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IAT 102 Graphic Design

05Connotation / Denotation

What’s in a logo?

Reading

Practices of Looking

Practices of Looking

Connotative:

Culturally specific meanings with the cultural and historicalcontext of the image and the viewer’s lived, felt knowledge: all that the image means tothem personally and socially

Denotative:

Documentaryevidence; the literal, descriptive meaning

A brand began as a permanent sign of ownership of an animal made with a hot poker. It was subsequently used to burn a mark on casks of wine. A “brand-mark” came to mean a “trademark” or “brand.”

Brand was formally adopted as a term in 1929 when Standard Brands (now Kraft) resulted from the merger of several food manufacturers.

Origin of Logos and Brands

Content and images taken from: White’s Advertising Design and Typography and Gordon + Gordon’s Digital Graphic Design

A uniquely styled brand identity creates a recognizable ‘signature’ thatcreates recognition among consumers and enhances their familiaritywith the product.

A uniquely shaped signature is also referred to as the brand’s LOGO.

The logo can take many forms. It can be based on the brand name in aunique typographic format: LOGOTYPE

What the Logo/Logotype tells the consumer about your product

There are many well-known logo that serve as examples of styles ranging from simple letter forms to elaborately styled icons and signatures.

simple lettering

company initials

representative symbols

script lettering

modified lettering

symbol and signature combinations

stylized lettering

abstract symbols

It is important to keep logo as constant as possible.

The logo style and proportions should be maintained on all packages, regardless of packaging form, shape, and size.

Many companies do not follow this rule. They allow the proportions of the logo to be altered depending on the package proportions, on the vertical or horizontal orientation of the packages, or to accommodate variations in the packaging graphics.

Maintaining the integrity of the Logo

This only serves to dissipate brand recognition and can weaken the franchise of the product.

“Words are like faces:

the more features we can see, the easier it is to tell who is who.”

Content and images taken from: Spiekermann & Ginger’s Stop Stealing Sheep

Type: capitals + lowercase

Typefaces

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