Did you know?
'Logo' is short for 'logotype'. It comes from two Greek words: 'logos', meaning word, and 'typos', meaning mark or imprint.
Logos have very old cousins! Thousands of years ago, people used carved seals and stamped coins. Later came coats of arms and hallmarks on silver to show who made or owned something.
India's State Emblem is adapted from the Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath and was adopted on 26 January 1950. The lions stand back to back, so only three can be seen at once.
Try this: Design your own logo
Invent a business, maybe a toy library or a lemonade stall, and design its logo. Use one simple shape and only two or three colours. Then test it: Can you draw it from memory in 10 seconds? Does it still look good when it's tiny, like a stamp? Does it work in black and white? If yes, you've made a strong logo!
Go further: Families of logos
Designers sort logos into families. A wordmark is just the name in a special style of letters. A lettermark uses only initials. A pictorial mark is a simple picture, like a leaf or a bird. An abstract mark is a shape that isn't a real object. A combination mark puts words and pictures together. A tiny ® beside a logo means it is a registered trademark.