2. Monograms
Monograms are logos made up of two or more letters which when combined or overlapping form a symbol. In most cases, the letters will represent the initials of the company. You might have seen this logo trend utilized by some well-known clothes’ brands as it conveys a sense of reliability, professionalism, and sophistication.
Even though monograms will be one of the latest logo trends, the first recorded monogram appeared on coins and dates back to 350 BC. Monograms have also been used as Christian symbols and, in the Middle Ages, artists and craftsmen used monograms to sign their artwork. Their recent resurgence shows that classics like these never really go out of style.
#3. Negative Space
Google will tell you that negative space – or white space – is the area of the design that is left empty. We prefer the definition of Mads Soegaard from Interaction Design Foundation: “White space is like a canvas: it’s the background that holds the elements together in a design, enabling them to stand out”.
Along with minimalism, negative space is a perfect way to make your design cluster free and modern. It is also a fun method to help construct a shape that symbolizes a vital feature. The logo may be designed to include subtle messages and visuals, you can go a long way using your creativity with white spaces.
Carrefour and FedEx are clear examples of what we have been talking about. In the Carrefour example, we can easily distinguish a set of two arrows pointing in different directions while the white space forms the shape of a letter “C”. And in the FedEx example, the white space between the ‘E’ and the ‘X’ forms an arrow that represents their main service.
#4. Layering
Logo layering is the art of overlapping one element over another creating contrast, depth, and a sense of harmony in the design. Layering can be achieved by combining colors, shapes, texts, patterns, symbols, and lots more. An excellent example of this 2023 logo design trend is the well-known payment-processing corporation: MasterCard.
As we can appreciate in the previous example, layering is perfect for geometrical shapes, transparency, and color transitions. It is also used in order to manage complexity and reinforce relationships between elements. This trend offers countless solutions for logo designers to show their creativity and unusual approach.
#5. Geometric Shapes
Geometric shapes have victoriously made their way into modern logo design trends. As you might have guessed because of its name, the logo is designed on the basis of geometric forms, hence it’s crucial to know the symbolic significance of each one before incorporating them into your logo.
The shapes can be triangles, rhombus, or squares along with text, lines and icons in order to create a symbol or a brand name. This type of structural design follows the same approach as the minimalism trend: avoid crowded designs by keeping just the essentials. Moreover, geometrical shapes can be merged creatively with negative space or icons to create an attractive brand symbol as Adobe has done with its logo design.
As a result of this movement, logos can have more structure while maintaining a gentle and uncomplicated aesthetic. In addition, because of its simplicity, geometric shapes usually are more eye-catching.
#6. Hand-drawn logos
Sketches, scribbles, doodles, or stylized drawings will become a trend in 2023. Even though this might seem contradictory because geometric shapes will also be a trend, the hand-drawn style is used for those brands who want to show their true self. Even fans of minimalism can love this style, making it the most effective method of conveying aesthetics.
A great example of this trend is Unilever, a British multinational committed to making sustainable living commonplace, and its custom logo is a visual expression of that commitment. The big “U” in their logo stands for Unilever, but take a closer look at it and you will see different icons within the letter. Each one has its own meaning and together represent their purpose.
Sun, bird, plants, waves, hands, heart, and sparks are some of the icons you can identify in their logo. Altogether, they symbolize freedom, caring for nature, and Unilever’s role as a catalyst for change. If you want to dig deeper into the meaning, you can look into their explanation of each icon on their website.
The best part about this strategy is how well it conveys the character of the brand. And nothing works better than an original drawing to accomplish that end.
#7. Gradient and vibrant colors
Gradient
Gradient was one 2022’s logo trends and it will remain relevant in 2023. Designers and business owners are choosing color gradients to make a lasting impact and engage people across different mediums. This trend is based in the use of sets of colors, layering methods, shades, and saturation to shape the logo. Many brands are implementing gradients in their logos, including Tinder, Instagram, and Mozilla Firefox.
Whether they’re saturated or subtle, gradients are incredibly versatile, and, depending on the application, execution, and placement, they can make your brand eye-catching without being overwhelming.
Vibrant colors
As you might have noticed, the new year will bring bold hues. The power and emotion of color is a great tool to shape your brand identity and how your audience perceives it. Using a bright and saturated color scheme may send the message that your company is dynamic, modern, and amusing.
Black and white logos will always have a place in design, but in 2023, vibrant and colorful logos will definitely stand out in the sea of app icons, making it almost impossible not to touch.
Final thoughts
From minimalistic and geometric shapes to bold color palettes and gradients, there are many design opportunities to explore and play around with. You can use the logo design trends listed above as the inspiration for your next project without forgetting the principles that make a logo work.
Trends may come and go but the only thing that must be timeless is the creativity for designing a logo that is simple, memorable, adaptable, and most importantly, ideal to represent your brand and its essence.
At UX Studio, we’re always taking brand personas into consideration and ensuring that the logo reflects what a business does and resonates with its target audience. Following this seven-step recipe will definitely set you on the right path for creating an effective logo:
- Is your logo distinctive?
- Is your logo visible?
- Is your logo adaptable?
- Is your logo memorable?
- Is your logo universal?
- Is your logo timeless?
- And ultimately… Is your logo simple?
+1: If you want to dive deeper into what makes a logo, try playing around with this logo integrity experiment created by Jim Nielsen.
Learn more about current and future trends in UX/UI
Want to know more about the UI trends of 2023 and what are the things that people love? Read our article about 10 UI trends of 2023.
Wondering what could be the UX design trends of 2023? A new design language? Or chatbots? These are cool things, and many people will list them as the hot UX design trends of 2023, but we think there have to be more out there. Here are our ideas about UX trends for 2023.
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