Luxury brands are about exclusivity. They are held to the highest standards when it comes to quality. In that case, can a luxury brand logo be anything other than an embodiment of sophistication and professionalism? Not at all!
There’s no rulebook definition of luxury branding but we all know that in every industry, a luxury brand is one that has earned the respect of its audience. It is one that has established impeccable quality of products and services that people automatically start associating the brand with high social status.
Luxury brands span markets like beauty & cosmetics, apparel, fashion accessories, jewelry, and more. Your marketing approach and branding strategy might all depend on the actual target audience and the industry your business belongs to. But there is one little fact that holds good across these industries – the luxury brand logo is of utmost importance.
We know that branding a business is not complete without a logo. But a luxury brand logo is an even more critical piece in the branding puzzle of a luxury brand. Why is that?
Considering how important a logo design is for luxury brands, let’s also look at the logo designs of the most popular luxury brands and see what makes these logos unique.
According to Statista, Gucci has a brand awareness of about 93% in the U.S. Remember we spoke about the logo being one of the most influential brand identifiers earlier? So, we can safely say that the Gucci logo is one of the most recognized logos in the luxury brand category.
Did you know that the Gucci logo you see today was introduced in the 1930s? Almost a century later the logo still casts its spell on its customers.
The Gucci logo shows how important it is for luxury brands to aim for timelessness. So, while designing your luxury brand logo, instead of going with a visual style or a font or color that’s trending, choose a design that stands the test of time.
The brand also uses its signature GG monogram that comes from the initials of the name of the founder, Guccio Gucci.
Monogram is one of the most critical aspects of luxury branding. It helps create a small yet powerful identity for your brand, an identity that can be engraved into your products as a proud advocate of your brand.
The Prada logo is another classic example of timelessness. The first versions of the Prada logo contained ornate details to represent royalty. This was back when Prada was the Italian Royal Household’s official supplier.
Later as the brand expanded its audience base and opened up more boutiques, its logo became simpler. But to retain the heritage of the brand and the elegance of its logo, the brand name fonts remained the same.
So, when you are working on a luxury brand logo be mindful of the people you are designing for. If your logo does not work with them, then it will not add much value to your brand either.
The Fendi logo is a modern take on luxury branding elements. Its minimalistic design is one of its biggest strengths.
Over the years the brand has not changed its logo much except for a few tweaks to the line weight of its font. The addition of the word Roma in its recent version is also a notable change. This change comes as a tribute to the place of origin of the brand, Rome.
Fendi removed its FF monogram from the main logo in 2000 but the monogram still appears on several of its products.
Fendi primarily targets young women. The cleaner and simpler sans-serif font in the Fendi logo goes perfectly well with these audience demographics.
Thierry Hermès launched a business selling harnesses for carriages and later the business expanded to saddlery. Now do you see the reason behind the horse carriage icon in the Hermès logo?
Hermès is one of the oldest known luxury brands in the world. The use of symbolism to capture the brand’s origin stories is a way for the brand to show that it stays true to its roots. It is a representation of the fact that the brand still values craftsmanship which was its biggest strength back then.
If you do not know what kind of imagery to use in your luxury brand logo, look at your origin story for cues. People appreciate when you tell your brand story to them.
The Italian luxury brand Bontoni is known for its handcrafted men’s shoes. The logo incorporates serif fonts like most other luxury brand logos. A combination of two fonts can create a unique harmony in design. And the Bontoni logo shows how it’s done.
The script letters at the bottom of the logo represent the purpose of the brand. The word “calzoleria” in Italian translates to “shoemaking”.
Today the brand caters to ready-to-wear shoes with a slightly modern appeal. But its signature products are traditional dress shoes. The logo captures the traditional style and elegance associated with the brand.
Alor, an American luxury brand catering to watches and fashion accessories uses a simple wordmark logo typical of the luxury brand segment. It also uses a traditional serif font that embodies luxury which is a trait that the brand needs to be associated with. To capture the history of the brand and its success over the past four decades, the Alor logo also includes the year of origin along with the brand name.
The products have a contemporary touch to them. The logo preserves the brand’s history. Mentioning your year of origin is one way to show customers that you have been in the business for a long time. And experience is one of the strongest traits that help build credibility.
Chopard, the Swiss luxury wristwatch brand, uses a dapper calligraphic font in its logo. Script fonts are known for their distinct personalized character and the Chopard logo is perfectly along these lines.
When you use script fonts, you need to be double-sure about the legibility aspect. For the sake of making your logo pretty, you cannot risk the possibility of your customers not being able to read your brand name. The font used in the Chopard logo is exquisite but the brand name is also easy to read. That’s the kind of font you need to look for.
Quickly summarizing the traits of the above-mentioned luxury brand logos, here are a few common aspects:
Using these ideas come up with a stylish logo for your luxury brand. If you are finding it tough to choose the right style given the minimum flexibility you get in choosing fonts and colors, a professional designer might be able to help.
