Self Directed - Animal Logos

https://99designs.co.uk/blog/creative-inspiration/animal-logos/

People love animals. Full stop. We love animals so much that we haven’t stopped domesticating them and revering them and making them the stars of our folk tales and mythology for millennia.

Animals are a popular choice for logos because of the deep connection we feel to them. An animal logo can cement your brand in your target audience’s heart, but keep in mind that there’s more to using an animal logo than sticking a cute puppy next to your brand’s name and calling it a day. Logos that work are logos that mean something, and even if you initially decide you want a certain species to symbolize your brand, you’ve gotta make it the star of your brand’s story to make it work.

There’s more to an animal logo than the animal itself. Every logo communicates its brand’s personality through its colour palette, font, shape and any other style choices the designer makes. As you brainstorm your brand’s persona, think about the following to fine-tune your animal logo.

Animal logos: accurate, adorable or abstract?

Ok, so you’ve decided you want an animal logo. Now you have to choose your animal. Then, you’ve got to determine how your logo will look. Do you want a realistic-looking animal in your logo, an abstract depiction of an animal or a cartoon/anthropomorphic image? And within those categories, there’s subcategories—if you’re going realistic, do you resonate with a photograph or photorealistic drawing or a more simple, but accurate, line drawing? If you’re going cartoon-style, should it be something that wouldn’t look out of place in a Disney movie, or do you want something that feels more like it’d be at home in a newspaper strip?

When brands choose to represent themselves with animals, they often pick animals that are characterized, whether accurately or not, by the traits they want to showcase themselves. Evernote demonstrates that it can store a load of info, just like an elephant can keep decades of memories in its brain. Or the famous blue Twitter bird communicating that with Twitter, you tweet whatever comes to mind.

So think about your brand’s best traits that you want to communicate through your logo. Maybe you get stuff done fast. Use a cheetah or a falcon. Maybe you’re loyal to your values—a dog logo probably feels like an obvious choice. Get creative and have fun with it! A ferret might be the perfect choice for your forensic accounting practice because you ferret out all the hidden funds your clients need to find, or maybe a whale’s the way to go for your new record label because in the animal kingdom, whales are quite the accomplished vocalists.

You can also use an animal logo to communicate your commitment to the environment or your connection to nature. The choices we make have very real consequences for the earth. By using an animal in your logo, you show that you’re not only aware of how your practices impact the environment, but that you’re committed to reducing their impact as much as possible to protect the animals that populate our Earth.

This is the sort of approach I have taken with my Pippa's Paddock logo design.

Similarly, an animal logo can communicate that you’re directly committed to improving animal lives, whether you’re a pet rescue, a sustainable farm, a conservation program or a vegan lifestyle brand. Think of those Sarah McLachlan commercials we can’t watch without crying—animal imagery is powerful.