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1. Talk Boxes
This is an outgrowth of last year's trend, even though these
boxes have been around a few years now.
We don't quite know who's doing the talking, but whoever it
is, their bubble is popping up all over. This Logo symbolizes
communication, whether it be from the company or between its
customers. LifeLogger, for instance, uses a speech bubble with a
smile in it to illustrate how users can communicate through them
to friends. They continue the use of three-dimensional speech
bubbles in creating avatars for their users, as illustrated to
the right.
In this way, the idea of communication represents the person
themselves, showing the importance of contact.
2. Clouds
Everyone remembers a time when they laid on their back in the
grass, staring at the clouds daydreaming or finding images in
their puffs.
Clouds are a powerful Logo, conjuring imagery of dreams,
creativity and playfulness. Sometimes clouds are combined with
thought bubbles to invoke feelings of dreaminess. The clouds can
be a 3D bubble or take on a flat feeling. Many of these cloud
Logos represent new ideas, hence the thought bubble. Many
"clouds" came from new businesses on the internet, certainly a
place for dreamers. Some, also include imagery of the sun, which
evokes a feeling of a new dawn.
3. Reflections
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, what's the hottest trend of all?
It might just be reflections. With Apple leading the way,
looking like all their graphics were set on a shiny table,
others are sure to follow. Dubbed by some as ?the new drop
shadow,? reflections are taking over, especially on the web. The
reflections might be skewed, such as in the Logo for blinklist,
indicating the location of some light source, invisible to the
onlooker, but effective in creating even more of a sense of a
whole different world the Logo is in.
4. Rectangle
In a graphic world where you can do nearly anything, some
companies are keeping it simple with shaded rectangles. Their
Logo, in a contrasting white, pops out from the background.
Shadow boxes have historically been a sign of amateurish design,
but this new generation of effective Logos has shown that good
design will always be in style. With the popularity of rounded
corners, these Logos stand out with (oh no!) sharp edges and
right angles. In some occasions, such as with the blurb Logo,
the rectangle can represent an image. Blurb used their blue
shadow behind their name to symbolize a book, as they are in the
book publishing business.
5. 3d Puffies
With these new puffed-up Logos, you don't know whether to
click on them or bounce on them. Now that the industry has
overcome the production issues of gradients, designers seem to
prefer air-popped graphics to the flat drawings of yore. Even
desktop icons these days seem to have a rounded feel, like you
might pop one with one good hard double-click. It's a 2D world
out there in Internet land, and these 3D images really make Web
pages and Logos jump out of the page, to where you feel you
could run your hands over the computer screen and feel their
bumps and curves.
6. Hot Dogs
These cute little Tic Tacs of color are popping up all over
the design world. Like many abstract symbols, the hot dogs can
be used to mean many different things. Sometimes they denote
movement or sound, such as in the Logo for Snap. These lines,
reminiscent of those drawn out of shocked cartoon people by
children everywhere, can denote an idea, a feeling or a literal
meaning. But no matter how they're used in design, they are a
powerful symbol of an upbeat emotion.
7.
Transmission beam
With satellite tv and radio and wireless everything all the
rage in the new millennium, a transmission beams are a quick way
to show that they are on the cutting edge of technology. Many
companies who use this Logo trend deal in internet information.
Part of what many of these companies are doing on the internet
is taking user (or customer) information and sharing it with the
world. The transmission beam, starting with a single dot (to
represent the user), shows their ideas spreading out. It's the
perfect symbol for publishing companies or blog sites.
8. People
AOL's little man has some company, with others creating
buddies to include in their Logos. For companies that bring
people together, these genderless little people are shown in
pairs or groups. They provide a visual indicator of coming
together. Others show just one of these symbols, usually as an
avatar for their customer. Anyone looking for other people can
be sure they've found them when they see a Logo with a buddy.
9.
Transparency
Transparency is still hot. Again, many may gasp as the mere
though of using a shadow, but this updated version is nothing
like the shadow boxes that have plagued generic design. These
Logos invoke images of blending together. Some, like the two
transmission bubbles that seem to be popping out the little
people in the BlueDot Logo, can symbolize communication, or a
sort of overlapping and blending of ideas. Others are a Venn
diagram, showing where the company fits, such as Zopa.
10. Outlines
(I think this is another way to add sophistication, 3d effect
to a Logo)
Many are finding that nothing brings a Logo to the next level
like a professionally done outline. These surrounding lines or
shades can simply run around the text or seem to encapsulate it
in a bubble, as seen in the picturecloud.com Logo. These
outlines can take text and make it seem as though it's one unit.
Nicely done, these effects add sophistication and a third
dimension to Logos.
11. Punctuation
From smiley faces to complex illustrations, every day
punctuation has gained a new life in the tech typing world of
the internet. While some used to only be used to denote the
f-word, they're now used in the young on-line world on instant
messaging, e-mailing and teen-speak in general. Now, these
symbols have jumped out of instant messaging and onto billboards
as of late, with their meanings left to the imagination of
customers.
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