8 Logo Design Trends That Are Ruling 2018
Logo, which used to be a graphical representation of a company’s working, aim and vision, is now a significant indicator of company’s stature in this technologically-driven competition. Logo is the briefest visual representation of a brand but has to fight toughest competition to be enduring and timeless. Logo designers’ key challenge lies in making a simple yet trendy logo that effectively resonates with the targeted audience and meets their changing expectations. Whereas advancing technologies are aiding in creation of ingeniously mind-blowing logo designs, it is raising the bar of excellence and setting newer trends frequently.
Last year, logo designs were all about shadow effect, overlays, letter stacking, and multi-centric designs. This year, the giants of the logo designer community have shifted their design preferences to gradients, uppercase, text play, and animation etc. These design preferences are shaping into logo design trends and ruling the logo design industry. It is crucial that every logo designer stays hawkish about these trends to shape up the logos in sync with the present demand and expectation of the market. Below, we have mentioned the 8 logo design trends that are ruling 2018. So, let’s have a look to stay abreast with the trends for this year.
1. All Uppercasification
One of the hottest logo design trend that is ruling 2018 is uppercasification. Following this trend, logo designers are keeping their Caps Lock key on while adding text to the logos. This trend is gaining popularity as logos that have all the characters in uppercase look bolder and noisier than all other simple logos out there. This all uppercasification is paired with a simple design and a smart typeface to make it stand out in the crowd. Bold and dark colors like black are ideally used for the uppercase logos as they leave a stronger impact on the audience. Top brands like Calvin Klein gave their logo an uppercasification update to make them more impactful.

2. Experimentation With Text
Text experimentation is at the center of this year’s logo design trends. The text has always been used by the logo designers to improve the brand visibility and strengthen the brand image. This year, designers are experimenting with text to bring about a creative revolution. From messy fonts and split fonts to handwritten font types, this year, the designers are going wild with their imagination and bringing out newer versions in text experimentation. Hidden images in the text, playful font size, and unconventional fonts are also creating strong visual branding in 2018 and becoming one of the most popular ways to design an effective business logo.

3. Motion Graphics With Animation
Moving pictures like videos, animation, GIFs, and cinemagraphs have been a part of web designing for the past two years but this year these motion graphics are seeping their way into logo designs as well. Animated logos leave a strong impact on the mind of the audience and help in creating brand awareness. The viewers can connect better with engaging and interesting logos and leave a clearer image of the logo long after they’ve seen it. GIF logos are the new rage among the logo designers and they are using their creative imagination to create GIFs for making their logos more attractive and appealing to the eyes.

4. Geometric Lines & Patterns
Geometric shapes have long been used in logo designing, be it triangles, hearts, ovals, spirals, spheres etc. In 2018, a shift from geometric shapes to geometric lines is clearly visible in the realm of logo designing. Simple lines used creatively to create unique images are the ruling trend of logo designing. The geometrical lines joined together can make up beautiful designs that can convey the message powerfully and leave a strong imprint on the visitors’ mind. There’s a psychology behind all the shapes that geometrical lines create and the logo designers are burning midnight oils to create effective logos for the businesses using various geometric lines and patterns that lure the targeted audience.

5. Play With Negative Space
Logos created using negative space are already ruling the logo designing market in 2018 and this trend is all set to rise to another level. Negative space enables the businesses to create a memorable logo that immediately grasps the viewers’ fancy. Not just that, creating a unique image through negative spacing also ensures that the logo stands out from the competitors. This year is all about texts. The letters and words can be experimented with to create beautiful designs. Designers are now hiding meaningful symbols and images using the negative space created by letters to strengthen their brand image.

6. Monogram On The Rise
Monograms are designed motifs (usually including the initials) that are used to create a strong brand image for any business. In 2018, the use of monograms for logo designing is gaining momentum. They look more like the company signature and brands are using this monogram design to focus more on the image that the logo creates for the company. Popular brands like Louis Vuitton, Coco Chanel, Gucci etc., have already been using the monogram technique for representing their brand. This year, more businesses would take this monogram approach to create memorable logos representing the brand name and image.

7. Fade & Gradient Effect
Fade and gradient effect add a creative and lively look to the logo that instantly catches the attention. These logos are becoming a big hit in the digital medium as their colors come out even vibrantly. Fade effects are being accompanied by shadow effect to make the audience explore beyond the letters. Gradient effect is also becoming a favorite among the logo designers. It can be beautifully used to give depth to any flat logo design and make it stand out. Using gradient ribbons in the logo design is also a great way to create unique designs that remain etched in the minds of the audience for a long time. Bright and vibrant colors are the best pick for creating a gradient and fade effect in the logo. Apart from colors, the font size, depth, width, and other factors should also be considered while designing a logo using this effect.

8. Flawlessly Responsive Across All Screens
With the mobile usage on its full swing, website designers are redesigning their websites now to make them fully responsive to any screen size. A responsive logo is an essential element of a responsive website to ensure that even the logo flawlessly fits into any screen frame. Thus, responsive logo designs are becoming a raging logo design trend in 2018. Designers are investing their time and efforts into designing logos that are adaptable to all screen sizes, be it desktops, mobile phones, tablets, phablets, or iPads. A responsive logo boosts the overall UX of the website. A heavy or lengthy logo that might not fit properly on small screens can be cut short using just the initials or monograms.

This year would be all about experimentation with fonts, colors and geometric lines to create visually attractive yet powerful logos. Logos with animation and GIF would also catch the fancy of many viewers and gain popularity among the brands. Keep the aforementioned logo design trends while designing a logo would not just help the companies create a strong brand image but also leave a mark on the minds of the viewers.
About the Author!
Anurag Gupta is a budding entrepreneur with stakes in WeblinkIndia.net an acclaimed Web Designing & Development Company, headquartered in India. He also happens to be a keen writer, sharing insights, tips, and tutorials on subjects related to the ever evolving landscape of Web Designing and Development.
I’m getting ready to have a new logo and design done for my blog, so I’m really enjoying your “inspiration” posts 🙂
I love the use of simple logos and flat colorful fonts that have been emerging. So many colors lately, instead of just old red and blue with black and white. Love that about the current trends that have been happening.
I wonder what the new trends for 2019 are? It would be fantastic if you cover them all here as well. Competent designers are on the rise these days and I am excited to see what is up 2019.