These brand identities are so distinctive, all you need is a glimpse to instantly place them. Some of which are more established in terms of age, but all share the same key component, strong visual cues.

To make our point we have created what we can only describe as a pop quiz! and such is our confidence in how recognizable these brands are, we have zoomed in and only given you a peak at the logos.

Click here to reveal the logos

So what is our point? It would be too easy just to show the above brands in full, for obvious reasons. All of the brands above have recognized the value of brand recognition. To mention a few others, McDonalds have their arches, Goodyear has its blimp and AOL has its distinctive pyramid etc. etc.

Recognizing these items involves visual cues stored in your memory. You’ve seen the item before and you’re able to identify it based on features including shape, location, colour, and size. Even the relationship the item has with another item provides your brain with recognition cues.

Looking at the logos above. Is it a design you instantly recognize? What aspect of the design helps you to recognize it? The colour? The shape? Perhaps you don’t recognize the design, but you do recognize the typeface style. A brand strategy which employs the maximum number of recognition cues has an advantage over a competing brand using fewer cues. The more cues the higher the probability that the brand will be recognized by more people.

All of the brands featured above employ lots of recognition cues, not to mention a large marketing budget!

If a brands’ conception has elements that hinder communication overtime without adding anything useful, these elements will eventually be removed for simplicity.

The link below has examples of some of the worlds most recognised brands, showing their design journey from birth. You may even be surprised by the changes over the years.

http://best-ad.blogspot.com/2008/08/evolution-of-logos.html