Reference

The Logo Design Glossary

Every term you need to know, from brand identity fundamentals to AI generation concepts. Bookmark this page and refer back whenever you encounter unfamiliar terminology.

Sections

Brand Identity Terms

Brand
The overall perception of a business in the minds of its audience. A brand encompasses visual identity, voice, values, reputation, and customer experience. Your logo is one component of your brand, not the whole thing.
Brand Identity
The collection of visual and verbal elements a company uses to present itself. Includes logo, color palette, typography, imagery style, tone of voice, and messaging. Brand identity is what you create; brand is how people perceive it.
Brand Mark
The visual symbol or icon portion of a logo, distinct from the wordmark. Also called a logomark. Examples: the Apple apple, the Nike swoosh, the Target bullseye. A brand mark can stand alone once recognition is established.
Visual Identity
The visual components of a brand identity system — logo, colors, typography, imagery, iconography, and layout patterns. Visual identity creates the consistent look and feel across all brand touchpoints.
Brand Guidelines
A document that specifies how brand elements should be used. Covers logo placement, minimum sizes, clear space, approved colors, typography rules, imagery direction, and examples of correct and incorrect usage. Also called a brand style guide or brand book.
Brand Equity
The commercial value derived from brand recognition and customer perception. Strong brand equity means customers choose your product over competitors based on brand trust, even at a premium price. A professional logo contributes to brand equity over time.
Brand Architecture
The organizational structure of brands within a company. Defines the relationship between a parent brand and its sub-brands, product lines, or acquired companies. Relevant to logo design when creating logo systems that show brand relationships.
Brand Refresh
A moderate update to an existing brand identity that modernizes the look while preserving core recognition. Typically involves refining the logo, updating colors, and evolving typography rather than starting from scratch.
Rebrand
A fundamental change in brand identity, often including a completely new logo, color palette, typography, and brand voice. Typically driven by a major strategic shift, merger, or significant change in market positioning.

Logo Types and Structures

Wordmark
A logo consisting entirely of the company name rendered in a distinctive typeface. The typography itself becomes the identity. Examples: Google, Coca-Cola, FedEx. Best for companies with short, memorable names.
Lettermark
A logo using the initials or abbreviation of a company name. Examples: IBM, HBO, NASA. Effective for companies with long names that benefit from a compact visual representation.
Pictorial Mark
A recognizable real-world image or icon used as a logo. Examples: Apple apple, Twitter bird, Shell shell. Pictorial marks achieve instant recognition but typically require years of brand building before they work without accompanying text.
Abstract Mark
A geometric or abstract form that represents a brand conceptually. Examples: Pepsi globe, Adidas stripes, Airbnb Belo. Abstract marks allow for unique, ownable symbols that are not tied to a literal object.
Mascot Logo
A logo featuring an illustrated character that represents the brand. Examples: KFC Colonel, Michelin Man, Mailchimp Freddie. Mascot logos create personality and approachability but can limit brand evolution.
Emblem
A logo where text is contained within a shape, badge, or crest. Examples: Starbucks, Harley-Davidson, NFL. Emblems convey heritage and authority but can be difficult to reproduce clearly at very small sizes.
Combination Mark
A logo that pairs a wordmark with an icon or symbol. Examples: Burger King, Lacoste, Doritos. The most flexible logo type — the text and icon can be used together or separately depending on context.
Dynamic Logo
A logo designed to change or adapt in controlled ways while maintaining core recognition. The logo might shift colors, patterns, or compositions based on context, season, or platform. Examples: Google Doodles, MTV.
Responsive Logo
A logo designed with multiple versions optimized for different display sizes and contexts. A responsive logo might use the full combination mark on a website header, just the icon on a mobile app, and the wordmark on a business card.
Logo Suite
The complete collection of logo variations a brand uses across different contexts. Typically includes full-color, single-color, reversed (white on dark), horizontal, stacked, and icon-only versions. A professional brand needs a complete logo suite.

Design Principles

Balance
The distribution of visual weight in a design. A balanced logo feels stable and intentional. Balance can be symmetrical (mirror-image on either side of a center axis) or asymmetrical (different elements of equal visual weight on each side).
Symmetry
A design where one half mirrors the other along a central axis. Symmetry communicates stability, formality, and order. Many corporate logos use symmetry to project reliability and trustworthiness.
Contrast
The degree of difference between visual elements. High contrast between foreground and background ensures legibility. Contrast in scale, color, or weight creates visual hierarchy and draws attention to important elements.
Hierarchy
The arrangement of elements to show relative importance. In a logo, the company name typically has the highest visual hierarchy (largest, boldest), followed by the icon, then any tagline. Clear hierarchy helps viewers process the logo quickly.
White Space
The empty area around and between design elements. Also called negative space. White space is not wasted space — it provides breathing room, improves legibility, and creates a sense of sophistication. Cramped logos feel amateur; well-spaced logos feel professional.
Proportion
The relative size relationship between elements in a design. Good proportion means elements feel like they belong together at their respective sizes. Poor proportion creates visual tension or makes elements feel disconnected.
Unity
The quality of all design elements feeling like they belong to a cohesive whole. Unity in a logo means the typeface, icon, colors, and spacing all feel intentionally chosen to work together rather than assembled randomly.
Repetition
The reuse of visual elements (shapes, colors, patterns) to create consistency and rhythm. In brand identity, repetition of the logo, colors, and typography across touchpoints builds recognition.
Emphasis
The visual focal point of a design — the element that draws the eye first. In a logo, emphasis is typically on the company name or the primary icon. Emphasis is created through size, color, contrast, or position.
Simplicity
The principle that less is more in logo design. Simple logos are more recognizable, more versatile, and more memorable. Every element in a logo should serve a purpose; anything that can be removed without losing meaning should be removed.

Typography Terms

Typeface
The complete design of a set of characters sharing a consistent visual style. A typeface is the broader design family (e.g., Helvetica). People often use "font" and "typeface" interchangeably, but technically a typeface is the design and a font is the specific file or weight.
Font
A specific weight, width, and style within a typeface family. Helvetica Bold Italic is a font within the Helvetica typeface. In digital design, a font is the file you install and use.
Serif
Small decorative strokes at the ends of letterforms. Serif typefaces (Times New Roman, Garamond, Georgia) are associated with tradition, authority, and sophistication. Common in law, finance, editorial, and luxury branding.
Sans-Serif
Typefaces without serifs — clean, unadorned letterforms. Sans-serif typefaces (Helvetica, Inter, Futura) communicate modernity, simplicity, and clarity. Dominant in technology, startups, and contemporary brands.
Slab Serif
Typefaces with thick, block-like serifs. Slab serifs (Rockwell, Courier, Roboto Slab) feel bold, confident, and industrial. Used for brands wanting a strong, grounded presence.
Script
Typefaces that mimic handwriting or calligraphy. Script fonts range from formal calligraphic styles to casual handwritten looks. Used for brands wanting elegance, creativity, or personal warmth. Use sparingly in logos — legibility can suffer at small sizes.
Display Type
Typefaces designed for large sizes — headlines, titles, and logos — rather than body text. Display typefaces often have decorative details that make them distinctive but illegible at small sizes.
Kerning
The adjustment of space between individual letter pairs. Proper kerning is one of the most visible indicators of professional design. Bad kerning (uneven letter spacing) makes a logo look amateur even if the typeface and concept are strong.
Tracking
The uniform adjustment of space across an entire word or line of text. Increased tracking (wider spacing) can create an elegant, airy feel. Decreased tracking (tighter spacing) can create a dense, impactful feel.
Leading
The vertical space between lines of text (line-height). Named after the strips of lead used to separate lines in metal typesetting. Appropriate leading improves readability and visual rhythm.
Baseline
The invisible line on which letters sit. The baseline is the reference point for aligning text elements. In logo design, aligning multiple text elements to the baseline creates visual order.
X-height
The height of lowercase letters, measured from the baseline. Typefaces with large x-heights (like Inter) appear more legible at small sizes. X-height affects how a typeface feels — large x-height feels modern, small x-height feels classical.
Cap Height
The height of capital letters from the baseline to the top of the letterform. Cap height determines how tall the uppercase letters appear and is a key measurement for aligning text with graphic elements in a logo.
Ligature
A single glyph formed by joining two or more characters. Common ligatures include "fi" and "fl" where the characters are designed to flow together. Some typefaces include decorative ligatures that can add distinctive character to a logo.
Font Weight
The thickness of character strokes within a typeface. Weights typically range from Thin/Hairline (100) through Regular (400) to Black/Heavy (900). Weight choice significantly impacts brand perception — bold feels confident, light feels elegant.

Color and File Formats

RGB
Red, Green, Blue — the color model used for screens. RGB mixes light to create colors, with values from 0-255 for each channel. All colors you see on your monitor, phone, or tablet are displayed in RGB.
CMYK
Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key (Black) — the color model used for print. CMYK mixes inks to create colors. The range of colors achievable in CMYK is narrower than RGB, so some vibrant screen colors cannot be exactly reproduced in print.
Pantone
A standardized color matching system used in printing. Each Pantone color has a specific ink formula that produces consistent results across different printers and materials. Essential for brands that require exact color consistency across physical materials.
Hex Code
A six-character alphanumeric code representing a specific RGB color. Hex codes start with # (e.g., #7C3AED for violet). The standard way to specify colors in web design and digital media.
Opacity
The degree to which an element is transparent or opaque. 100% opacity is fully solid. 0% is fully transparent. Opacity adjustments are used in logo design for overlay effects, watermarks, and subtle layering.
Gradient
A smooth transition between two or more colors. Gradients can be linear (straight transition), radial (circular transition), or angular. Gradients in logos can add depth and modernity but increase complexity.
Color Palette
The defined set of colors used across a brand identity. A typical brand palette includes a primary color, secondary color, accent color, and neutral tones. The palette should be documented with exact values in Hex, RGB, and CMYK.
Monochrome
A design using only one color (or shades of one color). Every logo should have a monochrome version — a single-color rendering that works for fax, engraving, embossing, and simple print applications.
PNG
Portable Network Graphics — a raster image format that supports transparency. The standard format for logos used on web, social media, and digital documents. Export at high resolution (2000px+ wide) with a transparent background.
SVG
Scalable Vector Graphics — a vector format defined by mathematical paths rather than pixels. SVG files scale to any size without quality loss. The preferred format for logos because they remain sharp at any dimension, from favicon to billboard.
PDF
Portable Document Format — a versatile format that can contain both vector and raster elements. PDFs can embed color profiles and fonts, making them the standard for print-ready files. Essential for business cards, stationery, and signage.
EPS
Encapsulated PostScript — a legacy vector format still used in some print workflows. Largely superseded by SVG and PDF for most modern applications, but some printers and production facilities still request EPS files.
AI
Adobe Illustrator format — the native file format for Adobe Illustrator. Contains full editable vector data. If a professional designer or print shop requests your "AI file," they want the original editable vector artwork.
Vector
Graphics defined by mathematical paths (points, lines, curves) rather than pixels. Vector graphics scale infinitely without quality loss. Logos should always be created as vectors — even if you export PNG for web use, the source should be vector.
Raster
Graphics composed of a pixel grid. Raster images (JPG, PNG, GIF) have a fixed resolution and become blurry when scaled up beyond their native size. Raster formats are used for final delivery but should not be the only version of your logo.
DPI/PPI
Dots Per Inch (print) / Pixels Per Inch (screen) — the measure of resolution. 72 PPI is standard for web. 300 DPI is the minimum for professional print. Higher DPI means more detail and larger file sizes.
Bleed
Extra area beyond the trim edge of a printed piece. Bleed ensures that color and imagery extend all the way to the edge after cutting. Standard bleed is 3mm (0.125 inches) on each side.
Crop Marks
Thin lines printed at the corners of a document to indicate where the paper should be trimmed. Included in print-ready PDFs to guide the cutting process. Professional export from tools like Adobe Express includes crop marks automatically.
Transparent Background
An image where the background is absent rather than filled with a color. Essential for logo files — a transparent PNG allows your logo to be placed on any colored surface without a visible bounding rectangle.

AI Logo Generation Terms

AI Logo Generator
A software tool that uses artificial intelligence to create logo designs based on user inputs (brand name, industry, style preferences). Modern AI logo generators produce output that follows established design principles automatically.
Prompt
The text input provided to an AI system to guide its output. In AI logo generation, prompts include your brand name, descriptive keywords, style preferences, and industry category. More specific prompts typically produce more relevant output.
Style Transfer
An AI technique that applies the visual characteristics of one design style to new content. In logo generation, style transfer allows the AI to apply the aesthetic qualities of professional logo styles to your specific brand inputs.
Template-Based Generation
A logo creation approach that starts from pre-designed templates and customizes them based on user inputs. The AI selects appropriate templates, adjusts typography and colors, and presents variations. Faster but less original than fully generative approaches.
Generative Design
An AI approach that creates novel designs from scratch rather than modifying templates. Generative design can produce more unique and unexpected results but may require more refinement and curation from the user.
Iteration
The process of refining a design through multiple rounds of generation and adjustment. Effective use of AI logo tools involves generating initial concepts, evaluating them against your brand definition, then refining your inputs and regenerating until the output matches your vision.
Output Quality
The technical and aesthetic quality of AI-generated logo designs. Measured by typographic sophistication, compositional balance, color harmony, and professional finish. Output quality varies significantly between AI logo tools.
Commercial License
The legal permission to use AI-generated output for commercial purposes including selling products, marketing materials, and brand identity. Not all AI tools grant commercial licenses — verify before using AI-generated logos for your business. Adobe Firefly provides clear commercial licensing.
Training Data
The dataset of images and designs used to train an AI model. The quality and legality of training data affects both output quality and commercial licensing. Adobe Firefly is trained exclusively on licensed Adobe Stock imagery and public domain content.

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