Each year, for more than 20 years, Bill Gardner of Gardner Design has been studying thousands of logos to select the strongest fit for the year’s Trend Report.
“Flat Box” logos (above) by Scorpion Rose Studio and Semi:Formal, Blue Blazes, Asterisk, and Creative Spark.
Speaking about the collection, Bill said, “As ever, this report is an observation of the logo design industry and isn’t meant as a guide for best practices. Trends are trajectories that evolve and modify over time, not a passing fad. Use these ideas to expand your design acumen while pushing your own design to the next level and keep the trajectory moving to the next iteration.”
“Radar Sweep” logos (above) by Mode, Vadim Carazan, Bram Naus, and Brandforma.
Bill points out that trendy and trends are not the same. “Trends are directions — the way in which something will most likely go. Trendy is more ephemeral. Renowned designer Tom Geismar said it best when he shared with me, ‘Nothing dulls so quickly as the cutting edge.’”
“Passages” logos (above) by Yorgo&Co, Stanislav, Khairul Islam, and Atlas Minor Design Studio.
“Bell Bottoms” logos (above) by For The People, Lantern, Avidity Creative, and John Dorcas.
One step ahead
Some years ago, Lucy Bourton, senior editor at It’s Nice That, discussed graphic design with Paula Scher. Paula let Lucy in on a secret for spotting trends and tastes that made me smile while reading: “If you look through design history and you see something that looks really radical, that’s what you’re going to be doing now. If you think it’s nice, that’s what you’ve already been doing. If you think it’s tired, that’s what you were doing five years ago. But if you think it’s ugly, that’s what you’re going to be doing in five years.”
More of the discussion here: One Step Ahead
Bill Gardner is the founder of LogoLounge.com, a repository site where members can post their logo design work and search the works of others by keyword, designer’s name, client type, and more.
For this year’s full selection: 2024 Logo Trend Report
