Types of logos: 7 main types, Arabic forms and when to use each

There are seven main types of logos: the wordmark, the lettermark or monogram, the pictorial mark, the abstract mark, the mascot, the combination mark and the emblem. They differ in one thing: how much of the work is done by the name, and how much by a picture or a shape.

For brands in the Arab world, that list is not enough. Arabic brings forms of its own, such as calligraphic marks and bilingual lockups. And most real brands do not choose a single type. They use several, as a family.

This article explains each type, when it suits a business and where it struggles, with examples from identities I have drawn in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Kuwait.

The seven types at a glance

1. Wordmark (logotype)

The name itself, drawn so that it becomes the logo. Coca-Cola's script and Google's coloured letters are familiar Latin examples. In Arabic a wordmark has to work harder: Arabic has no capitals, so the weight and character of the name come entirely from how the letters are drawn.

Ashafaq, a hand car wash in Saudi Arabia, needed a name that reads from the road. Its Arabic letters are drawn bold and tall, with soap bubbles over them, in navy and sky blue, so the mark says "clean" before anyone reads it.

Choose it when the name is short, distinctive and easy to say. Avoid it when the name is long, or so generic that drawing it nicely will not make it memorable. A name typed in a font is not yet a wordmark: anyone with the same font can type it.

2. Lettermark and monogram

Initials or a few letters joined into one shape. IBM is the classic Latin example.

On Al-Professor, a phone and accessories shop, one continuous line draws P, R and O, with earbuds and a tick. Because it is a single stroke, it embroiders, prints and lights up cleanly. Adwaa Retaj, a Saudi contracting company, sets its R inside a diamond like a cut stone, in black with a sharp lime, and the mark holds on site helmets and safety vests as well as on a letterhead.

Arabic monograms work differently. Arabic letters already join, so an Arabic monogram often stacks the letters of the name into one block rather than overlapping two initials.

Choose it when the name is long, or the brand needs a mark for very small spaces. Be careful when the brand is new: initials mean nothing until people learn what they stand for, so pair them with the full name at first.

3. Pictorial mark

A recognisable picture, like Apple's apple. The best ones come from the name or the story rather than from the product.

Pupal, a marketing agency in Egypt, took its name from the pupa, the quiet stage before a butterfly flies. Its mark is a butterfly leaving its pupa: the meaning of the name, drawn as a picture.

Choose it when the name holds a clear image the brand can own. Avoid the first picture everyone thinks of, such as a bean for coffee, a roof for real estate or a tooth for a dental clinic. AI logo generators lean towards exactly these answers, as I explain in designing a logo with AI.

4. Abstract mark

A shape that suggests an idea without showing an object. Nike's swoosh is the famous example.

Masabih, a Saudi company whose name means "lamps", has a mark of rings of light opening from one point, in violet with teal and green. It does not draw a lamp. It draws what a lamp does, and the line «نضيء» ("we light up") carries it onto uniforms, flags and screens.

Choose it when the service is hard to picture, such as consulting, technology or a group of companies. Expect to teach people what it means: an abstract shape gains meaning through use and consistency.

5. Mascot

A character that stands for the brand, such as Colonel Sanders on KFC. Mascots are friendly and easy to animate, and they work hard on packaging and social media.

Among the projects on this site, the closest is packaging rather than a logo: the sky-blue Fanash chips bag is led by a cartoon character, and the brand's Arabic name is lettered by hand with a bounce.

Choose it when the audience is children or families, or the brand lives on packs and social feeds. Plan a simpler mark beside it: a full character rarely works on a browser tab, and it needs many poses to stay alive.

6. Combination mark

A symbol or monogram with the name, designed to work together and apart. It is the most flexible type and a sensible starting point for most new businesses: the name teaches people the brand while the symbol learns to stand alone.

Noor Al-Ehsan, a Saudi contracting and advertising company that builds signboards for others, has a square monogram of stacked Arabic letters in blue with a fresh green, beside a clear Arabic and English wordmark. It had to work in lights on a façade and small on a stamp, exactly the range a combination mark is built for.

Watch for two parts that feel as if they came from different projects. The symbol and the lettering should share weight, curves and spirit.

7. Emblem

Text and shape locked into one badge, seal or crest. It feels established, which is why coffee, food, schools and institutions like it.

Abdeen Coffee, a Cairo roastery whose line is "the origin of coffee in Egypt", has a hand-drawn Arabic mark built like a seal, so the lettering carries the heritage. Kababgy Al-Sultan, a grill house in Faqous, is a round seal of its own: the grill bars and flame crown the word Kababgy, and the letters of Al-Sultan curl like smoke.

Watch for detail that disappears at small sizes. An emblem almost always needs a simpler companion for icons and stamps.

Arabic forms that most lists leave out

Calligraphic marks

The name written in a calligraphic style, where the letters themselves make the shape. Arabic calligraphy has many voices: Kufi is geometric and solid, Naskh clear, Thuluth and Diwani rich and ceremonial.

• Arabian Intelligence: the three words of the Arabic name lock together into one compact square of calligraphy, with an English line beneath it for the company's partners.
• Aldar International, a Kuwaiti software house: the Arabic letters of its old logo were redrawn with more confidence, rising into a single calligraphic mark.
• Al-Furqan, a platform for teaching the Holy Quran: the letters of the name rise into the shape of an open book, in gold and green.

The trade-off is legibility. A calligraphic mark that nobody can read has failed at its first job, so draw it with someone who reads Arabic, and test it small.

Letters that become a picture

This form sits between the wordmark and the pictorial mark, and it suits Arabic well, because Arabic letters already have tall strokes, round bowls and long tails to build with. At Bana Real Estate in Riyadh, the Arabic letters of the name rise into the outline of a house. At Rabeh, a Saudi stock-market recommendations service, the letters fold into a small house of growth with an upward arrow on top.

Bilingual lockups

Many Arab brands need Arabic and English from the first day. A bilingual lockup is less a type of its own than a decision about any type: which script leads, and how the two sit together.

• One name, two scripts drawn as one. On SLS, a Saudi real estate company, the Arabic سلس and the Latin SLS share their strokes on one baseline.
• Arabic leads, English supports. Arabian Intelligence places a smaller English line beneath the calligraphy.
• One symbol, both names. Noor Al-Ehsan's monogram sits beside a wordmark that carries the Arabic and the English name.

Whichever pattern you choose, prepare every version: Arabic only, English only and both, horizontal and stacked.

One brand, several logos: the responsive family

A full lockup is right for a shop sign and wrong for a browser tab. So a working identity is a family of versions, sometimes called a responsive logo: the same mark, simplified step by step as the space shrinks.

1. The full lockup: symbol and name, in one or both languages.
2. Horizontal and stacked versions for different shapes of space.
3. The symbol or monogram alone.
4. A small-size version with fewer details, for icons.
5. One-colour and reversed versions of each.

Kababgy Al-Sultan shows the idea at work. The full seal appears on the sign, the box and the menu, while the aprons carry only a maroon curl or an orange letter motif. Pupal's delivery included an app icon alongside the stationery.

Large brands can reach the last step once the symbol is known well enough. Mastercard announced in January 2019 that its interlocking red and yellow circles would appear without the word "mastercard" in select places, such as cards, acceptance marks in shops and online, and major sponsorships. It said its research found that most people recognised the symbol without the name. A new brand cannot start there, but it can design for it: a combination mark whose symbol could one day stand alone.

How the logo family fits with colour, type and pattern is covered in what is a brand identity.

How to choose the right type

The full process, from the brief to the final files, is in how to design a logo.

Conclusion

Logo types are tools, not styles. Each one solves a different problem, and Arabic adds calligraphic marks and bilingual lockups that most lists leave out. Start from the name, the idea and the places the logo will live, then choose the type and plan the family around it.

If you want a mark drawn for your brand, in Arabic, English or both, tell me about your project.