Iconic

Feb 16 2008

There’s no doubt about it… Logo design is tough. And one of the toughest aspects of logo design is definitely icon development when a logo (or client) calls for it.

One of the most common problems that tends to arise during icon development is the tendency to go overboard. Good icons are simple and easy to describe… Nike’s icon is a “swoosh.” One of my favorite icons was the Cingular “orange guy” (may he rest in peace). McDonalds has “golden arches.”

But a lot of small business owners look at logos to be very literal and to contain a lot of information. When a client of mine in the mobile dog grooming business first came to me, his icon could only be described as “dog rolling in a soapy bathtub with wheels while washing his back.” That’s not an icon… it’s a short story. When we re-concepted his logo, the icon we replaced it with was simply “wet pawprint.” And it’s a lot more iconic than the original could have ever been.

My rule of thumb is that if an icon can’t be described in three words or less, it’s too complicated. After all, if Ralph Lauren’s icon was “well dressed man on a horse wearing a striped shirt and sportcoat and hitting a ball with a polo mallot as he gallops through the field” instead of just “man on horse”, how many people would want to wear that shirt?