1. Embrace extreme simplicity to create a logo that’s instantly recognizable across any medium.
This sleek owl icon for Strix Media featured as a 2024 AGDA winner uses nothing but simple geometric shapes and clever negative space. The minimalist black-and-white form proves that less is more. Even a few basic shapes can yield a memorable mark.
2. Tap into nostalgia like vintage typography and colors to rekindle fond memories in modern contexts.
Baskin Robins’ new logo reached into the past with a retro flair. The redesign revives a chunky slab-serif “BR” wordmark in a Neapolitan color scheme (while cleverly embedding a subtle “31”) that echoes its 1960s look. Even so, the execution feels fresh with flat colors and clean lines, evoking the classic look with a modern feel.
3. Don’t think of a logo as a single static mark – design it as a flexible system so it works on everything from a TV backdrop to a coffee cup.
Designed as a multi-use identity for a digital series, this logo comes in several mockups like a wide broadcast title and a square “bug”. The typography and iconography adapt to mugs, screens, and step-and-repeats alike. By building an adaptive logo system, the design stays consistent while flexing to different formats.
4. Great logos speak to their audience: representing people’s identities and stories to make the branding more powerful and personal.
This community initiative’s logo centers on an illustrated profile of a black mother and child basking in a golden sun, paired with bold text. The imagery and color celebrate the collective’s audience in an authentic way. It’s a powerful example of inclusive design – drawing on culture and representation to forge connection.
5. Evoke motion by using flexible shapes and animated elements to give a brand more impact for video and social media.
The single chevron-wing icon for H2Fly turns into a full kinetic toolkit: the mark flips, stretches, and fills in motion graphics. Flowing gradient “air streams” weave through different layouts. Stacked, variable “Fly Forward” wordmarks scroll like the readout on a flight computer. Every element is built to evoke movement, making the brand feel aerodynamically alive on reels, UI micro-interactions, and even an aircraft livery.
6. Give subtle color and motif cues that align with the client's mission, vision, and values.
While the name alone indicates its sustainability mission, Green Frontier Capital’s new branding follows through. Including common signals of eco-conscious design, the team at Level Group uses a clean, modern form with a a simple color nod to its client’s mission.
7. Use soft tones and friendly curves to disarm “icky” topics.
Dog-waste accessories aren’t exactly glamorous, but Poopsy Daisy wraps the subject in a bubble-gum palette (dusty blues, blush pinks, buttery creams) and cushy, rounded typography. The flower-shaped dispenser, curved dielines, and dotted comic-style icons all lean into playful tactility, turning a messy chore into something almost cute.
8. Celebrate craft with tactile hues and retro-industrial iconography.
Lever Coffee leans into its barista roots with a line-art icon of a vintage lever-pull espresso machine, paired with condensed, slightly Art Deco letterforms. The palette of roasted ochre, sage green, and cream echoes ceramic mugs and burlap sacks. The identity extends seamlessly from in-shop murals to mobile screens. The result feels both handcrafted and digitally dialed-in, capturing coffee’s artisanal ritual in a modern brand system.
