If I ask you what a logo is, what would you tell me?
Possibly your answer is associated with words such as brand, design, symbol, or icon, right?
But what if I told you that, additionally, what we commonly know as a logo can actually be classified into 4 brand visual representations?
Let’s do a quick experiment.
There are studies that show that every day we receive more than 3,000 impacts from logos or brands.
Now think about a normal day… your mobile alarm sounds, you take it to turn it off and boom! — there you have the first logos on your screen (perhaps the brand of your phone, or that application that sends you a notification or, if you unlock, a whole universe of apps with their corresponding logos). Now you go to the bathroom and you see the logo of the toothpaste, the shampoo, the cologne…
Think when you get dressed, when you have breakfast… How many have you already seen?
Now that you are aware of how present logos are in our daily life, I ask you this: do you know the terms logotype, isotype, imagotype, and isologo? Well, let’s talk about them.
What is a logotype?
Surely it is the one that sounds the most familiar to you of the four, as it is the most widespread and we use it as a generic term for all of them, even if it is not.
A logo is a graphic representation composed exclusively of words. You can play with fonts and with color, but it only consists of words. In fact “logo” comes from the Greek logos which means just that — word.
What is an isotype?
The isotype is a symbol or icon that makes the brand recognizable without the need to be accompanied by a word.
It is only an illustration, but it is capable of making users identify the brand without anyone naming it.
What is an imagotype?
The imagotype is the union of the logo and the isotype. In other words, the graphic representation of the brand would be made up of icons and words. It combines a readable part with a visual-only part.
What is an isologo?
An isologo is also the union of text and image, but in this case, that union is indivisible. They lose their meaning if we see them separately, unlike what happened with the imagotype.
It may be the least used option, but don’t think that big brands don’t make use of this.
Now that you know how to differentiate the 4 visual representations that exist when we talk about logos, what do you think about yours?
In case you didn’t know, we’ll do a completely complimentary “audit” of your brand and all of it’s storefronts. Contact us today to schedule a Matchlight Report Card and find out where your brand might need attention.