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Beautiful And Creative Logo Designs For Your Inspiration
Last week we already presented our first selection of beautiful, clever and creative logo designs. This post presents the second part of our selection, featuring even more beautiful and creative logos that will hopefully inspire you or at least give you the idea of what the current logo design trends look like.
Just as last time, we focused on logos that use creative methods to represent the brand through color, shapes, and typography. Every design presented below tells you something about the company that it is supposed to represent. Also note the brilliant color palletes and unique patterns used in many of these. Finally, pay attention to the typography, especially font selection and coloring.
Below you’ll find a collection of 40 more beautiful and creative logo designs to inspire you. Browsing through the showcase, you will notice many trends. Some of these include the usage of simple shapes to create something complex, origami shapes, coloring and transparency trends, and many more. You may want to take a look at the post Logo Design Trends 2009 for further reference.
[Offtopic: by the way, did you already get your copy of the brand new Smashing Book?]
40 Creative Logo Designs
Further Resources
You may want to take a look at the following related posts:
- Logo Design Trends 2009 (logoorange.com)
- Logo Design Trends 2009 (1stwebdesigner.com)
Matt Cronin is an avid graphic designer, web designer/developer, Cocoa programmer, photographer, digital artist, and the like. He also enjoys writing, and does quite a bit of writing for Smashing Magazine. He is currently working on a startup called VAEOU, which will have new services coming soon.
- 129 Comments
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April 9th, 2009 1:45 pmthese are nice, but where are the WP themes? Are you done with them?
These logos, and inspirations were submitted last week. You should submit and release more
free CSS / XHTML templates for designers to download. - 3
April 9th, 2009 1:45 pmI couldn’t figure out the heart one until I looked away and saw it out of my periphery. What a trip.
- 4
April 9th, 2009 1:45 pmEsooo, bien ahy viejaa….
che va a llegar el libro de smashing magazine a argentina?
besooo
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April 9th, 2009 1:45 pmwow, some real amazing works!
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April 9th, 2009 1:52 pmI was working on a logo – fits along with my day and seeking inspiration nicely. Thanks!
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April 9th, 2009 1:53 pmSome of those are really amazing…yet others are so simple I have to wonder why they are included (maybe they are genius in their simplicity idk).
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April 9th, 2009 1:53 pmThe Horror Films logo is about seven shades of brilliant. Excellent work. Honorable mention to the Schizophrenic logo as well. Yes, I like simple. :)
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April 9th, 2009 1:55 pmGreat logos! love the Family one.
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April 9th, 2009 2:03 pmi hate wordpress.
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April 9th, 2009 2:11 pmTotally agree – the Horror Films jumped off the page. The “6″ logo or whatever it is – is physically painful to look at. Which must be a brilliant marketing move – though I don’t get it. the rest are very good.
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April 9th, 2009 2:14 pmGreat selection!
- 13
April 9th, 2009 2:15 pmThanks for featuring my work again, but can you please fix the credit/link from my logo? Is it a punishment for my critique on the way you’re presenting the logos here? I still think they are cramped in those tight squares :) Also, is there a particular reason why some of the logos link to sites of the authors, while some of them are linked to various logo portfolios, besides obvious reasons – ie not having the time to research :) There are several personal favorites here, two of them would be play and families. Nice collection!
- 14
April 9th, 2009 2:21 pmExcellent round up! I’ve admired several of this designs before.
Its an honor to have a few of mine included (Horror Films, Schizophrenic and Office Strategies). Thank you!
- 15
April 9th, 2009 2:23 pmWhen oh when will people learn that schizophrenia has nothing to do with multiple identities and is not bipolar…
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April 9th, 2009 2:38 pmBojan – which are yours?
Josiah – Horror Films – again – fun brilliant – what is the logo for (project, fun?)
- 17
April 9th, 2009 3:14 pmAwesome logos, recent found this logo and totally love it
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April 9th, 2009 3:17 pmThe prank one :) I thought you were joking with me linking it to this article :)
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April 9th, 2009 3:48 pmfamilies and playground. so aweeeeesome
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April 9th, 2009 3:51 pmThe one with the hearts is terrible. Yeah it’s kind-of clever, but it is completely impractical.
- 21
April 9th, 2009 3:53 pmthe schizophrenic logo is just awesome
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April 9th, 2009 4:09 pmHorror Films, PLAY & Families are my favourites!
Amazing! - 23
April 9th, 2009 4:24 pmI may have to copy some of those straight. haha
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April 9th, 2009 5:35 pmReally? You think shleep is creative? Looks really lazy to me.
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April 9th, 2009 5:38 pmfamily logo~~I like it~~:)~~~
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April 9th, 2009 5:54 pmThanks for adding my tiny mouse design logo!
- 27
April 9th, 2009 6:05 pmSome of these logos are very well crafted. Horror Films, Families and More being the best. They’ll work in greyscale, are scalable, are quickly read and understood, and will work even at a small size.
There are quite a few, though, that looks uninspired – some look like a million and one other you see at the Logo mill, churned out by the dozen.
just imo.
- 28
April 9th, 2009 6:29 pmThe Paradox logo is brilliant.
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April 9th, 2009 6:37 pmcool
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April 9th, 2009 6:55 pmNice list, a little something to provoke the thought!
- 31
April 9th, 2009 6:58 pmmeh some are ok but half of these would never work in black and white. First rule we were told in school was that concepts for logos should always be able to work in B&W and color.
- 32
April 9th, 2009 7:17 pmHorror films + Paradox jump off the page.
@jamie – you also have to consider the usage; for instance, Microsoft’s Silverlight logo will never reproduce well in print or b+W, but it’s inconsequential because that logo will likely never leave the web (or be low-res, for that matter).
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April 9th, 2009 7:37 pmYeah, really nice. Ignorant fools might want to read up on the history of Obama’s logo before you talk about how awesome it is.
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April 9th, 2009 7:49 pmThe Obama logo just doesn’t belong. Way overrated and over used. Honestly it’s almost worst than the new Pepsi logo.
- 35
April 9th, 2009 7:52 pmi like time mouse design . it is so nice.
- 36
April 9th, 2009 7:57 pmOnce again,an excellent list !
- 37
April 9th, 2009 9:17 pmGreat collection! It’s exciting to see how many of these logos are from IncSpring! Thanks for sharing!
- 38
April 9th, 2009 9:24 pmThe schizophrenic logo makes no sense. The smile/frown face would work if it was called “bipolar” but the essence of schizophrenia has nothing to do with mood. Shame because the logo itself is cool – just people are showing their ignorance when it comes to understanding schizophrenia.
- 39
April 9th, 2009 10:07 pmI like that ‘Families’ one!
- 40
April 9th, 2009 10:43 pmthanks, really nice collection! ;)
- 41
April 10th, 2009 12:16 amI find most of the logos posted too ephemeral and although they demonstrate the Zeitgeist, i’m not certain as to their test in time. My favourite logo is never shown anywhere. It’s on NeMe forum. Pity they don’t use it throughout their site.
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April 10th, 2009 12:17 amWow, very cool!
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April 10th, 2009 12:19 amFamilies and Playground are lovely.. Nice typography and a bit of imagination
- 44
April 10th, 2009 12:22 amHorror Films and Families… OAU! Very, very expressive. I’m not an authority in logo design, but as a common mortal, they really spoked to me. Great job on those too.
- 45
April 10th, 2009 12:24 amvery inspiring! “the creative company” looks like one those of abduzeebo’s tutorial. awesome!
- 46
April 10th, 2009 12:43 amGood collection. They’re all taken from http://www.logopond.com aren’t they?
- 47
April 10th, 2009 12:51 amCool Inspiring Collection.. I liked Horror, Cinema Cafe and families. All rest are cool too.. :)
- 48
April 10th, 2009 12:53 amPlayGround logo is really fantastic…
- 49
April 10th, 2009 1:05 amSupercoollll!!!!
- 50
April 10th, 2009 1:26 amCool list… really inspired… “PLAY” was good…
- 51
April 10th, 2009 1:28 amThanks very much for featuring some of my work.
- 52
April 10th, 2009 1:39 amthe point is there is never going to be a company that’s called “page fold”. companies that want to get a logo done usually have stupid and empty names.
it’s a great logo but creating one for a company with the name “company abc” is the real challenge. - 53
April 10th, 2009 1:49 amschizophrenic is pure genius.
Thanks! - 54
April 10th, 2009 2:13 amMy favorites are the “simplier” ones – not fancy gradients, no color overload and all.
Schizophrenic is just excellent, as well as Paradox. I love the Office Strategies one, clever mix of pin and tower.
(For some reason, the “Horror Movies” didn’t work. I don’t like it but I can’t find why) - 55
April 10th, 2009 2:35 amMy favorites:
Families – nice and clean,
Schizophrenic is just fine, but what activity it represents – online sanatorium?Horror films is also one of the best together with air turbines
- 56
April 10th, 2009 2:42 amNice collection!
I made also a list of 35 beautiful logos few days ago
Thanks! - 57
April 10th, 2009 2:55 amAwesome post, many great logos.
- 58
April 10th, 2009 3:12 am# The Ultimate List of Logo Design Resources
# Logo Designer Blog – http://logodesignerblog.com - 59
April 10th, 2009 3:39 amWhile I agree that some of these logos are greative and great, many dont work well as logos – any designer working on corporate identity will tell you that gradients, shadows, blurs and anything of the like that works well for bitmap and web is terrible for print. This is the reason why most corporate identity logos are crafted first in black and white, and only afterwards are a few choice colors selected. The more colors you use the more it costs to print your logo.
Also, logos with minute details (Illusion Studio or The Creative Company logos, for example) may look good at their intended size, but if they are reduced to say, a 50×50px box, thsoe details are lost and the main image of the logo is unrecognizable. Think of it this way: the Nike Swish is an excellent logo because it works and is recognizable both on the massive scale of a billboard as well as on a tiny web favicon.
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April 10th, 2009 3:44 amMy favorites are „schizophrenic“ and „HopeSpark“—they even work well for print and other things. Great post!
- 61
April 10th, 2009 4:11 amNo, the Schizophrenic logo is not in any way genius, clever, or great. It makes me angry to think that the designer didn’t even bother to research the illness before designing it, considering that Schizophrenia has nothing to do with multiple personalities or any kind of mood disorder that could be indicated by the :): symbol (hell, even the first description on the first link that appears on Google will tell you that). This logo just perpetuates general ignorance and makes it out to be a quaint disease in which the person suffering is pleasantly loopy. It really is ignorant and just downright offensive.
- 62
April 10th, 2009 4:27 amGreat to be featured here again! Thanks. We’re real proud of our logo.
- 63
April 10th, 2009 4:42 amGreat Inspiration thanks for sharing. Really like the “families” one.
- 64
April 10th, 2009 5:34 am“No, the Schizophrenic logo is not in any way genius, clever, or great. It makes me angry to think that the designer didn’t even bother to research the illness before designing it, considering that Schizophrenia has nothing to do with multiple personalities or any kind of mood disorder that could be indicated by the :): symbol (hell, even the first description on the first link that appears on Google will tell you that). This logo just perpetuates general ignorance and makes it out to be a quaint disease in which the person suffering is pleasantly loopy. It really is ignorant and just downright offensive.”
BINGO
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April 10th, 2009 5:41 amI’ve seen some of these logos before and I was under the impression that most were made for fictional brands. And while I see the benefit of designers letting loose their creative juices, I also think Jan’s comment about the practically of these as logo/identities more important.
Maybe they could be separated into in-use logo design vs. imagination logo design. Because it also makes it “easier” to design a logo, if the designer has 100% control over everything–color, tone, company name, company’s business etc.
I’d like to be inspired by the great works of people who worked within constraints that most projects have.
- 66
April 10th, 2009 6:15 amHorror Film my favorite.
@JAn – That why logos like “Deep Six” never win recognition. Thanks for the reality check.
@Alicia – Thanks for the info. They got me at first.
We should have more info on what or who the logo represent. - 67
April 10th, 2009 7:00 ami just love those logotype showoffs they’re way better than all this freebie stuff. Thanks SM!
- 68
April 10th, 2009 7:33 amThank-you for featuring some of my logos here.
- 69
April 10th, 2009 7:35 amI love these kind of posts, logos are so important and it can be hard to find good inspiration. Thanks alot!
- 70
April 10th, 2009 7:47 amI think a logo needs to be clear on what it’s representing. If your going to have a logo without the name incorporated into the focus of the design, make sure you then label it… like the Obama and Squared Eye… not like the Alight logo. And if your going to incorporate the name into the logo, make sure it’s understandable… the Play and Adjika logos fail on this (I thought they were PBDsomething and Adika, respectively).
I really like the ones that use the name in the logo, or the illustrative elements in the name, like Swing, Families and Playground
- 71
April 10th, 2009 8:51 amGreat collection. Logos can be one of the more challenging design jobs. When my design tank is in “e” I will come here for some inspiration. Thanks SM…cheers.
- 72
April 10th, 2009 9:49 amAnother beautiful list. “Families” is really a cool type logo.
- 73
April 10th, 2009 9:50 amDay one, page fold, office strategies, nice!
-W3bDev
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April 10th, 2009 10:53 amgreat logos… SM rocks…..
Families & swing are rocking
- 75
April 10th, 2009 11:31 amThe Page Fold logo is the exact same idea as the very first logo in the first roundup: Fold It. Wonder which came first….
Also, the Horrorfilms one is genius. And the Families logo is classic…check out the rest of Herb Lubalin’s stuff to see what I’m talking about!
- 76
April 10th, 2009 11:57 am“Play” logo is very creative.
- 77
April 10th, 2009 12:07 pmThat Sidewinder logo is so sweet :D Took a while to figure out the snake thing :P
- 78
April 10th, 2009 12:16 pmThanks for the great collection! I’ll link this post from creativebits.
I always liked logos with an idea, especially if the meaning is not as obvious at first sight. Here a few more logos that have hidden meanings. I don’t mean to spam, I really just want to share.
- 79
April 10th, 2009 12:30 pmawesome share thank u :). do u have any art site related logos too ? Blasting Art
- 80
April 10th, 2009 12:48 pmYuhu gracias. Ahora solo falta publicar un libro con todo esto que vais publicando..
- 81
April 10th, 2009 2:29 pmYea I have to say the horror films logo is brilliant. So simple, so effective.
- 82
April 10th, 2009 3:21 pmEvery logo on here deserves to be up here for one reason or another. Just because you might not agree with why one or the other should be up here, it is just your opinion. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And just because a designer has to work within “restraints” does not mean that the logo should be or has to be, any less imaginative.
- 83
April 10th, 2009 3:45 pmthese logos were all horrible… disgrace
- 84
April 10th, 2009 10:22 pmI really dont know why you guys are posting such crap in your site. If i want to check logo for inspiration. then i will just google it i will get thousands of design for being inspire . pls dont spoil you brand name to post such article thanks I have learn many things from you guys and i really appreciate your work :)
- 85
April 11th, 2009 2:50 amI don’t see the relevance of spreading these type of works. The fictional company names and brands are completely inoccuous on their own, and only serve as crutches. “Horror Films”? Really? You shouldn’t confuse the subject for would-be designers by presenting it as “the current trends in logo design” when it isn’t even logo design. It’s pure design masturbation.
- 86
April 11th, 2009 3:38 amabsolutely great!
thanks - 87
April 11th, 2009 12:42 pmthese r wonderful i think
- 88
April 11th, 2009 11:19 pmvery nice logos, beautifull for inspiration..
- 89
April 12th, 2009 12:07 amthnx its nice
- 90
April 12th, 2009 6:04 amLovely logos.
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April 12th, 2009 7:32 pmnice
- 92
April 13th, 2009 4:31 amI liked the Page Fold & Playground logos………. very nice :)
- 93
April 13th, 2009 8:10 ama lot a great designs here. i think a few might have trouble being converted to b/w and scaled down to 1″ x 1″. good work all around though.
- 94
April 13th, 2009 8:30 amI am looking for a logo for a new website I am working on. Budget very limited
Anyone just starting out who is looking for experience and willing to do inexpensively feel free to contact me:
coffeefreak ::: at :::: ureach dot com
- 95
April 13th, 2009 9:33 amI agree with #59 above. What are these icons going to look like when they’re shrunk down to favicons?
- 96
April 13th, 2009 9:52 amThere are some really compelling logos here, while others seem to be art pieces (I think the others have fleshed out what really makes a good logo in terms of communication and functionality). LogoFaves.com is one of my favorite sources of inspiration. I’m a great fan of the Horror Films logo, which I first spotted there.
I have to say though, that some logos I’m starting to see are a little more than just “inspired” by the Obama logo, and I’m not sure if I like that trend. Has anyone else noticed that?
- 97
April 13th, 2009 12:00 pmI completley agree with 85. “Made-up’ logos are not examples of good design, it’s just pure ego massaging.
- 98
April 13th, 2009 1:33 pmGreat Stuff… its gives inspiration to create great stuff.
- 99
April 13th, 2009 10:23 pmVery creative and beautiful collection.. LOVELY!
I specially like – Horror Films, Families and Page Fold Logos. A real thought behind them.
Great Work. Cheerss!!
- 100
April 14th, 2009 12:30 amGreat.
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- 102
April 14th, 2009 3:06 amThe “Horrorfilms” logo does everything right, except for the typography, which could have benefitted from using a bolder version of the typeface.
A logo is not supposed to include everything including your mum, it is supposed to be simple, clean, easily reproducable, recognisable and adaptible to any size/background/setting-variations you can get. I would call many of these emblems rather than logos due to their level of detail.
- 103
April 14th, 2009 5:52 amwhat a great collection! Tnx guys
- 104
April 15th, 2009 12:44 amnice collection.
- 105
April 15th, 2009 1:34 amGreat logos, what about making a selection of the most boring ones? My vote for facebook, twitter, skype…
- 106
April 15th, 2009 2:59 am@verli Why would a designer want a free Wordpress theme? Surely those are for people who can’t design.
- 107
April 15th, 2009 5:38 amVery nice. But I just downloaded a package with 2000 free label logos ready to be used as they are.
Saves me the effort! Optimize your time, prioritize your tasks.
First priority is making money not building a logo so you can build a site so you can drive traffic so you can test affiliates so you can make money.
It might take a while to get into the right optic, I know. - 108
April 15th, 2009 5:42 amVery Good. Modern, i like that
- 109
April 15th, 2009 1:39 pmto #106 (pete) do you get each item of your clothing handmade? Why would you buy clothes from the store…must be for people who don’t know how to sew.
Some of us don’t have time to design a site.
The content of a site always, always, always dictates the traffic it receives.
- 110
April 15th, 2009 2:17 pmMost of these logos look like the $35 crap you get these days.
A couple really stand out like the cleverness of the horror film logo and the colours of subatomic, but the others are certainly not worth mentioning. The ‘a’ logo for Alight is just painful on the eye – how that got past quality control I have no idea – terrible mix of colours and contrasts.
- 111
April 16th, 2009 1:16 am@109
Mark, no I don’t make my own clothes; I’m not in the business of making and selling clothes. I wouldn’t walk into a shop, buy a T-shirt and call myself a Tailor either.If you ‘don’t have time to design a site’, don’t call yourself a ‘Designer’. My point was: Why would a ‘Designer’ want a free Wordpress theme? That would just make them a reseller of free products, a rip-off merchant. It gives a bad name to the rest of us.
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- 113
April 22nd, 2009 5:02 amI think my logo had to be included in the list after all I already beat the Obama logo in March month .
- 114
April 22nd, 2009 2:46 pmi agree these are nice logo designs, on the other hand there are amaizing organic logo designs conceived by a large experience
Logo Corner - 115
April 23rd, 2009 3:11 amReally nice collection,thanks for sharing
- 116
April 24th, 2009 4:20 amAmazed at each one of them! Highly inspiring! Thanks so much!
- 117
April 27th, 2009 2:44 pmThese are a great help for my work when i need some extra inspiration! Well done, keep them coming!
- 118
April 30th, 2009 6:45 amGreat to see some of my personal favorites in this collection.
- 119
April 30th, 2009 6:53 am@richtaur : “Really? You think shleep is creative? Looks really lazy to me.”
Glad you said that. The logo is suppose to look “lazy”. After all, the name is shleep…a combination of the word sheep and sleep. :-D
- 120
May 4th, 2009 4:14 amhi
- 121
June 18th, 2009 9:58 amNice collection and impressive too.
Chk the logos that creatively used animals and birds in the design.Neha
- 122
July 24th, 2009 12:38 amVery nice collection! It amazes me how creative some people are. Found some more good ones on Logo Gallery
- 123
September 1st, 2009 10:29 amI couldn’t figure out the heart one until I right clicked and looked at the image properties. What a trip.
- 124
September 1st, 2009 5:22 pmGreat.
Nice logo, nice sharing - 125
September 12th, 2009 6:09 amthere is an awesome logo contest located here if anyone cares to check it out – I used this page as inspiration – http://logotournament.com/contests/vapexhale
- 126
September 17th, 2009 10:24 amNIce Logos
- 127
November 10th, 2009 9:43 amHey thanks for putting our logo on here!
I see two chaps – Allen and Joey have had a pop at it – Oh well…You can’t please everyone!
In our defence we rarely showcase our brand without the word Alight underneath it, we (almost) always use the logotype with the typography – in fact if you click on the logo above you do see the whole thing!
Either way we are very happy to see our brand turn up on this prestigious site
Ta!
Peter - 128
January 11th, 2010 6:31 amwow cool logo thanks
- 129
February 5th, 2010 10:08 amreally nice logos…..some of them are pretty lovely.
thnx for sharing it!
- 00
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Very Creative These gives me inspiration. I like the horror films logo, Very original, dark bg, and clean font.