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The ultimate logo and corporate identity design inspiration compendium

Posted by Brian
Posted on July 30th, 2008
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I figure a post about something so creatively charged as logo and corporate identity design deserves such an honorable title. Even though I am a programmer by trade, on occasion I get called upon in a freelance gig to perform some act of Web design butchery. As a design hack, I wanted to share a list of online resources that fuel my creative juices in regards to logo illustration. These are in no particular order, and none of the galleries are for paid stock illustrations.

Galleries

LogoPond
LogoPond is a user-submitted gallery of logos that are both in the wild, and in process. Users can provide critiques or praise, and float or sink (vote on) a logo design. There is also an annual awards ceremony with cash prizes. By far this is the best resource for modern-day logo design inspiration.

Identity Archives Project
According to Identity Archives Project, the Web site is “soon to be the premier online keyword-searchable database of logos and brand identity designs from around the world.” The search is extremely accurate, and the database of logos mammoth. My only complaint is that there is no categorization.

Lo8os
Lo8os has a nice categorization structure, a tag cloud, search, and user voting and commenting. The logos submitted by users are not as finely polished as those seen on LogoPond, but the gallery still has a significant number of entries and is worth viewing.

Best Brands of the World
Best Brands of the World is by far the largest collection of logos on the Internet. You could spend hours browsing through a vast categorization structure. There is also a prominent search that is an absolute necessity given that there is no thumbnail preview feature.

LogoSauce
The interface for LogoSauce was not as clean as some of the other galleries, and a few traditional corporate identities took center stage. The unique aspect of LogoSauce (that is better to browse) is the list of competition entries for bid work.

Logoed
I really enjoy the Logoed Web site because the gallery is full of original designs, and the browsing interface is blog-style by date. My only complaint is that some months are sparse, and the gallery is not as large as some of the others. If you need a critique, then you might try another gallery.

Logo Design History by LogoOrange.com
Logo Design History is just as much education as it is inspiration. For the serious artist and illustrator this is a fantastic resource. The gallery demonstrates how brand logos have transitioned over several decades, featuring iterations that can even be downloaded in EPS format. Under the logo design link, you can also view exclusive LogoOrange Design Group logos.

The Logos of Web 2.0 by The FontFeed
The Logos of Web 2.0 is an interesting take on a style that has evolved recently, which is related to logos considered to contain the essence of Web 2.0. Most of these you will already know because you use these Web 2.0 sites daily.

LogoTypes.ru
LogoTypes is a Russian Web site with English and Russian translations that has approximately 5000 logos, and an alphabetical categorization structure that is simple to browse. Unlike Best Brands of the World, the gallery has a popup preview that is extremely helpful.

AllTheLogos.com
AllTheLogos.com, just like LogoTypes.ru and the Best Brands of the World, contains a significant database of corporate brands. The categorization is alphabetical, but tedious to browse because it is subdivided into alphabetical ranges with no preview.

Go2Web20.net
This gallery definitely has the most interesting approach to previewing Web 2.0 logos. If you need a closer look, then you will not get it, since the logos are a part of the bigger picture. The general purpose is to highlight companies with a brief description of their corporate objective.

FAVEUP Design Inspiration Gallery
Next to LogoPond, this gallery has the freshest designs, which are original and inspirational. There is also a very active voting community, so you get a fair representation of what is considered an excellent logo design. For a quick fix this is a great gallery, and it can provide hours of ideas.

LogoTypes101
LogoTypes101 claims to have almost 82,000 logos on hand, and all of them are available for EPS download. Unfortunately, most are not that inspirational. The alphabetical catalog is easy to navigate, and the previews are sufficient, but the creative spark is lacking.

Typophile
You could argue whether or not Typophile is a gallery, but I would certainly say that this has a collection of excellent logos throughout the forums. Just like Logo Design History, this site is about corporate identity education, and a majority of visitors want to read and offer critiques.

Galleries by Type

Portfolios and Design Firms

Books

A Few Favorites

Each of these logos is copyright protected by their respective owners, and all are meant for inspiration only.

Tags: corporate identity design, logo design

A day late and a dollar short... comments are closed.

01 | July 30th, 2008 at 5:47 pm

Sweet-o! I’ve been on LogoPond for hours the past day and a half trying to inspire myself. Finally came up with something after hours of frustration. People on LP sure have submitted some incredible logos - the ones I like most are the ones that remind me of Superbowl logos; big, bold, outlined.

Comment by:

Dave Klawitter