Besides being a great place for birds to perch, there’s just not a lot of space to do much of anything on a line. Maybe this is one of the reasons the monoline aesthetic has been so bereft of color. In an attempt to employ lifesaving techniques or to keep pushing evolution of the trend forward, designers have again discovered a way. By dissecting line work via color splits, new symbolism can rise from the mark to tell a deeper story. And sometimes it appears to be just another attempt at decoration.
In the creation of the companion G logo in 2015, Google quartered the letter and attributed each section to one of the company’s signature colors. Though the stroke was pretty fat, it is the most likely influencer for the rash of color-split monoline marks we’ve seen. The bird logo here is actually a monogram of the initials E and M and the mark for Simione in Tutti Sensi allows the blue line segment to create the initial S. I note the letter M is a bit outside this trend but included here because the designer elected to not only color split but managed to even work halftone information into the line.
Besides serving as a clever way to extract additional visuals from a line, the color breaks can help a logo express diversity or elements coming together to achieve a greater goal. It’s a bold enough motif that using it purely for its decorative nature won’t be nearly as successful as the succinct or ah ha! moment message.
 PAVEL SAKSIN, PODEGIKI AGENCY |
 1DEA DESIGN + MEDIA INC., COUNTY MUSEUMS |
 JAVIER GARCIA DESIGN, EM MONOGRAM |
 RAINERI DESIGN SRL, COMUNE DI SIRMIONE |
