This content originally appeared on Envato Tuts+ Tutorials and was authored by Grace Fussell
Over 2021, a number of global businesses took the opportunity to rebrand, releasing sleeker brand identities and setting the bar for upcoming logo design trends. Here we analyze the biggest logo trends of 2021 and look ahead to the styles, logo colour trends and logo font trends which we expect to characterize logo design in 2022.
If you’re working on a new branding project and need inspiration for digital trends in logo design, you’ve come to the right place. Consider this your ultimate guide to modern logo trends for the months and year ahead.
You can also find a range of logo design templates and packaging mockups for presenting brand identities on Envato Elements. Or why not discover more of 2021's hottest creative trends on the Envato Blog?
Logo Trends 2021: What Logo Design Trends Are Huge Right Now?
The year has seen a number of major businesses looking to reintroduce simplicity into their brand identities. Burger King, Peugeot, Renault, and Pfizer have all introduced rebrands with a sleeker, simpler aesthetic in 2021.
The reason behind this general push towards minimalism? A priority for logos that function more successfully in the digital sphere is paramount, with many brands requiring ultra-simple designs that can be used as app or social icons.
While digital trends in logo design have resulted in a push towards minimalism, these trending logos still need to be highly adaptable for print and packaging. Running alongside a minimalist logo trend, other branding logo trends are making their mark in different ways. Gradient logos continue to be enduringly popular and work beautifully as part of packaging designs.
We’ve also seen stencil logos emerge as a sub-trend, giving a playful hide-and-seek mood to otherwise traditional type logo designs.
One logo trend we’re ready to see the back of in 2022? Confusing abstract icons that are too ambiguous and bafflingly mysterious have been popular for app icon design, but as Google has demonstrated, pictograms and ideograms are not always user-friendly in the absence of additional type. With big businesses increasingly prioritizing simplicity and legibility over abstraction in their brand identities, expect to see fewer logos that make you scratch your head.
What Will Be the Biggest Logo Design Trends in 2022?
Digital trends in logo design will continue to shape how big businesses approach their branding strategies. Post-pandemic, consumers will increasingly engage with brands—often exclusively—in the digital sphere. The way a logo functions as part of an app animation is likely to wield more importance than how it appears on store signage.
With this in mind, the trend towards minimalism in logo and icon design is only set to continue into 2022. Instantly recognizable monograms will replace abstract icons, while one of the biggest logo trends will be a blend of minimalism with nostalgia marketing, resulting in a wave of cheerful logos that blend 90s character with contemporary simplicity.
Other logo design trends to look out for? According to international design practice Pentagram, tropical, juicy colour will provide a much-needed dopamine dose for lacklustre logos, and we can also expect to see more use of serif and ligature type defining the face of logo font trends in 2022.
We expect the biggest logo trends of 2022 to include:
- 90s Nostalgia
- Minimalist Monograms
- Juicy Colour
- Simple Serif Type
- Elegant Fluid Type
- Photo Overlay and Totemic Logos
Scroll down to find out more about each logo design trend, discover templates and fonts to help you create your own logo designs, and pick up tips for creating awesome brand identities in 2022.
1. 90s Nostalgia
In line with a general move towards nostalgia marketing across branding and design as a whole, this logo trend also hopes to offer consumers a sense of comfort and familiarity after a frankly bizarre year.
The trend was kickstarted by Burger King, who this year launched a radical rebrand based on the fast food chain’s original 1990s logo. Rather than a faithful revival of the former design, designer Lisa Smith opted for a sleeker, more minimalist interpretation. Gone are the curvy, cartoonish letterforms, but the same nostalgic spirit remains, making the logo design feel more approachable, ‘tasty’, and ironically more modern than the preceding version.
In 2022, you can channel 90s nostalgia in your logo designs to make your branding friendlier and warmer. Look for chunky, cuddly typefaces, minimal yet characterful illustrated icons, and a muted colour palette.
2. Minimalist Monogram
Take a moment to consider the general air of dismay swiftly followed by outright uproar surrounding the revised icon designs for Google Workspace back in 2020. In short, in an effort to create consistently minimal branding, Google created a series of app icons that were confusingly similar to one another. Luckily, you can get the old ones back.
A lesson in minimalism gone wrong? While Google’s was a noble effort, there’s something to be said for the ineffectiveness of overly abstract icons on mobile devices. App icons need to be instantly recognisable and distinct from others.
Enter the minimalist monogram. Monograms and ‘lettermark’ logos are made up of type alone, usually giving the viewer an abbreviated version of the business’s name in stylized form. Famed design agency Pentagram recently created a monogram icon for online investment platform TradingView. Geometric, chunky, and subtly iconographic (the circle element blinks in animation to make a reference to ‘View’), the monogram is both utterly minimalist and recognisably legible.
Although monograms are among the simplest of logo designs, effective simplicity isn't always easy to achieve. Luckily, these templates can offer some inspiration for how to create stylish, minimal monograms that are recognisable and work beautifully as app icons.
3. Juicy Colour
Who says minimalism and bold colour can’t go hand in hand? The Juicy Colour trend is characterized by a confident use of tropical, ultra-bright colour alongside otherwise conservative logo styles, such as simple serif type (see Trend 4, below) and minimal line logo designs.
The trend makes a nod to the early 1990s, but while the 90s Nostalgia trend emphasizes comfort and familiarity, this logo design trend turns up the colour dial for more excitement and immediacy.
An example to aspire to? Pentagram’s reimagining of the brand identity for the National Gallery of Art is a perfectly tuned balance of intellectual serif and fun-loving colour, making a trip to the gallery feel more like an accessible adventure than a high-brow excursion.
Move away from a total-neon palette (so 2020) and towards a complementary palette of lush, juicy hues with a tropical mood. Think lime green, Pepto pink, mango orange, and sunshine yellow.
4. Simple Serif Type
Building on an overarching penchant for type-based designs that has defined logo design for the last few years, the Simple Serif Type trend is chic and modern, and an excellent foundation for creating logos that will stand the test of time.
An understated logo design trend that pairs effectively with Juicy Colour (see above), simple serif type creates elegant, pared-back logos with effortless style. The Little Black Dress of logo trends, subtle serif fonts offer an understated look for brands who are seeking timelessness and functionality in their logos.
For corporate branding, a monochrome serif type logo can help businesses feel more established and authoritative, but these simple typefaces also offer a tempering balance to bold, 90s-inspired colour palettes (see Pentagram’s National Gallery project, above). Look for typefaces that feature subtle serifs and rounded, open letterforms for a friendly rather than haughty look.
5. Elegant Fluid Type
Imagine swirling a calligraphy pen casually across oily water, and you have an accurate albeit pretentious idea of the style of this logo design trend. Fluid and languid, elegant calligraphic type logos are already growing in popularity across the high-end retail sector. English knitwear brand HERD adopts a flowing style for their sheep icon and type logo, which speaks to the brand’s connections with heritage and sustainability.
While a few independent brands in the high-end clothing sector might have kickstarted the trend, in 2022 we can expect to see this trend translate across to a broader range of businesses and industries, particularly those looking to emphasise environmental or traditional values.
These logos can be made using ligature or disconnected typefaces, the only requirement is that the whole logo appears fluid, watery, and ethereal. The fonts below offer a shortcut to achieving the elegant fluid type trend in an instant.
6. Photo Overlay and Totemic Logos
In the digital arena, logos are no longer restricted to the limited space offered by a business card or letterhead. As a part of websites, videos, and apps, logos have more opportunities to integrate with other branded content, becoming a more versatile asset for digital designers.
A case in point is French car manufacturer Peugeot’s 2021 rebrand. A simpler, more ‘upmarket’ version of the business’s lion emblem, the monochrome shield design is used with greater flexibility across the company’s digital channels. The shield transforms into a standalone interactive button, while the ‘PEUGEOT’ typeface is twisted and turned into different orientations to give landing pages an air of movement and confidence. Looking ahead to 2022, the aspect which presents the most trend-leading potential is the use of the lion logo as an overlay for photographic content.
Create your own logo overlay by combining a simple icon design with a photo that loosely matches the same orientation. Animal-based or symbolic designs work best, helping to bring a totemic quality to brand photography.
This logo trend can help bring more edge and dynamism to websites and videos, as well as integrating the logo much more deeply into marketing campaign material. The logo templates below can help you to conjure a totemic mood in your brand communications.
Conclusion: The Biggest Logo Trends for 2022
Many logo design trends come and go, but we're starting to see a general shift towards logo designs that have a more timeless quality, whether it's a simple and elegant serif type logo or an ultra-minimal monogram. However, that doesn't mean there's no room for experimentation. Pentagram have artfully demonstrated how bold, juicy colour can invigorate otherwise traditional logo designs, and the wave of fluid, aqueous type logos that made waves in high-end retail in 2021 are set to bring effortless, sinuous beauty to brand identities across the board in 2022.
Post-pandemic, nostalgic logos that make a nod to 90s design will offer a sense of familiarity and warmth to consumers, while layering logos with photos or videos can help logo designs feel more impactful and integrated with wider marketing campaigns.
The core message for logo design in 2022? Balance and simplicity is key to a logo design that works successfully across both print and digital channels... but don't be afraid to have fun too!
If you're not ready to create your own logo design from scratch or simply want to browse some fantastic inspiration, you can find logo templates, vector icons, and logo fonts on Envato Elements.
Eager for more logo design inspiration and modern logo trends? Discover our selections of the best logo templates on the internet, as well as logo design tips to help you make your brand designs the best they can be:
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This content originally appeared on Envato Tuts+ Tutorials and was authored by Grace Fussell
Grace Fussell | Sciencx (2021-09-08T14:53:28+00:00) What Logo Designs Are Trending Now and Logo Trends for 2022. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2021/09/08/what-logo-designs-are-trending-now-and-logo-trends-for-2022/
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