Logotype

A logotype is not a drawn letter, it is adjusted type. The designer picks a base, then hand tunes the spacing between letters, the curves and sometimes the shape of a single character, so the name holds together at small sizes. It ships as outlines rather than live text, so it cannot shift when someone opens the file without that font. With it come a clear space rule, a minimum size and versions for light and dark backgrounds. Without those rules a logotype falls apart within a year as it passes between suppliers.

Why it matters: the logotype is what people see most often, on an invoice, in an email signature, on a van and on workwear. A company with only a pictorial mark and no settled wordmark ends up with everyone typing the name in their own font. We once saw three suppliers and three different versions of the same company at a single trade fair. Fixing it costs less than a new identity, but nobody addresses it until they see the versions side by side.

How it is made: it starts with the name, not with sketching. A long name needs a different solution from a three letter abbreviation. Then it is tested at real sizes, from a rubber stamp to a billboard, and above all in black and white, because colour hides a great deal. You supply the exact wording including the legal form and say where it will appear. It is delivered in print and web formats with a short page of rules in the brand manual.

Where it goes wrong: a logotype built on a fashionable typeface that in three years looks like the year it was made. The second trap is licensing. A corporate typeface is bought for specific uses, and if the designer only had it on their own machine, you have no right to pass it to a supplier. For a logotype in outlines that does not matter, for headings on your website it does, and people usually notice at audit time.

We print every logotype on paper and look at it from three metres while it is still a proposal. Almost everything looks good on a monitor. Try it today: scale your logotype to two centimetres wide, print it in black and white and see whether the name is still readable.