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inquiring minds

For a crash course in graphic design and website building, take a look at some of the articles below. They cover a range of topics from web design to branding. You will find articles that we wrote ourselves and a collection of reposts from different sources for your interest. Enjoy the reading!

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23 Brilliant Logos With Hidden Messages

Logos aren’t always what they seem. Some of these logos can hold a lot of information about the brand, all you have to do is look at the clues. I’ve selected 23 great logos that have some sort of hidden message. I’m sure you’ve seen some of these hidden messages before, but I hope I’ve been able to show you some new ones as well.

Big Ten

Big Ten is an academic union which was founded in the year 1896. Until 1990, this union consisted of 10 universities, but in June 1990 Pennsylvania State University was added. They didn’t want to change their name, so they added the number 11 to the logo.

Amazon.com

This logo doesn’t seem to hide much at first sight, but it gives you a little insight in the philosophy behind the brand. First of all, the yellow swoosh looks like a smile: Amazon.com want to have the best customer satisfaction. The swoosh also connects the letters a and z, meaning that this store has everything from a to z.

Eighty-20

Eighty-20 is a small consulting firm. Most people think that the logo has nothing to do with the brand name. But the trick is to view the dark squares as 1’s and the light squares as 0’s. Then the top line reads 1010000 and the bottom line reads 0010100, which represent 80 and 20 in binary.

Fedex

This is probably one of the best known logos with a hidden meaning. If you look closely, you’ll see an arrow that’s formed by the letters E and x. This arrow symbolizes speed and precision, two major selling points of this company.

Continental

Continental is a manufacturer of tyres. You could actually see this in their logo, because the first two letters create a 3-dimensional tyre.

Toblerone

Toblerone is a chocolate-company from Bern, Switzerland. Bern is sometimes called ‘The City Of Bears’. They have incorporated this idea in the Toblerone logo, because if you look closely, you’ll see the silhouette of a bear.

Baskin Robins

The old logo of Baskin Robbins had the number 31 with an arc above it. The new logo took this idea to the next level. The pink parts of the BR still form the number 31, a reference to the 31 flavours.

Sony Vaio

Sony Vaio is a well known brand of laptops. But did you know that the name Vaio logo also had a hidden meaning? Well, the first two letters represent the basic analogue signal. The last two letters look like a 1 and 0, representing the digital signal.

Eight

I really love this logo: every letter is made of the number 8. I also selected this logo as the logo of the week a few months ago.

Carrefour

Carrefour is one of the biggest European retailers, and it’s also French for “crossroads”. The logo symbolizes this word via two opposite arrows. They also added the first letter of the name, because if you look closely you’ll see the letter C in the negative space between the two arrows.

Roxy

Roxy is a company that specializes in clothing and accessories for girls who love snowboarding, surfing… The company is actually a part of Quiksilver. The Roxy logo is made of two Quiksilver logos that form a heart.

Unilever

Unilever is one of the biggest producers of food, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. They produce a huge amount of different products and they wanted to reflect this in their logo. Each part of the logo has a meaning. For example: the heart represents love, care and health - feeling good, a bird is a symbol of freedom. Relief from daily chores – getting more out of life.

Northwest Airlines

This simple looking logo actually carries a whole lot of information. First of all you can see the letters N and W, the first two letters of the brand name. But what most people don’t see is the compass that points to the Northwest, another reference to the brand name.

Milwaukee Brewers

The Milwaukee Brewers is a professional baseball team from Milwaukee, Wisconsin (well, duh…). Their logo is actually made up of the letters M (on top) and B (below the m). These two letters also form a baseball glove.

Hartford Whalers

This logo also uses a negative space to create the letter H. You can see three different parts: the letter H and W and a whale’s tail in blue.

Tostitos

If you look at the centre of this logo, you can see two people enjoying a Tostito chip with a bowl of salsa. This logo conveys an idea of people connecting with each other.

Formula 1

At first, this logo might not make much sense. But if you look closely, you’ll see the number 1 in the negative space between the F and the red stripes. I also love how this logo communicates a feeling of speed.

Elefont

This logo might look like a simple letter, but don’t be fooled: you can see a part of an elephant’s trunk in the negative space inside the letter e.

Sun Microsystems

The Sun logo is one of the most famous ambigrams in the world. You can read the brand name in every direction; both horizontally and vertically. This logo was designed by professor Vaughan Pratt of the Stanford University.

NBC

The NBC (National Broadcasting Company) is one of the biggest American television networks. I think most of you have already seen the peacock in this logo. The peacock has 6 different tail feathers, referring to the six divisions at the time that this logo was created. The peacock’s head is flipped to the right to suggest it was looking forward, not back.

GreenLabs

I know this logo looks like a simple, boring green tree, but if you look at the tree crown, you’ll see that it can also be interpreted as a brain. The logo lays emphasis on the strong intellectual capabilities of the company’s staff and also reflects ‘green’ and ‘labs’ parts of their name.

Presbyterian Logo

If you think the previous logos were a good example of a hidden meaning, then take a look at this logo. It’s the seal of the Presbyterian church and it has several hidden messages.

Twins

This logo was made for twins. To reflect the essence of the duo, a bold typeface was created to reflect the boldness of their approaches. The number 2 was integrated to show the creativeness of their ideas.

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Things you need to know:

Web design that wins them over

Currently 64% of people spend 40% of their time online and your website is often their first point of contact in getting to know your business. The web design for your site determines what impression they get and how much you stand out in an ever-expanding Internet.

How easy it is for your customers to navigate your site? How convenient is it for you to update your menus or images? Don’t let a poor or outdated web design hold you back.

Logos that people love

A logo is a visual concept and the face of your company. Though it may be tempting to choose a logo that closely suits your own personal taste, it is important to remember that ultimately it is your customers who must find your logo memorable and appealing.

Graphic Designers invest time and energy into understanding and creating logos that work – logos that are distinctive, in line with your desired image, and resonate with your target audience.

Graphic design that grabs attention

Is graphic design an art or a profession? Is a graphic designer just a person who knows how to use graphics software, or someone with strong opinions about fonts, composition and color? When is graphic design useful?

Great graphic design is art with a purpose. It’s the logo in your email signature, the fliers you hand out at a conference or a catchy visual in a Power Point presentation. It quietly enhances and promotes your company’s reputation and message on a daily basis.