Logo + Wordmark – What’s the Difference?
At Distility, we design wordmarks, not logos. A logo is a graphic symbol which represents a brand. A wordmark is a text-only typographic representation which is built from the letters in the brand name.
Three Reasons Why Wordmarks Are Part of Pragmatic Brand Marketing
We offer these arguments in favour of wordmark design:
- Wordmarks are easier to legally protect,
- Typical customers (not designers) can rarely recall anything other than billion dollar logos, and
- Of the 2010 Fortune 100 corporate brand signatures, 64 are wordmarks.
Logo Design Is a Waste – the Proof
Logos are never used to brand movies. Only wordmarks. Search “Movie Posters” right now and you will see thousands of wordmarks and no logo designs. And if by some slim chance you see a movie poster with a logo . . . it’s for a superhero movie.
So the question we ask of you, if you have a logo, or love to create them, is “Why would we ever recommend a logo design to a client?”
We’re honestly curious to know your thoughts. (And we have open minds.) Logos can be visually inspiring, and it is too bad that we can’t, in good conscience, recommend them to our clients.