The same way that food falls into different food groups, clothing into different dress-codes logo’s fall into mainly 5 different categories.  Here is a short definition of each, to guide you in which company logo design style suits your business.

1. Wordmark

Wordmarks are logo’s that consist only of type, usually using a unique font.  Examples will include Google, Coca-Cola, Yahoo.

Wordmarks work for companies with a distinctive and short name.

2. Lettermark

Lettermarks are more or less the same as Wordmarks, they consist of letters only, but highlight the companies’ initials.  Examles will include IBM, CNN, HBO.

Lettermarks work for companies with a very long or difficult name.  They also work in instances where you know you will have minimal branding space on your products.

3. Brandmark

A brandmark is a symbol or icon and can give a clear representation of your company.  Think of the Windows or Nike icons.  This type of logo is only suitable for high profile companies that are influential enough to be recognised by a symbol alone.

4. Combination Mark

A combination mark gives you the best of both worlds combining text as well as an icon.  Think of Xbox or Addidas.  Most of the worlds logo’s consist of letters as well as an icon and can be used in combination or separately.  Using the combination can also be the start to getting your brand recognised so that you will eventually be known by your icon only.

5. Emblem

Ford, Starbucks and Harley Davidson are examples of emblem-logo’s.  Here the text and icon is fused together, instead of placed next to each other.  These logo’s are less flexible but gives you the benefit of being a compact representation of your company.  Also keep in mind when deciding to create your logo in this style that when it comes to print, the logo may become illegible when printed small.

In conclusion, deciding on which company logo design style will represent your company best is one of the first steps in creating a logo design.  After you have determined which style will work best, you can move on to choose colours, font type etc.