• Home
  • Browse
  • Our Twitter PageOur Facebook PageRSS Feed
Content by Category
  • CSS
  • Design Trends
  • Fonts
  • Freelance Design
  • General Design
  • Icons
  • Inspiration
  • JavaScript
  • Logo Design
  • Mockup Templates
  • Motion Design
  • Photography
  • Print Design
  • UI Design
  • UX Design
  • Web Design
  • WordPress Plugins
  • WordPress Themes
Content by Application
  • Adobe XD
  • After Effects
  • Apple Motion
  • Bootstrap
  • DaVinci Resolve
  • Figma
  • Final Cut Pro
  • Illustrator
  • InDesign
  • Keynote
  • Lightroom
  • Photoshop
  • Powerpoint
  • Premiere Pro
  • Procreate
  • Sketch App
  • WordPress
Speckyboy Design Magazine Logo

Why Logos With Hidden Meanings Work So Well

By Paul Andrew
on Jan 21st, 2021
Logo Design

Logos are designed to do three primary things: represent a company’s brand; be iconic and recognizable, and to engage the audience to create an emotional response. This last one is arguably the trickiest to get right.

One way that clever designers have engaged their audience is to create logos with hidden meanings, subtly or not-so-subtly building a dynamic logo with which people can connect.

Here’s a look at some examples of hidden meanings in logos, to see how it can be done and how it can produce such successful logos.

You might also like to check out our showcase of Beautiful & Elegant Logo Monograms, Creative Symmetrical Logo Designs or Flat Logo Designs.


The Logo Designer's Toolbox
Unlimited Downloads: Logo Templates, Mockup Templates, Branding Templates, Print Templates, and more!

Logo Templates
Logo Templates
36,000+ Logo Templates

Logo Mockup Templates
Logo Mockup Templates
43,000+ Mockup Templates

Fonts for Logo Design
Fonts for Logo Design
27,000+ Fonts

Download Now!

Hiding Things With Negative Space

Some of the most eye-catching logos have been created using negative space – the gaps within the image or word of a logo positioned just so to produce another image.

The wonderful thing about using negative space in a logo is that it can be obvious, as with the Formula 1 logo where the space after the ‘F’ reveals the ‘1’, or it can be used more subtly to effectively hide an image in plain sight.

f1 logo hidden meaning design

A perfect example of this is the instantly recognizable FedEx logo. I have seen this logo countless times, but I had never (until researching this article) realized that the space between the ‘E’ and the ‘X’ perfectly creates an arrow – representing FedEx’s speedy and accurate delivery service.

fedex logo hidden meaning design

And have you ever noticed the cheeky bear hiding in the Toblerone mountain?!

toblerone logo hidden meaning design

The power of using negative space in logos lies in its simplicity. It shows that clever does not have to mean complex, and that the simplest effect can be the boldest and strongest. Whether the visual effect is obvious when you first look at it, or takes a keen eye to become apparent, negative space is really something an audience can engage with.

Designs That Put A Smile On Your Face

tour de france logo hidden meaning design

Layers of meaning can also be created where the logo represents one thing while at the same time displaying or representing something different, usually something to do with the company or their ethos.

Some excellent examples of this include the Tour de France logo, in which part of the word ‘tour’ (plus the clever addition of a simple yellow sun) depicts a cyclist, and the logo for the London Symphony Orchestra. This logo, created with just one flowing line, clearly spells out ‘L-S-O’, but look closer and you will see a dynamic conductor brandishing his baton.

lso london symphony orchestra logo hidden meaning design

The best example of layered meanings is the Amazon logo. While many people may only think of the word and the simple bold font, there is a lot to be seen on closer inspection. There’s that line underneath, that people often overlook. It links two important letters in the company’s name, showing us that Amazon sells absolutely everything you might want, from alarm clocks to Zippo lighters, from ‘A’ to ‘Z’.

amazon logo hidden meaning design

And even more than that, you might notice that the curved line is subtly smiling at you. And when you notice that, it’s hard not to smile back. The logo has engaged you.

The Magic Of Design

Hidden meanings in logos represent the magic of design. The best design is not about making something pretty, it’s about creating meaning and feelings and conveying those emotions to the audience to make a connection.

The cleverness in some of the more subtle hidden meanings is that they often are not noticed. But then, when people do see what the logo has to reveal, they feel special. They feel like they “get it”, like they are part of an exclusive club and that they have a relationship with the company.

Take, for example, the logo for South African consulting firm Eighty20. The squares in the logo represent, in binary, the name of the business. Anyone who sees that will know that they are in a minority, and feel special and immediately engaged with the company.

eight 20 logo hidden meaning design

Conclusion – Engage Your Customer To Find Success

Engaging your customers with just a logo alone is incredibly hard. Yet it is worth striving for – your logo is how many customers will define your business and it will be how you appear to them when they think of you.

If you can surprise them with hidden meanings, then you will have won them over. Your customers will feel like they are already in a relationship with you, and they will feel that same sense of engagement and exclusivity when they discovered your logos secrets. Those hidden meanings, once discovered, pop to life and remain there forever to that customer, hovering faint yet unmissable in that space between their eyes and the logo itself.

Related Posts

  • 25 Inspiring Logo Design Examples for Photographers
  • 30 Examples of Symmetry in Logo Design for Ideas & Inspiration
  • 25 Examples of Monograms in Logo Design for Inspiration & Ideas
  • 50 Simple Logo Designs for Inspiration & Ideas
  • 50 Minimal Fashion Label Logo Designs for Ideas & Inspiration
  • 30 Fantastic Restaurant Logo Design Ideas for Inspiration
  • 15 Inspiring Examples of Subtly Animated Logos in Web Design
  • 25 Examples of Flat Logo Design for Inspiration & Ideas
  • 40 Examples of Clever Typography in Logo Design for Inspiration
  • 30 Logo Design Examples Featuring Animals for Inspiration & Ideas

Related Topics

  • Brand Inspiration
  • Logo Inspiration
This page may contain affiliate links. At no extra cost to you, we may earn a commission from any purchase via the links on our site. You can read our Disclosure Policy at any time.
Envato Elements Logo
35,000+ Logo Templates
in Photoshop, Illustrator,
Figma, Sketch & XD Formats
2400+ WordPress Themes & Plugins
Download Now!

Popular Free Resources

Web Design

  • Bootstrap Admin Templates
  • Bootstrap Templates
  • HTML Web Templates

UI/UX

  • Web UI Kits
  • Mobile UI Kits
  • Figma UI Kits
  • Bootstrap UI Kits
  • Icons
  • Wireframe Kits

Fonts

  • Free Fonts
  • Minimal Fonts
  • Clean Fonts
  • Title Fonts
  • Fonts for Logos

WordPress

  • Block Themes
  • Minimal Themes
  • Portfolio Themes
  • WooCommerce Themes

Addons

  • Photoshop Actions
  • Photoshop Brushes
  • Lightroom Presets
  • Procreate Brushes

Print

  • Free Resume Templates
  • InDesign Resume Templates
  • Free Invoice Templates
  • Free Proposal Templates
  • Business Flyer Templates

Video

  • Final Cut Pro Presets
  • Apple Motion Templates
  • Adobe Premiere Pro Templates
  • Titles After Effects Templates
  • DaVinci Resolve Templates
  • After Effects Presets

Presentation

  • Powerpoint Templates
  • Keynote Templates
  • Google Slides Templates
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
© 2009 - 2023 Speckyboy.com