Long Time, No See (Let's Talk About Badge Logos)

It seems to me that I have been very negligent about my blog writing since last fall. Why is that? It is mostly a combination of freelancing fulltime, being the mother of an 18 month old daughter and trying to sometimes shower and cook food. It also has been a beautiful spring here in Minneapolis so I have been spending a lot of time outside, running to and fro. One definite design trend that I have been following is the badge logo style. I am just as guilty as other designers who use them. I have done several designs lately that use a shape and grouping of text and image to create a bold, dynamic approach. This style is trendy but by no means old. Many logos that are still around today were originally designed with a badge shape. Like the IBM or Pepsi logo and of course a logo we all see around us constantly was originally designed and still maintains the badge style.

What makes a badge logo different from other logos? For the most part, the information is confined within a shape, but this is not always the case. I have attached some examples where the information is still very stacked and grouped and yet I would still qualify it as a badge logo. Mostly, a badge logo is exactly what it sounds like. Imagine a police badge and that is pretty close to how you design a badge logo. Some can be very complicated with a lot of imagery and information. For this type, a badge is a great solution because it can organize and group the information into a small space and still look modern. Some badges are very simple with only 2-3 pieces of information. This also works really well because the addition of the shape around it gives weight and importance to the logo. Below I have attached some of the examples I have collected.

Now that you have seen some examples, they will be hard to miss. I know pretty soon another logo trend will come and dominate. For now, my Type A personality loves the organization and grouping of information that badges do so well.