What is a Logo?
History
What are logos? How are they different than icons? People
are confused about this but it isn't keeping anyone up nights unless
they happen to be deeply immersed in the study of ancient civilizations.
Even though the word "logo" comes from ancient Greek and it translates
to "word" or "speech", other cultures - the Babylonian, Assyrian, Mayan,
Chinese, Egyptian also used pictographs to communicate words and ideas.
Pictographs could be considered early logos; unfortunately, gang
graffiti on the walls of inner city buildings continues that trend of
identification through signs and pictures.Icons (derived from the Greek) are also used to communicate, but with pictures instead of words. The dictionary definition of "icon" is "image or likeness". Thus, logo is to "word" as icon is to "picture" yet in the modern world of product identification, the distinction between the two is sort of cloudy; many well-known logos combine a tag line/motto and a picture with the corporate or product name in the logo. Other logos are clearly just words - the company name with no pictures. Maybe what we need is a new word to define the crossbred creation - a "locon" or "logon"?
According to wikipedia.org, a logo is a graphic mark or emblem
commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even
individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition. Logos are
either purely graphic (symbols/icons) or are composed of the name of the
organization (a logotype or wordmark).
In the days of hot metal typesetting, a logotype was a uniquely set and arranged typeface or colophon. At the level of mass communication and in common usage a company's logo is today often synonymous with its trademark or brand.
