The Beginning

The Logo design shows its importance since ancient times, and it can be traced during ancient Greece, where the coins were used as Monograms. Since the early times, people have used a wide variety of symbols for deciphering the identification and social rank. Since the 13th century, and the patterns, goldsmiths, and others firstly began to use the logos as the sign of ownership for their business. Credit for the art printed company was been assigned to the printed companies. The style and innovations continued to grow, and there came the era of designing logos.

The First Logo

There was a huge increase in mass production in the Victorian era, and also a surge in interest in the credit, that was given for the craftsmanship, leading to the beginning of the logo, and during 1876, the first logo got trademarked for Bass Brewery.

William Bass was the founder of the Bass Brewery in 1777. It consisted of the Bass text beneath it, with a Red-colored Triangle.

It became the first registered trademark of the UK and took control of several other large breweries in the earlier 20th century.

With the invention of Television, mass communication encouraged companies to adopt visual means of communication.

Along with this, the trend of trademarking company logos began, leading to the concepts of branding and marketing.

The symbols are the clear concepts associated with logos, and that are used since ancient times to show the clear concept or message about the brand and company.

Where do the logos come from?

In our modern understanding, a logo is an emblem, a symbol designed to make a brand recognizable and help promote public identification. The logo of a company acts as its face or identity. It holds the power to replace the name of the company with modification and provide it with a beautiful design. A logo should be fascinating because a dull logo will not fetch the desired results. A typical logo only contains an icon or symbol and a wordmark, etc. Colors and letters are two mandatory elements required in any logo that helps a logo to become catchy. For a logo to be attractive, the use of colors should be clever and professional. Contrasting colors and brief wordmarks are the keys to making a logo catchy.

Logos are nothing but the personification of symbols. But do we think that where these logos came from? Have you ever thought? No? Let us explore some points that mark its presence with the history of the logos.

The Power Of Symbols

In ancient times, people used to consider symbols with different meanings, and appoint special meaning to different symbols, religion, culture, or based on experience as well. The role of symbols matters a lot for graphic designers, as they design the logos with the help of symbols. These depict the visual language of human history, which shows originality.

The ancient humans used to connect their lives with nature, and the ancient signs and symbols are mostly related to nature itself. There also used to be animals that used to symbolize different meanings, such as royalty, peace, loyalty, and many more. Along with this, the flowers are used to symbolize the beauty, blossom, peace, love, and happiness of nature. The symbols of Geometry show clarity when used by the designers, and also express the sharpness, stability, and proper balance. This indicates the symbols have had power since ancient times.

The Ancient World of Logos

The humans used to identify themselves using stamps, symbols, or signatures, and the writing symbols that were used were highly clear which depicted the real picture of the ancient civilization. It is used to represent the images and words with proper meaning.

Those were simple which was easy to understand because simplicity reflects beauty in a real way. A simple design and use of lesser words up to the mark makes a logo memorable in a way that it remains in mind after a few days, weeks, and even after a month.

Designers usually choose colors based on their tastes and preferences. Sometimes this works well, particularly when the designer has a good idea about attractive color combinations and the right color scheme for the colors. Most of the designers would do best to refer to the basics of color theory. But in ancient times, the sketch of the images itself used to depict the clear message behind the designs. It is used to identify humans, animals, birds, and many more.

Vikings - Symbols

Vikings, who were also called Norseman or Northman, were members of the Scandinavian seafaring warriors. Symbols were a crucial part of the Norse culture. The people used to believe that some of the symbols were used to bring energy along with faith. They had each symbol associated with a different meaning.

Each of them symbolizes particular importance in Nordic culture. They considered the concept of spirituality at the apex, and it was very crucial for Vikings.

There was no parting was between reality and faith. The ancient symbol of Thors hammer (Mjölnir) was a very highly appreciated symbol. It was frequently used to ornament different jewelry of the Vikings, including rings, necklaces, bracelets, and armor.

Portugues

The symbol of the Portuguese empire, present on the flag consisted of the central Red shield, which was filled with yellow castles and smaller Blue shields, that symbolized the victories against the Moors. It was the oldest symbol on the flag of the Portuguese flag.

The five Moorish Kings who were killed by the first King of Portugal, Afonso I, were represented on the smaller Blue shields.

Along with this, the seven yellow castles symbolize Moorish fortresses which were overthrown in the battle.

Their flag consisted of the Green and Red colors with the symbol. As per the flag-designing committee, Red symbolized the blood lost by the people who fought for Portugal to become a republic, whereas the Green color symbolized hope for the future.

The stage of visual communication

The traces and prints of ancient life were found by the Archeologists, on the walls of caves, stones, and on objects. These are used to convey the message through the paintings as well. There were traces of signs and symbols in the history of many civilizations, which shows the presence of different designs.

Rome Empire - Symbols

The standards of the Roman Empire contained many symbols, such as an Eagle, God, emperor, Wolf, Horse, and the Eagle was considered as the symbol of the Roman legion. Along with this, the standard-bearer was called the Signifer.

The legionary Eagle was the most important standard in each legion. It was also the symbol of the power of Rome and the honor of the legion. It was a terrible disgrace to lose the legionary Eagle in the battle.

The leaders like Augustus after succeeding in recovering captured legionary Eagle capitalized on the propaganda value of the event.

The Heraldry

The first coats of arms initiated the origin of the logos. These appeared in the XXII century and became increasingly popular by marking their presence everywhere in the world.

They initiated the origin of logos. It became popular and hence used by the high-ranking officials, and soon became widely known. Its exceptionality made it well known.

If a logo has the ability for storing, managing, and recalling information for a long time; and having very complex with different functions that could be remembered even after five years and more then it is a long time memorable logo that will enable its glimpse in the minds of people for a very long time making it shortlisted in the list of memorable logos.

Other Forms of Logos

In 400 BC the Ancient Egyptians developed a system of writing, where the symbols like hooks and circles represented ideas and words and were also used to communicate in everyday society as the logos convey about the brands.

The period of 2700 BC marked the presence of Ancient Romans who used hot Iron brands to mark their livestock. The farmers in old west America used to mark their cows with a logo, as a way to signify ownership.

During the period of 520 BC, ancient Greeks used to symbolize wisdom and knowledge, which used to appear on coins, pottery, and other work of art.

Whereas the period of 440 BC marked the presence of Phidias, a Greek sculptor, which developed the Golden Ratio, which continues to influence the logo design today.

Along with this, in the period between 479 AD to 1492, Metalsmiths created exclusive sigils for aristocratic families in the middle ages, which were engraved into shields and used to decorate banners, that were carried to the battle, which showed the pride along with the loyalty to the brand.

All of us know that a Logo is a design or image that is used to symbolize the business of an organization. It is also used to identify the products, uniforms or vehicles, etc. A good logo is simple and consists of a wow factor stretching the progress of any company towards great heights.

Without this factor, the logo cannot be relevant to the color combinations; because the perfect color combination is very powerful because it can influence the mood and emotions of the customers.

In the XXVIII century, the logo design started getting its importance, and it actively developed with the beginning of the industrial revolution of Europe and America. There was a great increase in demand for logos, which was proportional to the increase in production volumes of various products. All this happened because of the desire of companies to stand out among competitors and firmly establish themselves in the market.

In England, in 1976, the first modern logo got aligned with the developing patent rights system, and it was for the first time in the history of branding, that Bass & Co lawfully received the sign on its logo. Later on, there came the existence of many branded logos in the market, which are still famous, such as Coca-cola, which occupied a place in the minds of the people.

Color plays a vitally important role in the world in which we live. Color can convey the actual meaning of any concept. When it gets associated with the logos, then it highlights the social network associated with different business perspectives, and also brightens the thinking of customers and changes actions.

It is generally used by industry to bring passion and energy to the business giving the devotion to work. They highlight the determination of the industry to satisfy its customers and ultimately raising the standard of the working culture. This could also be considered as a powerful form of communication; that not only inspires but also makes a strong bond between customers and industry.