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"The Web Development Series is supported by Rackspace, the better way to do hosting. Learn more about Rackspace's hosting solutions here.\nFor the third and final installment in our three-part series on logo design, we're taking a look at the simplicity of the logotype \u2014 a brand identity that contains only text.\nLogotypes, like those of Facebook or Etsy, play on two important facets of design \u2014 typography and color \u2014 to the exclusion of other elements. They can be elegant and even clever, or they can fall flat. We'll take a look at how a few examples walk that line.\nOur panel of experts includes UK logo designer Graham Smith, designer and logo design blogger Jacob Cass and Raj Abhyanker, CEO of Trademarkia, a firm specializing in trademarks and logos.\nRead on for their advice, and designers, please share your own experiences and opinions in the comments section.\nHow to Handle Logotypes\n\n\n\n\nSmith is a fan of \"strong and well executed\" logotypes. \n\"We see them all the time in the fashion and retail stores, as well as the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter. The latter [are] the bolder and vibrant online variations of type-only logo designs that work to cut above all the visual noise one finds online. The Facebook logo brings a calm yet firm aesthetic.\"\nSmith pointed out that at the time Facebook's logo was being designed, the trend was toward the \"Web 2.0\" look of funky fonts and lots of transparency layers. But the young company \"showed that a type-only logo in just one color needn't be dull or useless.\" He says that several of his clients have looked to the Facebook logo as guide for their own branding.\nCass shares his own \"very generic\" rule of thumb about logotypes: \"If your company has a unique name, then you could get away with a logotype. But if you have a generic name, then you're going to need something to identify the company by, which can be achieved by using a logo mark.\"\n\n\n\n\nHe also says he enjoys seeing unique logotypes that incorporate interesting or \"hidden\" shapes into an otherwise simple logo. \"I recently designed a logo for a company by the rather generic name of Redwave Systems. Rather than creating a mark for the business, I created a unique logotype by 'hiding' a wave in the logo.\" A prominent example of a clever logo is the FedEx logo, which has an arrow between the E and X.\n\n\n\n\nAbhyanker advises, however, that logotypes tend to be \"less distinctive, more generic,\" and many color and type combinations are common enough that they open the doors to potential trademark litigation.\n\"Ultimately,\" Smith concludes, \"it comes down to the brief, and what is needed visually to represent the client. If the brief and subsequent research leads you to a logotype as the best solution to represent the identity of a company, then that's what you do.\"\n\n\n\n\nChime In\nWe'd love to get your feedback in the comments. Designers, how would you have answered the questions we posed to the panel this week?\nYou can also take a look at the first post in the series, which focuses mainly on logo design for startups, and the second logo design post, which is all about spec work, contests, crowdsourcing and the dangerous allure of trendy logos.\nSeries Supported by Rackspace\n\nThe Web Development Series is supported by Rackspace, the better way to do hosting. No more worrying about web hosting uptime. No more spending your time, energy and resources trying to stay on top of things like patching, updating, monitoring, backing up data and the like. Learn why.\nMore Dev &amp; Design Resources from Mashable:\n- Ruby on Rails: Scaling Your App for Rapid Growth- HOW TO: Transfer Your Blog From WordPress.com to WordPress.org [VIDEO]- A Beginner\u2019s Guide to Integrated Development Environments- 10 Chrome Web Apps to Check Out- 10 Tools for Getting Web Design Feedback\nImage courtesy of iStockphoto, RichVintage"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2011/04/06/logo-design-logotypes/>