What makes a logo recognizable? The best kind of logo is one that can be recognized without text, giving it the potential to be recognized worldwide and transcend language barriers. It is usually an eventual transition to textless that logos go through once they become popular enough. Though I don't remember myself, I'm sure there was once a time when no one would instantly recognize the golden arches as "McDonald's." Now Starbucks has gone the way of textless logos, expanding the siren and cutting off the surrounding text. Many try to have a logo that at least partially describes the name. Taco Bell has a purple bell, Firefox has a fox made of fire, and Nike (even though it may not be common) has the swoosh, which is supposed to represent the wings of the goddess Nike. But given that not everyone does realize where the swoosh came from, that means that it is not always important to have the logo describe the name. The Blackberry logo isn't a black berry, it's just a bunch of shapes but everyone still knows that when they see those shapes it means they are looking at something that involves a Blackberry. So how do they manage it?
I invite you to answer this because I certainly couldn't tell you. It's a matter of having a simple design and the ability to get it out there as much as possible. The Blackberry was successful because there are a lot of functions on the Blackberry that you can use in many places, so people see that "Blackberry compatible" symbol everywhere and it gets ingrained in people. How would you design a successful logo?
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