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Shipping Service Company Logos Can't Go Literal

When getting a logo design, most companies believe that it should literally convey their business message to the audience. If that is how you want the design for your shipping service company, you should think again. While it is true that an identity design you are planning to use for all your marketing activities should tell as much as possible about your business, it does not mean doing things too literally. Trying to convey too many associations related to your company in one simple logo can make it too complex and overwhelming for the audiences. Packing one design with too many visual clues, literal meanings and other elements will only make your audience forget it easily.

To avoid turning your logo into a complete mess or worse, a cliche that looks too often repeated, too literal symbols should be avoided. While it is simple for someone selling cars to include a car in their automotive logo design , explaining what your shipping service company is offering comprehensively in a logo can make it too complex. You should understand that a logo is not about representing your complete business philosophy in one visual design. This is often common perception but not one that your audience will appreciate once they have to try and understand too complex designs. If you look at some of the worst logos , you will see them using too many elements trying make their designs descriptive.

It is understandable that you should want your identity design to be a representative of your business as much as possible. However, sometimes designers try to convey a deeper meaning through these designs. In depth research and a lot of experience allow the designers to convey a message that can drive a deeper reaction from your audience. The key is to ensure that the design you select help people relate with your company while also inviting attention and participation from your audience. A logo should be designed as if it is a puzzle so that people pay attention to it. By making it too literal, you just take out the intrigue from these designs.

Instead of aiming to get a design that can literally convey everything about your shipping service company, you should go for logo designs that are unique , simple and easy to remember. What would you say about the company looking at the logo of Apple? Definitely not that it is an IT company. While that is an exception, the fact remains that unique logos are more easily remembered, recognized and recalled by the audience. In order to make your design more literal, you often include too many elements, font styles and typefaces and your audience is not willing to remember all of that, much less be able to recall it at a later time.


container icon for maritime shipping logo
3D orb icon for cargo shipping logo
lettermark packing and shipping company logo
ship hull over globe symbol for shipping logo



This is not to say that there are no literal designs that are being successfully used by other shipping service companies. However, it is already an established fact that these logos would be more visually overwhelming and the companies using them are willing to take the risk. Literal designs have too many elements included which creates a lot of difficulty in scaling them to smaller sizes while keeping them understandable. Used alone, none of these elements usually make sense and do not represent a company in any way. These type of designs are more usable when a company plans to use them a part of a whole brand identity package .

You should try and rely on more simple designs that can make sense and relate with your business even when they stand alone. Elements like colors, choice of designs, typography and font styles are good tools to capture the personality, soul and essence of your company in a simple design. You should understand that a logo goes along with your company's tagline and other several branding elements when used for marketing and not alone. It should act more as a graphical shorthand rather than a whole tagline itself.

Before you decide yourself what you want in your shipping service company logo, it is advisable that you listen to the ideas your designer have to offer. While you might be willing to settle for literal logos thinking they would work best, they can turn out to be a total disaster. The worst thing is that such logos appear as complete cliches to audience, giving the impression that you did not pay much attention to creating your brand identity symbol. That is definitely not an impression you would like to give. Putting everything in the design does not matter; putting what is most important does.

Even if you have already decided you want literal designs, your graphic designer could come up with something much more lucrative so be flexible and be willing to work with them every step of the way.







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