At Logo Design Hill we have been designing hundreds of logos for professionals and companies around the world for more than 15 years. In these years we have done all kinds of projects depending on the needs of our clients.
Based on our own experience, we find it interesting to analyze in depth a group of logos that we can define under the adjective “happy”.They are brands that radiate optimism, joy, ease, enthusiasm ... This type of logos is often conditioned by the age of the public to which the company is directed. The youth and middle-aged public are logically the ones who feel the most attraction towards these types of brands. We are talking about bars, food, “take away” places, sports brands, young clothes, etc ...
There is a business sector that uses especially happy images since enjoyment and fun are part of its DNA. We refer to projects related to leisure and free time. Within this activity we can include many types of companies: travel agencies, tourist logos of cities or areas, hotels, spas, events, shopping centers, bars, restaurants, nightclubs, etc ...
Other times we find companies that without being particularly oriented to this sector of the population want a cheerful logo simply because the owner identifies with that spirit, that is, they have a cheerful character and want their company to be like him or her. This has happened to us with logos for herbalists, pet shops, printers, veterinary centers, cleaning companies, translations, fashion, consultancies, and much more ...
To analyze these "happy" logos in depth, we are going to study the common characteristics that they have in all their parameters. We are talking as always about colors , fonts and icons.
We all know what happy colors are, for this you don't need to be a specialist. We are talking about reds, oranges, yellows, blues, greens, turquoise, purples, fuchsias ... and always using intense, luminous, electric tones ...
What is interesting is the way to apply the colors in this type of logos.
In Logo Design Hill we usually recommend always using only 2 corporate colors, maximum 3. This is important because it creates a powerful brand image, easy to remember. To give a few examples, we all know that Banco Santander is red, that Facebook is blue, that Starbucks is green. We remember these colors well because they use only 1 main corporate color, accompanied by a secondary corporate color (gray or black) that serves as support for the texts.
Well, as we add more colors to a brand, its corporate color is diluted, it costs us more to remember the color of a company, and therefore the whole brand is more difficult to visualize in our mind.
The case of companies related to leisure and fun is one of the few sectors where we think we can skip this golden rule. Why? Because if we want to convey joy we must use colors without complexes. There is nothing more cheerful than a lot of colors together (Let's remember a field full of flowers).
We show you some examples of logos designed in 3D logo designers in USA that use more than 3 corporate colors:
The second resource that we can use for this type of "cheerful" logos are color gradients. Normally it is something that in our study we try to avoid since it moves away from the minimalism and sobriety that a good brand must have a priori. However, its use is justified when we want to achieve a happy and colorful brand. In the case of tourist logos, it is especially interesting to use gradients, since with a simple icon we must be able to captivate a tourist, transmitting a lot of sensations associated with a country, a region or a city.
With the gradients we achieve greater depth, greater dynamism and a wealth of nuances superior to any logo made with spot colors.
The main drawback is its reproduction on some media: Serigraphs, prints, embroidery, etc ... can cause problems.
Let's see some examples of logos that use gradients to achieve greater visual appeal:
To finish this section on Colors, we would like to show how many times the choice of a combination of 2 cheerful colors can be enough to make the whole brand so, even if the font or icon are sober or neutral. Without a doubt, color is the most important element when we want to convey joy, above form or concept. Surely the explanation is that color is light, and light is what gives life to everything, that is why light is what most affects our state of mind (Let's look at the difference between a sunny day and a cloudy day )
Let's see some examples of cheerful logos mainly due to the choice of their only 2 colors:
"Cheerful" logos often use lighthearted typefaces, with strokes that appear to be handcrafted, uneven, or very energetic. Naturally, it is not an essential condition that all logos that want to convey joy must have a typeface of this type, often with the colors or the icon is enough, and we can use a more neutral typeface.
However, now we are going to analyze just the opposite, that is, logos whose typography stands out for its cheerful strokes, above the colors or symbols.
Let's look at some examples of cheerful typography:
As you can see, except for the example of "Sweetfruit" which is more uniform, all the other fonts seem handwritten, and in many cases they have energetic strokes that give energy and dynamism to the text, such as the cases of "Querkus" and "Blue Point".
In the case of "The Crucible" we can see how upper and lower case are mixed. In addition, the letters do not appear placed on a baseline and the sizes are also different. All this ensures that the brand transmits a funny and carefree image.
"Made by Lola" instead has a childish line that we associate with the joy and innocence of children. Above it we have placed a curl on the "O" that gives it a fun touch and the "l" we have turned into a needle.
All these details that arise from retouching the typography are very interesting as they emphasize the cheerful character that we want to convey. In "Querkus" for example we take advantage of the shape of the "K" to draw a person with open arms. In the case of "Alcaplant" we use the shape of the "l" to simulate a branch that ends in a leaf.
There are several factors that can turn your icon into a happy symbol, capable of transmitting joy, optimism or sympathy. We are going to analyze the main elements that these states transmit.
1. Fun elements:
If we are looking for a cheerful image, one of the factors that best achieve this is to look for a funny, ingenious, fun concept ... We can find it in the text itself or in a separate icon.
Let's see some examples designed in Logo Design Hill:
- Mummy & Co: This children's clothing company uses the shape of the "u" to create a smile.
- Rock & Rice: This “Take-away” food chain takes advantage of the shape of the “&” to place a spoon. In addition, the icon plays with a double "R", one of which is inverted.
- Forming: A training chain whose "i" evokes a person and the arrows of different colors represent the different knowledge that the student can acquire.
- Isla Música: For this music school we have played with the concept of the island to create a palm tree whose trunk is an eighth note.
- Sweetfruit: This is a brand of organic sweets for which we have placed two sheets where the point of the "i" would go.
- B-Alive: For this "food coaching" we have created the initial "B" playing with a fork that is rolled into a spaghetti.
2. Animal or human characters:
Images of people or animals are elements that attract a lot of attention. If these characters also have cheerful or funny gestures, we get a very powerful connection with the public. There are many companies that use pets, both animals and humans, even plants or "humanized" objects in some way.
Let's see some examples made here:
Teo Baby Shoes: For this children's footwear company we have used a whale as an icon that recalls the shape of a baby boot or shoe. Furthermore, the whale's eye coincides with the “O” in TEO.
- Pide x Esa Boca: It is a company of gifts, posters and decoration. For them we created a character based on a huge mouth with little legs.
- Pet World: For this pet shop we created a very nice and recognizable puppy as a pet.
- Hungry bites: This computer store had a fun name that encouraged a fun image as well. In this case we made a pet in the shape of a hungry computer.
- Mr. King: For this plumbing company we looked for the image of a nice character who would win the customer's trust: Mr. “Mr. King”.
- Pollo Picom: This is a chicken roaster from Madrid. We use the image of a smiling rooster holding a freshly cooked roast chicken in his hand.
3. Human silhouettes expressing happiness:
Sometimes we need to express the idea of evolution, well-being or optimism in a person or group of people. This type of concept can be represented by abstract silhouettes of people with open arms or with one arm raised. Both images send a very optimistic message: of improvement and triumph.
Let's see some examples:
- Libreviajes.com: On-line travel agency. The icon is based on a star formed by the abstraction of 5 people with raised arms that invites you to enjoy your free time.
- Iqual: Coaching company. The icon represents the idea of evolution through an arrow that rotates and increases in size until it becomes a person with open arms, which is also the symbol of "success".
- Indálicas cleanings: For this redesign we already started from the image of the "Indalo" from Almeria. In this case we develop that human figure where the arch that joins his arms ends in a drop of water.
- Infantoys: Company of promotional soft toys and dolls. The logo uses the shape of the initial "i" to create a figure that resembles a doll with open arms.
- Green in bulk: For this herbalist and specialized tea shop, a human figure was used that appears between several leaves to convey the idea of “natural vitality”.
- Inneway: In the case of this Barcelona consultancy, the isotype is based on a human figure that emerges from a circular line and that recalls an at (@). The raised arm conveys success, optimism.
4. Dynamic Icons:
Movement is life, it is energy, it is activity, for all this dynamic logos are usually happy logos since we associate movement as something positive. We already know that fonts with energetic strokes or italics are what achieve this dynamic effect. But what about the icons? How can we transmit movement, action?
After analyzing a large number of logos we have realized that we can classify them into two types: With rotation and translation movement.
Translation: They are those logos that seem to move, that has movement from one point to another. They are the ones that convey the greatest sensation of movement:
Rotation: They are those logos that seem to move on themselves, without moving. That is, they transmit a movement similar to that of a gear: they rotate or evolve on themselves but without moving:
With this we conclude this article in which we have analyzed in depth all those elements that make a logo transmit joy:
We have seen the most appropriate colors. How the use of 3 or more colors here is indicated and how the gradients achieve shades that nobody else reaches. We have also analyzed the typefaces that manage to convey more energy or a casual image. Finally, we have seen different types of icons capable of transmitting a happy image: smiling people or animals, figures expressing triumph or well-being, ingenious and fun details integrated into the text, etc ...
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