Marks & Symbols Reflection

Symbols

Example of a combination mark.

Symbols are used to represent your company, every good business needs a good symbol. Symbols need to be easy to understand, visually appealing, and give off a positive vibe. They should only be one color (preferably black) because you want it to work with gray scale printing. You want your symbol to give off a positive vibe because you want people to associate your company with a happy or good feeling. Symbols however are not logos. Symbols are a visual representation of a company, while logos are the companies name.

They can be combined to create a

combination mark.

Marks

Example of a letter mark.

There are several different aspects of marks, including, symbols, pictograms, letter marks, logo type, combination marks, and trademarks. Symbols being a visual representation of a company. Pictograms being a symbol that can be understood by people from all over the world. Then you have letter marks which are used to shorten long company names, like IBM. Also there is
logo type meaning the written (typed) company
name. When you combine symbols and logos,
you get combination marks. Then lastly you have
trademarks, which basically just means that all the
other types of marks are protected by the law, so
that nobody can steal them

Thoughts and Importance of Marks and Symbols

The three things that I found most important about marks and symbols, keeping it simple, interpretation, and color. It is important to keep it simple when designing a symbol, you don't want to make it super detailed because people aren't going to be looking at it for to long and you don't want them to be confused by it. It's also important when designing a symbol or deciding what font to use for your logo to make sure it gives off a good impression, it doesn't matter how cool it looks, if it gives off a negative vibe people will be less likely to use your services or buy from you. Lastly it is important to pay attention to color when designing a logo, symbol, pictogram, or letter mark. You want to make sure that whatever you design works in black and white, you can't rely on a certain color or colors because there's going to be a time when it's going to be in black and white and it isn't going to look good. The thing I found most interesting about what I learned is that there is so much thought that goes into making symbols, when you aren't the person designing it, it looks so simple, like anyone could have made it. But when you get into the specifics you realize that there is so much more that you have to think about when you design one. It's important for me to know about what goes on behind the scenes of designing a symbol because when I'm trying to design one, I will know know what components I will need to make a successful symbol.