Have You Ever Paid Attention to Comic Books Logo Design?

Comic books are an important part of our childhood. The days we spent reading the adventures of our favorite superheroes can’t be forgotten. Comics and graphic novels are not just about spectacular drawings though. They teach us about branding and logo design as well. Most of the times we paid attention to the cover photo and content inside when we were kids, but now if you go through the cover pages of your comics collection once again, you will realize that they showcase some great examples of brand logo design.

Let’s scan the composition of graphic novels’ emblems and try to find out what they teach the budding logo designers. Here I will highlight on four factors- readability, innovation, integration and relevancy.

Readability– It’s the first essential quality of a good insignia and comics books teach us how readability can be maintained. Think about the Superman logo. It has been used in cover pages, web, in monotone format, placed on colorful background and witnessed lots of marketing experiments. However, like the character itself, the 3D emblem succeeded by being firm, bold and easy to read from a distance. Most artists think that maintaining readability in a 3D brand insignia is difficult, but when you examine this famous superhero’s emblem, you start realizing that it’s not that hard.

Innovation– Brand logo is a part of a company’s corporate identity. You company may have a catchy name, but if you don’t have a great insignia, people will hardly notice your business. Give some hint of your brand personality in the emblem to help people associate with your business. For instance, the letters of Wolverine’s emblem have pointed edges that immediately help us relate it to the claws of Wolverine. You can also take a look at the Spiderman’s logo which is often enveloped by webs.

Integration– A great insignia should adapt to its surroundings to create an impact on the viewers. Whether there is a catch line like “man of steel” or not, Superman emblem is always identifiable. Take a look at the first Apple logo and the latest version and you will realize how it emerged without the tagline and still enjoys the popularity. The opposite situation is applicable as well. For instance, in “The Uncanny X-Men” Cyclops crumbles the emblem with his laser eyes and it still serves the purpose.

Relevance– It’s hard to create a timeless logo and often companies redesign their brand emblem after 8-10 years. However, your corporate emblem should not lose its appeal once it’s redesigned. Make sure that your design has at least one element that will appeal the audience for a very long time. For instance, when Marvel decided to recreate the X-Men insignia recently, designer Fletcher made the X very prominent in all titles and placed it at the same place for all different titles such as “Wolverine and the X-Men”, “X-Men Legacy”, “X-Men Astonishing” etc.

Your brand may not take part in violent adventures of don’t have any superpowers, but you can learn brand insignia design from these comics books. They teach us the ways to design bold and beautiful corporate insignias. Help us understand the meaning of readability and innovation. A good logo designer learns everyday and graphic novel emblems certainly teach them a lot about the basics of logo design.