Logo, sign and emblem. Terminology. Alexander Shiryshev.
Sign, logo, emblem - everyone has heard these words, many actively use them, but most use them for other purposes. Why is a sign called a logo, and an emblem called a sign? Why did the designer get lost in three birch trees and drag the client there? Let's figure it out. Let's start with the logo.
“Logo (from the Greek logos - word and typos - imprint) is an original outline, an image of the full or abbreviated name of a company or a company’s products. It is specially developed by the company in order to attract attention to it and its products.”— Raizberg B. A., Lozovsky L. Sh., Starodubtseva E. B. Modern economic dictionary. 5th ed., revised. and additional - M.: INFRA-M, 2007. - 495 p. — (B-ka of dictionaries “INFRA-M”).
“Logo (from the Greek logos - word + typos - imprint) is a hand-set letter with the most common syllables or even words. Logos were used in the early stages of printing to speed up the typesetting process."— Milchin A.E. Publishing dictionary-reference book. — Ed. 3rd, rev. and additional., Electronic - M.: OLMA-Press, 2006.
“Logo (from German Logotype, English logotype - Stefanov S.I. Advertising and printing: experience of a dictionary-reference book. - M.: Gella-print, 2004. - 320 pp.: ill. - (Advertising technologies).
All the above definitions agree on one thing: logo- this is some kind of indivisible combination of letters. Specifically in design - verbal trademark. This can be the name of a company or product, typed in a ready-made font, or an original style drawn by the designer for this work, a calligraphic inscription, a monogram, a monogram. Obviously, it is wrong to call a trademark a logo in general, especially if it represents some kind of image not related to letters. However, you can often find illiterate use of this term. Even at the end of the last definition this situation is mentioned.
Logo. Alexander Shiryshev.
Sign- a very broad concept. The simplest definition I found explains it as “something capable in some respect of acting instead of something else, that is, being perceived by some living object, having meaning”(Russian Humanitarian Encyclopedic Dictionary: In 3 volumes - M.: Humanitarian Publishing Center VLADOS: Faculty of Philology. St. Petersburg State University, 2002).
I dare to assume that by “living object” here we mean a person. The newest philosophical dictionary interprets this concept even more clearly.
“A sign is traditionally a material, sensually perceived object (event, action or phenomenon), acting in cognition as an indication, designation or representative of another object, event, action, subjective formation. Designed to acquire, store, transform and broadcast certain information (messages).”— The latest philosophical dictionary: 3rd ed., corrected. — Mn.: Book House. 2003.- 1280 p. - (World of Encyclopedias).
Based on these definitions, anything can act as a sign. Therefore, for our specific application case, it would be correct to clarify the concept. There are several options: graphic sign, brand name, signet, trademark, emblem, trademark. Dictionaries are full of definitions for each of these concepts, sometimes intersecting in meaning, sometimes contradicting each other, demonstrating a complete lack of understanding of the compilers, what they are talking about, and why they are introducing these terms into use at all.
The designer needs this term for one simple reason: it is one of his products. The client needs to explain why it is, how much it costs and how it is used. Obviously, explaining these things using the term “this bullshit” is not very convenient. What is the name of the original Nike lettering? We have already found out - the logo. What do you call the "swoosh" - Nike's famous arc? For now, we can answer this question using the method of contradiction: this is definitely not a logo. How to indicate a situation when they are used together? Another question to which the designer should know the answer, if only because there is a corresponding section in the standards passport and it should have a name.
Before we continue to terminology, let's deal with two harmful phrases: trademark And trademark. They are borrowed from the advertising industry, which has a very mediocre relationship to identity. For advertisers, these terms are enough for communication. For a designer, they are too rough and conventional. Firstly, because anything can be hidden under them. Secondly, adjectives trading And commodity are misleading regarding the object of the design services application. After all, not only a product, company or service can have a corporate identity, but also a non-profit organization, a government or educational institution, a city, a country, a TV show, a film, a festival, a sports team, a person and much more. It's hard to imagine the phrase trademark of the Ministry of Education or trademark of the Grushinsky Festival.
We will denote the object of the design services application (company, product, organization, institution, country, event, etc.) with the word brand. In the context of this article, it is not important to us that the brand is the result. Here and further, we will mean that the object for which we are developing a passport of corporate identity standards will sooner or later become a brand.
So, we need to define with a term such a phenomenon as a graphic sign of a brand. To be sure that we understand each other, I will give specific examples: Apple apple, McDonalds arches, Nike swoosh, Mercedes star, MTS egg, multi-colored Windows window.
Of the candidates for the designation of this branded element, the following terms remained: brand name, signet, graphic sign And emblem. Adjective branded concept sign does not specify, which means the term remains as inaccurate and cloudy as without it. Signet- Anglicism (from the English signet - sign, stamp), also not deepening the concept of sign. Thus, as a precise term it makes sense to consider graphic sign And emblem.
“Emblem (from the Greek emblema - insert, convex decoration), a conditional explanation of an abstract concept, idea using some image (for example, a dove - E. of the peace movement); often considered as a type of allegory. In the narrow sense, it is a symbolic image.”- "Great Soviet Encyclopedia".
“Emblem (from Latin emblema - insert, convex image) is a conventional symbolic image of a concept or idea; Unlike a symbol, it does not embody the content of the concept, but only points to it.”— Raizberg B. A., Lozovsky L. Sh., Starodubtseva E. B. Modern economic dictionary. 5th ed., revised. and additional - M.: INFRA-M, 2007.
“Emblem (from the Latin emblema - Stefanov S.I. Advertising and printing: experience of a dictionary-reference book. - M.: Gella-print, 2004.
These definitions also apply to the term graphic sign. However, the concept graphic sign mixed with concepts trademark, brand name and even trademark, and the phrase itself graphic sign in practice it is simply reduced to sign. Sometimes a designer uses the term sign, understanding what is hidden underneath it graphic sign, sometimes not.
What does the BMW logo symbolize? What is the meaning of these 3 letters?
- propeller Bavarian motor worker....
- Factory name.
Bavarian Motor Werke
And the logo is a propeller. They once made aircraft engines. - BMW was founded in 1916 as an aircraft engine plant in Munich. Hence the spinning blue and white propeller logo that appeared on BMW airplanes in 1917. In 1919, after the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was banned from building aircraft and the owners of BMW had to change their profile.
Abbreviation for Bayrische Motorenwerke (German: Bavarian Motor Factory)
- Bayerische MotorenWerke (Bavarian Motor Works). Initially, BMW produced only aircraft engines. That is why the BMW logo depicts a spinning propeller.
- Damn, I don’t remember how in German letters, but in Russian: Bovariche Motor Werke
- Bayerische Motoren Werke. And the Logo and its color are a piece of the Bavarian flag enclosed in a circle, contrary to the prevailing opinion about an airplane propeller.
- BMW logo
BMW is a brand whose aviation origins are carefully disguised. The circle, divided into four sectors, is nothing more than a rotating propeller: the company originally produced aircraft engines.
That. , BMW logo - blue and white parts symbolize the sky seen through the moving propeller blades.BMW is an abbreviation for Bayrische Motorenwerke (from German as Bavarian Motor Factory.)
BMW (Germany) produced from 1916 to the present.
The history of this brand begins in 1916, when the Munich factory began producing aircraft engines. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG arose in Munich with the merger of two small enterprises - Rapp-Flugmotoren Werke and Otto-Werke, which had been producing aircraft engines since 1913. With the outbreak of World War I, the number of orders for aircraft engines increased sharply, and the companies decided to merge.
Subsequently, the factory began manufacturing motorcycle and truck engines. Since 1923, the company organized the production of motorcycles and, after 1928, cars. Karl Friedrich Rapp, an engineer and the founder of the company, worked as a subcontractor for the Gustav Otto aircraft concern (Bayerische FlugZeugwerke).1919 Franz Zeno Diemer established
broke the first world record in
BMW history, reaching the heights
9760 meters by plane, equipped
powered by a new BMW IV engine.The first emblem, adopted in 1917, depicted a rotating propeller. However, the emblem seemed too complex and small, and by 1920 the propeller was heavily stylized. The circle from the propeller was divided into four quarters, silver-white sectors inside the black rim began to alternate with sky blue ones. It was also taken into account that blue and white are the national colors of the state of Bavaria.
The logo turned out to be simple and easy to remember, and blue, gray and black are still the corporate colors of the concern.1920s. Car production
Austin put on production lineThe BMW two-tone logo has not undergone major changes throughout the 20th century. The latter, which affected only the font of the BMW letters, dates back to 1963. The emblems that appeared on all motorcycles and cars of the company from that moment on are identical.
- In my opinion: Bavarian Motor Plant. The logo symbolizes an airplane propeller (blue and white - the sky and propeller blades), since initially the plant would have been focused on the production of engines for airplanes, then it produced motorcycles, and later it began producing cars.
- From English: Bavarian Motor Works, or from German Bayerische Motoren Werke, which means Bavarian Automobile Plant.
- BMW (Bayerisch Motoren Werke AG) began its development in 1913, when two companies Rapp Motorenwerke and Otto Flugzeugwerke were merged. In 1916, after the merger, the company took the name Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG (BFV). The current BMW logo was adopted in 1917 and represents a spinning propeller. From this year, the logo and the BMW brand itself began. The Munich headquarters was built in 1922, where it remains to this day.
- Answer for the Humor category:
BMW is a subsidiary of three giants - Benz, Mercedes and Volkswagen - I don’t know how the first word is spelled in German, but it sounds like “Bairische motor werke” (Bavarian motor plant or motor work)
By the way, I adore this brand of cars =)
Sometimes a graphic representation of an emblem is called a logo; this is customary in cases where the emblem also acts as a trademark registered for profit. Designers design the emblem itself, not the logo of the emblem. The essence of an emblem as a concept is always a certain idea. For example, the simple emblem of the Red Cross shows that the people from this organization adhere to a Christian view and help all people, regardless of worldview, religion or skin color.
There are certain rules governing the emblems of international organizations such as the Red Cross. During armed conflicts, the protective emblem must only be red and only on a white background.
During the escalation of any conflict, the Red Cross helps victims of both warring sides. Some Islamic countries found the international Red Cross offensive. This is how the Red Crescent emblem appeared.
The difference between a logo and a brand name
Often a logo is completely identified with a brand name (trademark), which is not entirely true. A trademark is a legally certified and registered sign with the relevant government agencies, to which the owner has exclusive intellectual and other rights.
In Russian legislation there is no concept of a “brand name”, but only a “trademark”, which also means its graphic image, that is, the logo itself.
A logo is a graphic image of a trademark (from ancient Greek λόγος - word + τύπος - imprint). It is usually depicted as a stylized image of letters or an ideogram. It would be more correct to say this: “our design firm developed the logo of the company’s trademark,” or “developed the company logo.” That is, if we summarize the logo from the brand name, we can say this: a company (trademark) sign is a legal concept, and a logo is more of a design one. Therefore, a lawyer can register a trademark, and a designer can develop a good logo.
In 2010, the fashion house Trussardi celebrated its 100th anniversary, and this year the brand celebrates the 40th anniversary of its signature greyhound logo. In honor of this event, the Italian brand in collaboration with a Japanese illustrator Yuko Shimizu and director James Lima released a short animated film The Sky Watcher with a purebred dog in the title role. website learned in detail the history of the logo Trussardi and remembered other emblems of famous fashion brands.
Trussardi: English Greyhound
The history of the brand began in 1910, when Dante Trussardi opened a workshop for the repair and production of leather gloves in the Italian town of Bergamo. But the greyhound became a symbol of the brand only in 1973. My nephew decided to use it Dante Nicola Trussardi. The Greyhound, graceful, elegant, dynamic and sophisticated, perfectly symbolized the brand's style. In addition to gloves, Nikola began producing other leather goods stamped with the new logo.
« I saw many paintings and ancient Egyptian bas-reliefs depicting these animals, and was completely amazed by their beauty and incredible elegance.", - said Nicola about the logo he chose, which has become synonymous with Italian quality.
In the new video Trussardi The Sky Watcher, released to celebrate the logo's anniversary, a animated English greyhound statue chases a magical rabbit through the streets of Milan, bringing the city's monuments to life. But by morning the miracles end, and the bronze greyhound returns to its place - to the entrance to the boutique of the Italian fashion house.
“We wanted not to go into explanations about the history of the brand, and gave preference to emotions, beautiful pictures and music”, - admitted the creative director of the brand Gaia Trussardi.
Chanel: Intertwined "C"
Logo Chanel- one of the most famous in the fashion world. Two intertwined letters “C” can be seen on all the brand’s products, but the symbol first appeared in 1921 on a bottle of the legendary perfume Chanel No. 5. There are several versions of creating an emblem in the form of two “Cs”. According to the most popular - these are the initials of the most Coco Chanel, which she drew shortly before the opening of the first boutique Chanel. Adherents of the second, less common version, attribute the authorship of the logo to Mikhail Vrubel, who drew the symbol introduced by Coco in the 1920s, much earlier - in 1886. It is known that the ornament in the form of joining two horseshoes, symbolizing double luck, was fashionable at the end of the 19th century. Therefore, many researchers believe that the similarity of the emblem of the fashion house and Vrubel’s sketch is a mere coincidence. Although there is another version: this emblem is just a reminder of the forged ears that decorated the doors of the orphanage in which Chanel grew up. One way or another, Coco was right with her choice of logo; it brought good luck to the House.
Versace: Medusa
Fashion house symbol Versace- the head of a jellyfish - appeared in 1978, when a 34-year-old Gianni Versace opened his first boutique in one of the most prestigious areas of Milan, Via della Spiga. Legend has it that shortly before the opening, the designer was walking in the garden of his mansion in Reggio Calabria and noticed the marble figure of the Gorgon Medusa. The most famous of the three gorgon sisters with a woman's face and writhing snakes instead of hair, who could turn a person into stone with one glance, would be ideal for the role of the brand logo. Gianni had always been interested in mythology and classical literature and decided that in a new context, the head of a mythological creature would symbolize fatal attraction. It is in the role of a seductress that the fashion house Versace I saw my customer.
Burberry: Knight
English stamp logo Burberry appeared in 1901, when founded in 1856 by a young Thomas Burberry The brand has already become quite famous. From the very beginning the products Burberry distinguished by high quality fabrics, comfort and practicality. During the First World War, at the request of the British Royal Air Force, Thomas developed a waterproof raincoat (the same famous trench coat). And in 1901, when the founder of the brand received an order to produce full uniforms for officers, the question arose of creating a trademark Burberry. Then the brand’s emblem appeared - the figure of a knight-rider in armor and with a spear in his hands, who was depicted against the background of a flag with the inscription “prorsum”, which translated from English means “forward”. This motto reflected the desire for even more progressive inventions, and the spear was a symbol of protecting the traditions of quality.
Lacoste: crocodile
Sports brand Lacoste was founded by a famous tennis player in his time Rene Lacoste. The Frenchman, whom his father sent to England to receive a prestigious education, became a 10-time winner of Grand Slam tournaments. But at the peak of Rene’s career, doctors discovered tuberculosis in the tennis player. His sports career was over, but Lacoste conceived a new project. In 1933 he, together with André Housing created a company La Societe Chemise Lacoste, which produced T-shirts for tennis players, golfers and sailing enthusiasts. The crocodile logo appeared even before the creation of the brand. The fact is that journalists have long called the tennis player nothing more than a crocodile. “I was nicknamed “Crocodile” after my argument with the captain of our team, - said Rene. - He promised to buy a crocodile leather suitcase that I liked if I won an important match for the national team.” Lacoste was not at all offended by the journalists and sewed an image of a crocodile onto his sports uniform. A small toothy alligator was painted by a famous artist and friend Rene Robert George. It was this famous crocodile that moved to the brand’s items Lacoste.
Ralph Lauren: polo player
Ralph Lauren, once the son of Jewish immigrants Ralph Lifshitz, founded the company in 1967 Polo Fashions and already in 1968 he opened his first boutique. The brand's world-famous logo dates back to 1971, when Ralph first gave women a men's polo shirt.
“My wife has an excellent sense of style: she can choose such a shirt and jacket in a men's store that people then ask where we got these clothes,- Ralph told about his innovation. - Her image reminded me Katharine Hepburn in her youth, athletic and non-fashion, in the image of a horsewoman with hair flying in the wind».
The designer not only created a polo shirt for the ladies, but also placed a logo of a polo player riding a horse on the cuff. Lauren himself admitted that for him, playing polo has always been the personification of wealth, luxury and power. Coming from a poor family, he always dreamed of becoming part of high society, joining it. The designer's dreams came true, and the figurine of a polo player, which symbolized luxury for Lauren, is now associated with classic American style.
Fred Perry: laurel wreath
Fred Perry- famous English tennis player of the 1930s. He founded his company in 1952. It all started with a collaboration between Fred and a former Austrian football player Tibby Wagner, who came up with the idea of selling elastic wrist bands under the name Perry. Soon the athletes expanded production and began producing sports shirts Fred Perry. Of course, buyers associated the name of the popular tennis player with the famous Wimbledon tournament, and they willingly purchased the brand’s products. It is known that Fred, an avid smoker, initially wanted to make a smoking pipe the logo of the brand. He did not think at all that such a symbol was not suitable as an emblem for sportswear. But, fortunately, Wagner dissuaded Perry with the words “the girls won’t like it.” The partner suggested an alternative:
"What about the laurel wreath you wear on your jacket and sweater Davis Cup?» .
Since 1934, when he won Wimbledon, Fred has always worn this symbol. Despite the fact that Perry’s relationship with the English club did not work out, Fred requested permission to use the laurel wreath directly from the director of the Wimbledon Club. He was very happy that their symbol would be used by the famous tennis player, and agreed. Subsequently, clothing brands Fred Perry with a recognizable wreath became the uniform of a number of subcultures of the twentieth century, in particular mods and skinheads.
See other photos:
Pipe of the bulk carrier "Galata Star" of the Pacmar Shipping company. It can be seen that the pipe previously had another emblem, which was erased or cut off and painted over - the ship previously belonged to another company. With a change of company, the emblem on the ship's funnel also changes.
Emblems must certainly be clear and simple, the viewer must see in them what they wanted to tell him; on the contrary, he puts content into the symbol, which can be completely independent of the artist’s intentions. A symbol is the embodiment of an idea, emblem- a conventional sign that replaces it, its hieroglyph. The symbol expresses a fluctuating, indefinite group of experienced impressions, which even for the artist himself does not exist in the form of an abstract generalization, for the artist thinks in images, and does not invent them for the allegorical expression of an idea. Where abstraction is translated into the form of a material allegory, we have emblem: this is not a symbol, but an allegory - a prosaic diagram, a ready-made idea, dressed in the shell of a real image.
Therefore, Michelangelo’s “Night” or the bas-relief depicted by Ivan Turgenev in the prose poem “Necessitas-Vis-Libertas” are not emblems, but symbols that give movement to thought and complicate it. The word έμβλήμα among the Greeks and Romans meant relief decorations on an object made of another material, for example, a silver figure on a bronze vase, then all kinds of typesetting artistic and craft works, such as mosaic floors, things made from heterogeneous and multi-colored materials, embroidery on the borders of clothes , decorative groups of objects in wall paintings, decorations on furniture, etc.
Its modern meaning is the word emblem received only in the XVI-XVII centuries, when allegories were very popular and when in emblems covered all areas of knowledge, from theology to physics, from politics to grammar. The bibliography pays special attention to the many collections emblems, usually excellently published and interesting for the history of decorative arts. They were especially popular "Emblems" Milanese Alziata (), which went through up to 130 editions in different European countries. We were successful" Emblems and Symbols" by N. M. Maksimovich-Ambodik, the role of which in the upbringing of little Lavretsky Ivan Turgenev speaks with such warmth. Collections emblems They are still published for various applications in the applied arts.
see also
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Synonyms:- Sumerian calendar
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See what “Emblem” is in other dictionaries:
EMBLEM- (Greek emblema relief work). A material image of some abstract concept; symbol; eg anchor of hope, cross of faith. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. EMBLEM Greek. emblema, from... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
emblem- Cm … Synonym dictionary
emblem- y, w. emblème m., germ. Emblem, lat. emblema gr. emblema insert, raised decoration. An object or image of some kind. object as a symbol expressing what kind of l. idea, concept. BAS 1. Also against this theater a shield was made, on which... ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language
EMBLEM- (from the Greek emblema insertion, relief decoration), the embodiment of a phenomenon, abstract concept or speculative idea in a visual image. In its function, the emblem is often close to allegory (often considered as its variety), but, in ... Modern encyclopedia
EMBLEM- EMBLEM, emblems, women. (Greek emblema insert) (book). An object, an image, conventionally denoting some concept, some idea. Anchor emblem of hope. Ushakov's explanatory dictionary. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary
Emblem- symbolic designation of a concept, idea, social program or organization through a symbol or image. See also: Symbols Financial Dictionary Finam... Financial Dictionary
Emblem- (from the Greek emblema insert, convex decoration) conditional explanation of a concept, idea using an image (for example, a dove is the emblem of the peace movement). Political science: Dictionary reference book. comp. Prof. Science Sanzharevsky I.I.. 2010 ... Political science. Dictionary.
EMBLEM- (from the Greek emblema, relief decoration) a conventional or symbolic image of any concept, idea (for example, emblems of various branches of the military) ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
EMBLEM- (from the Latin emblema insert, convex image) a conventional symbolic image of a concept or idea; unlike a symbol, it does not embody the content of the concept, it only points to it. Raizberg B.A., Lozovsky L.Sh., Starodubtseva E.B..… … Economic dictionary
EMBLEM- EMBLEM, s, w. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary
