Logo design, logo designer | The world’s best logo designers?

74 spot-on reader comments to “The world’s best logo designers?”

1. webee, on April 30th, 2007 said:

   hi david,

   i totally agree that those mentioned above are ones of the best logo designers.
   i’m just wondering if you have considered Dennis Hwang into the list. he is the designer that “takes care” of google’s logo :).

   webee
   [is a design blog]

2. Tolumi Adamson, on April 30th, 2007 said:

   I really like the peoplepc and families logos. The peoplepc with the smiley face and families with the… well family representation (Dad, mum and kid).
   Hope I made sense :(

3. David Airey :: Creative Design ::, on April 30th, 2007 said:
   webee,

   I know of Dennis Hwang, but consider him an illustrator rather than a logo designer. After all, the Google logo was designed by Ruth Kedar.

   Tolumi,

   Those two you mention are great in my opinion. I’m not so keen on the Orange logo that I included. It’s more an example of effective branding than logo design.

4. Randa Clay, on April 30th, 2007 said:

   Thanks for this post David - I Dugg it! Here’s how lame I am: I never noticed the arrow in the FedEx logo until just recently when it was pointed out to me. I’m in the middle of a logo design now, so looking at the “greats” is always helpful.

5. Asgeir Hoem, on April 30th, 2007 said:

   Randa,
   Neither did I, embarrassingly enough. :D Saw it mentioned randomly on some blog the other day, and thought “shit, that’s clever”.

   Interesting post, David!

6. minxlj, on April 30th, 2007 said:

   Lubalin and Olins have always been my faves. Definitely no arguing with them being in the list!

   Not sure I agree that Chermayeff & Geismar are among the world’s best, although they’re certainly good.

   I’d like to see Paula Scher and Michael Bierut on the list - some great identities especially in the last couple of years. One of my Paula favourites is this: http://tinyurl.com/322a9z and I love the Saks redesign by Michael: http://tinyurl.com/2p7n8b

7. lee newham, on April 30th, 2007 said:

   No, I don’t think these are the best logo designers at all. Besides most of them aren’t really designers, they are art directors. Bob Gill is one of my design hero’s but I don’t hink he was that great at logo design. Saul Bass created incredible title sequences for film but his logo’s were never that great. Walter Landor didn’t design Fed Ex, his company did (and that’s about the best thing they have done!). Herb Lublin’s work is probably the strongest of all the logo’s shown here.

   I think lists of ‘greatest designers’ are pointless. It’s good to get the best work exposed to those who haven’t seen them but there are a lot of people missing from this list. I’d include Minale Tattersfield in the list along with The Partners, Robert Brownjohn Lewis Moberly, Michael Peters, Carrol Dempsey and Thirkell and…well, there are many others.

8. David Airey :: Creative Design ::, on April 30th, 2007 said:
   Randa,

   Thanks for the Digg. It’s worth taking my choices with a pinch of salt, instead judging for yourselves. I’m still a student where design is concerned.

   minxlj,

   Thanks for those links. To be honest though I don’t think the Met Opera identity is anything special, and the Saks redesign seems to be a mash-up of their 1973 logo. What appeals to you about them?

   Lee,

   I’ve added a little mention to Minale Tattersfield, and I enjoyed taking a look at The Partners website. What do you think of their work on the new brand for Liverpool Victoria?

9. Dawud Miracle, on April 30th, 2007 said:

   I can’t believe I’ve actually heard of Saul Bass and Paul Rand. But I guess when I look at their work it’s some of the most seen logos in the states today. Somewhere I had to read something about them - just can’t place it.

   I’ve played with logo design a bit myself. I find it to be really difficult. But when it’s done well, it can make a huge difference in branding a company.

10. Chris, on April 30th, 2007 said:

    Interesting post David, there’s some designs which have really stood the test of time, and it’s cool to see the people behind them.

    Congrats on the PR6 as well- wow :-)

11. Tara, on April 30th, 2007 said:

    Hi,

    An interesting post as usual. I think I might check out the LogoMania book, do you have it? I was just wondering as you write a lot about logos is this your favourite area of design?

12. Armen, on April 30th, 2007 said:

    I never noticed the FedEx arrow either :(

    BTW…was there a designer assassin going around in 1995-96??

13. David Airey :: Creative Design ::, on April 30th, 2007 said:
    Dawud,

    I agree that logo design isn’t easy. It takes a lot of research and sketching to arrive at something that works.

    Chris,

    Thanks for the congrats – one small step for David Airey.

    Tara,

    I don’t have the Logomania book yet. I do have Graphic Design as a Second Language, which is great. If you buy Logomania do let me know what you think. Logo design is just one aspect of graphic design that I love. Do you have a favourite area?

    Armen,

    I think a few of them were quite close. In a pact?

14. Tara, on April 30th, 2007 said:

    Hi David

    I will check out Graphic Design as a Second Language too. I am a bit addicted to Amazon so have to control myself or I will buy both.

    My favourite area of design, which I guess is more towards art direction is coming up with ad concepts including headlines. I find conceptual work far more interesting than pure layout.

15. PG, on April 30th, 2007 said:

    Great post, David. It’s always nice paying homage to the masters. Lubalin is def a favorite of mine as well.

16. Charity, on April 30th, 2007 said:

    Wow, the arrow totally escaped me. I had to sit looking at it for a minute before light finally dawned! :P This is a really thought provoking entry when it comes to design and branding. Some of the logos you showed are so ingrained in our generation that we don’t even stop to think about them as a process of design… or at least I never have. I’m not a logo designer though, so maybe it’s just me. Anyway it’s nice to see the faces behind these timeless logos.

17. The Thinking Blog, on April 30th, 2007 said:

    I enjoyed reading the post and the comments.. thanks all!

18. Aaron, on April 30th, 2007 said:

    Thanks David, a really interesting post!

    I’m not in a position to agree or disagree with your choices so I bow down to your superior knowledge. I’ve never heard of any of those designers that you’ve listed, but have seen most of the logos before.

    A couple of years back I did a logo project which looked at the work of Gerard Huerta, which is pretty good stuff.

19. Ian, on April 30th, 2007 said:

    Um, Milton Glaser? Where you at Milty?

    By the way I forwarded this post off to the boys at work. Great list.

20. Just Reading…. » Thermal, on April 30th, 2007 said:

    [...] it’s gleaming new page rank of 6 (is there an emoticon for jealousy?) and carries a list of the worlds best logo designers. Interesting stuff about some of the logos you see every day without noticing, and who came up with [...]

21. lee newham, on April 30th, 2007 said:

    Some more from minale tattersfield:

22. deelirium, on May 1st, 2007 said:

    Fantastic blog! I’ve stumbled upon a number of your logo-related posts and they’ve given me a boost of confidence to continue with a couple logos I’m working on this month. I’m finding Logo Pond to be not-so-helpful in finding inspiration.

    As far as the FedEx logo, one of the major people behind it is Lindon Leader (or so Google tells me).

    Read more about him here:
    http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/000273.php

23. David Airey :: Creative Design ::, on May 1st, 2007 said:
    Ian,

    Good suggestion, if only for Milton’s ‘I love New York’ logo. I’ve added him to the list.

    deelirium,

    That’s a nice read you linked to. Cheers for stopping by and for your kind words. LogoPond is very hit and miss. There have been a few great logos there but the majority are quite poor.

24. Lorissa, on May 1st, 2007 said:

    Great list. I’m a huge Olins fan myself.

25. Jonathan Hughes, on May 1st, 2007 said:

    According to this site:
    http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/000273.php
    Lindon Leader designed the FedEx logo, not Walter Landor. Anyone know what the story is?

26. Dave Lilly, on May 2nd, 2007 said:

    weeeeell. Milton, I’m not TOO impressed with. I wasn’t SUPER impressed with Bob Gill either, thought his book “Forget All the Rules About Graphic Design: Including the Ones in This Book” is SWEET!!!!!
    Bass logos are solid as are Landons. I love logos where there are things hidden! SO COOL!!

27. minxlj, on May 2nd, 2007 said:

    I’m a little bit shocked that some people here have never heard of these designers???? It doesn’t matter what career you’re in, you should always be aware of the leaders in the field - not just who is ‘fashionable’ at the moment.

    “Thanks for those links. To be honest though I don’t think the Met Opera identity is anything special, and the Saks redesign seems to be a mash-up of their 1973 logo. What appeals to you about them?”

    The Saks design is an appreciative nod back to the 1973 design - the most classy of all the logos Saks have had, and Pentagram’s application of this has embodied what Saks is all about. I mean, Tiffany & Co’s logo isn’t the most groundbreaking thing ever designed, BUT it is impeccably styled, classic, beautiful typography, which tells you immediately how upmarket the company is.

    With all the shiny, reflective, modern logos of Web 2.0 kicking about - and don’t get me wrong, some are brilliant - the beautiful, artful typographic logo stands out, such as the Metropolitan Opera logo. It’s simple, classy, elegant, and with a bit of clever association about it (obviously nicknamed ‘The Met’). In 50 years time it will still look classy - logos don’t have to be complicated to work well.

28. David Airey :: Creative Design ::, on May 2nd, 2007 said:
    Jonathan,

    The Fedex logo was created by Lindon Leader when he worked for Landor Associates. Lindon now heads up Leader Creative.

    minxlj,

    I completely agree that logos don’t have to be complicated to work well. More often than not it’s the simple logos that stand the test of time.

29. Tony MacFarlane’s Design Blog » Blog Archive » NewsLinks Wednesday, May 2 2007, on May 2nd, 2007 said:

    [...] I’m Somewhere Near the Back [...]

30. Ian, on May 2nd, 2007 said:

    While it’s true that logos don’t have to be complicated to work – I would even say they can’t be complicated and work – they usually have to be complicated to sell. ;)

31. Michael, on May 19th, 2007 said:

    You need to be careful about some of this - the Fedex logo was indeed created by Lindon Leader (at Landor) a year after Landor hiumself died. Wally Olins, whilst he was at Wolff Olins at the time, didn’t work on the orange account, and is himself a brand consultant not a designer.

32. David Airey :: Creative Design ::, on May 21st, 2007 said:
    Michael,

    Thanks for the clarification. I should’ve put some more indepth research into the post before publishing, but such is the way with some blog posts.

33. G3 Creative Scotland, on May 25th, 2007 said:

    We enjoyed looking over the list of well known logo designers/branding experts and thank you for the emails. Good corporate identities should not only raise the visibility of a company but add the professional look to the business which is something the chaps above have achieved. I should say that most of the guys here a big Wally Olins fans.

34. lee newham, on June 4th, 2007 said:

    Wally Olins has nothign to do with Wolf Olins anymore in case anyone posts something about him in connection with the London Olympics logo 2112 which was designed by Wolf Olins. Wally works for a company called Saffron now.

35. David Airey :: Creative Design ::, on June 14th, 2007 said:
    Lee,

    Thanks for the confirmation about Wally Olins.

36. Wikipedia link to my logo designer article : David Airey :: Creative Design ::, on June 14th, 2007 said:

    [...] article shown on Wikipedia is The world’s best logo designers? and given the fact that there are only five other external links from Wikipedia’s logo page [...]

37. Christopher, on June 16th, 2007 said:

    What about Louise Fili, Mark Fox or Mark Verlander? Fili’s work is exquisite and superbly crafted. Fox is a consummate logo designer and has created some enduring and iconic marks. Verlander is one of the great undiscovered talents of logo design, despite some very high profile work (Houston Texans, Bengals, Falcons, etc.).

    There are also a great many designers who do terrific work for clients who aren’t household names (i.e. my own logo for Paradox Media, some years back)

38. David Airey :: Creative Design ::, on June 16th, 2007 said:
    Hi Christopher,

    Thanks for stopping by with your thoughts.

    For sure this ‘list’ is by no means exclusive. It’s very subjective too. That’s half the reason why I added a question mark at the end of the title.

39. Christopher, on June 16th, 2007 said:

    Certainly. Just pitching in my 2¢, the comment wasn’t intended to be critical.

    BTW, I thought about tossing Art Chantry into the mix as well, but that gets into a whole different discussion of authenticity, etc. Certainly Landor, Wolf Olins, Chermayeff + Geismar, Rand, Bass, et al have shaped how we all look at and think about logos. Of course there will always be gems from less expected sources as well.

    Anyway, nice blog. I’ll be checking back. :)

40. Tim Eisenhauer, on June 21st, 2007 said:

    You are missing 1. …probably the best logo designer you will ever find.

    Raja Sandhu

41. David Airey :: Creative Design ::, on June 21st, 2007 said:
    Christopher,

    No worries, I didn’t take your comment to be critical. Thanks for the compliment.

    Tim,

    I’ve seen Raja’s portfolio before. Some logos are superb whereas I think that others are overly complicated and unmemorable.

    Thanks for leaving the link.

42. Heroin, on June 21st, 2007 said:

    Landor Associates delivers really really poor work nowadays, they did a package pitch against our internal graphic team and their design got horrible reviews when we showed it in focusgroups, while ours did excellent!

43. lena, on July 26th, 2007 said:

    and what about Leo Burnett..

44. lee newham, on July 26th, 2007 said:

    Leo Burnett the advertising guru? For logos? Er…probably not!

45. David Airey :: Graphic Designer, on July 26th, 2007 said:
    Thanks Lee.
46. jayhan, on September 19th, 2007 said:

    i like Herb Lubalin’s logo a lot, simple, meaningful and memorable.

47. Discount Web Design, on September 25th, 2007 said:

    I really like the idea behind the fedex logo, it really represents the service it offers. The families one is one cool logo too.

48. ITC_James, on October 2nd, 2007 said:

    WHERE IS MASSIMO VIGNELLI???

49. Tom Stambaugh, on October 3rd, 2007 said:

    I appreciate your homage to such great designers. Many of those mentioned have given me inspiration for years. Saul Bass continually tops my list when the topic comes up. You can see more brilliance in his movie title designs (North By Northwest comes to mind). I believe he designed the revised AT&T logo — the original globe design — which has since been altered, much to my dismay.

50. Julio Ferro, on October 24th, 2007 said:

    Massimo Vignelli uses to resolve logos with Helvetica. And if not, then he swaps to Bodoni. He’s so strict. But he’s one of my design heroes as well.

    I think the best identity or logo designer in these days is Miles Newlin (Unilever, 3, Ono, Honda). Check out http://www.newlin.com

51. David Airey :: Graphic Designer, on October 29th, 2007 said:
    Thanks for the continued comments, and for the link to Miles Newlin.
52. Adam, on November 15th, 2007 said:

    Hi there, nice list, I would definitely add Dutch Studio Dumbar (www.studiodumbar.com)

53. rob hernandez, on November 15th, 2007 said:

    thanks for the overview… and the comments are quite valuable as a resource too! Cheers!

54. David Airey, on November 15th, 2007 said:
    Adam,

    Thanks for mentioning Studio Dumbar. They produce some great work, and I enjoyed looking through their portfolio.

    Rob,

    The comments are great from others here. Thanks for taking the time to read them.

55. Chris Grayson, on November 17th, 2007 said:

    David asks:
    Who is your favourite logo designer?

    Sven Seger, who leads design and branding at Siegel + Gale is up there:
    http://www.siegelgale.com/work/portfolio/

    I see Leanne mentioned Michael Bierut.
    http://pentagram.com/en/partners/michael-bierut.php

    Jerry Kuyper

    Neville Brody

    I see Joe Finocchiaro also gets a mention.
    Love the Cisco redesign.

    I spent a lot of time here at your site.

    I’m definitely adding you to my blog roll. I found you on Designers Who Blog. I think I’ll submit.

    cheers,
    Chris

56. David Airey, on November 17th, 2007 said:
    Hi Chris,

    Great of you to list your favourites. Thanks.

    Cat runs a very nice resource at Designers Who Blog. Do go ahead and submit your own blog.

    It’d be a pleasure were you to list me on your blogroll. Good of you to stop by.

57. isabel dionisio, on November 23rd, 2007 said:

    I’ve been a graphic designer more than half of my life and i feel just great finding a forum website for designers like this one where we can share views and learn more relevant issues and insights about graphic trends. Hopefully this can also be a hub where we can submit works and get inputs from professionals like you.

58. Mike erickson, on November 27th, 2007 said:

    Great choice of legends. I agree on one of the previous posts, Gerard Huerta is a personal inspiration of mine and feel he is a highly unrecognized for his outstanding work.

59. Ildar Samit, on January 12th, 2008 said:

    Wonderful article! By the way, Ivan Chermayeff was born in 1900, not in 1990 :)

60. David Airey, on January 12th, 2008 said:
    Hi Ildar,

    Thanks for catching that glaring error!

61. Jessica R, on February 12th, 2008 said:

    Those logos are iconic and effortlessly, timeless. They were definitely the best designers of our time. David, I’ve checked your portfolio and I’m totally impressed by your Miskeeto logo. It’s simple and gives an impact at the same time. Truly wonderful.

    I’ve found out these days the web has so many design sites offering to design logo designs at such low prices it’s now a norm to employ their service. I’ve recently came across an old WIRED article which is quite an interesting read. You guys should check it out: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.10/start.html?pg=13 Long are the days where people would go to the nearest local design firm to ask for a logo.

    Some of my friends did use these online services though I’m quite skeptical about them… I can’t say why. Sites like LogoWorks, LogoDesignCreation, MyCustomLogo, etc are generally providing good design service but those freelance designers out there are the ones left suffering. Times are definitely changing.

62. David Airey, on February 12th, 2008 said:
    Hi Jessica,

    Times have changed, for sure, but there’ll always be plenty of design projects available for those who price their work above those ’stock logo’ sites you mention.

    You just have to think about the number of years you’ll be using your logo for, then weigh that up against what you believe you should pay for a logo that will last the duration. The last thing you want is to use a logo that needs changed after you’ve been in business a year or two.

63. SharkSpace, on February 19th, 2008 said:

    The I love New York logo maybe the most simple but influential logo I have seen.

64. Jesse Vlasveld, on March 27th, 2008 said:

    First of all great post, I had not heard of half of the names in the list, yet I had seen all the logos.
    I particularly love the work of Paul Rand, but now that I’ve seen some other names I’m definitely checking out more of the work they did.

    The comments are almost a post of their own even, many great links are mentioned.

65. David Airey, on April 4th, 2008 said:
    Hello Jesse,

    Your spot on about the comments. I’m very grateful to everyone who spends a little time adding to this post with their own thoughts. Yourself included.

66. Madonna Dersch, on April 8th, 2008 said:

    I enjoyed this post, but I note the lack of female designers represented. Hard to believe when the arguably best known logo in the world is the Nike Swoosh designed by Caroline Davidson.

    Why do you think this is, the underrepresented female designers? Are there fewer of us? Are we not recognized? Are we doing less “superstar” work for more mundane jobs, or do we have fewer “superstar” opportunities?

    On that note, here is a link to an article and to a NYT blog entry about how Glaser responded when the glass ceiling was pointed out to him at a question and answer session:

    http://www.designobserver.com/archives/020303.html

    http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/12/07/women-will-never-be-rock-star-designers/

67. pete, on April 9th, 2008 said:

    These might be well recognised. But they are certainly not the best, although I do admire sauls work.

68. David Airey, on April 10th, 2008 said:
    Hi Madonna,

    You ask a good question, and one worthy of an individual blog post. There’s no doubt a huge number of talented female designers exists, so it’s certainly an idea to feature more. Thanks for the links.

    Pete,

    ‘Best’ is a very subjective word. Lee makes a good point in this comment.

69. Scott Allen, on May 9th, 2008 said:

    Great list! Milton Glaser’s I Love NY logo just keeps going and going - it doesn’t get old. I second Chris Grayson’s mention of Neville Brody. His work is incredible.

70. James Kurtz III, on June 19th, 2008 said:

    Paul Rand FTW!

    James Kurtz III’s last blog post…Brand Tags

71. Kent Looft, on June 26th, 2008 said:

    Excellent list.

    Might deserve an updated composite with comment adds.

    Anyone interested in Font and custom logotype design might want to search for Lubalin’s out of print, U&LC publication. I miss those issues arriving in the mail in the 70’s.

72. David Airey, on July 1st, 2008 said:
    Scott, James,

    Cheers for dropping by.

    Kent,

    You’re right. An updated post is long overdue. Defintely one for the ‘to-do’ list.

73. Derek, on August 22nd, 2008 said:

    I have to say I don’t agree with this list. It’s suprising to me how very few good logos some of these guys actually created for being so famous. It’s hard to find a “modern” list of great designers by the way. Maybe you can make one.

74. David Airey, on August 22nd, 2008 said:
    Hello Derek,

    Yes, this post is quite old, and I’ve learnt a fair bit since then. You might be interested in another website of mine, launched quite recently: iconic logo designers. I’d value any feedback you might have.

What are your thoughts?

Simply fill in the form below. All comments are moderated so you may experience a short delay before your comment appears. Comments should be respectful of other voices in the discussion. I reserve the right to edit or delete comments at my discretion.