IamaSource Blog > The best and worst logos with hidden meaning.

The best and worst logos with hidden meaning.

Besides logos inspirational galleries, we’d link to collect some logos which incorporate hidden (or not so hidden) meanings, thanks to symbols or to a great use of negative space.
We don’t want to separate the best from the worst (even if it’s pretty clear in some cases), we prefer to show how to look at a nice design logo finding a meaning that improve the relationship between icon and brand name. Good logos must be immediate but sometimes have some abstract meanings which you can recognize just looking carefully, not something like “green color is for…”, “curve form represents…” and so on.
Watch out: after watching this gallery you’ll never these logos at the same way.

Let’s start with the French international hypermarket chain logo, “Carrefour”, literally “crossroads”. The logo represents two arrows and incorporate also an hidden white "C” (negative space between the two colors).

The graphic elements of Formula 1 logo represents velocity. You can see the number “1” thanks to the space between the black “F” and the red symbol on the right.

Excellent use of the negative spaces for the “8fish” Restaurant, more famous on the web thanks to this logo than for the Sushi itself. This icon improves the relationship with the name of the company. Also the “Toblerone” symbol, hides something (have you ever seen the bear in the mountain, symbol of the city called Berna in Switzerland? There is where the chocolate was born).

The current NBC logo (see its evolution below) represents the famous peacock. You can easily find it, but it’s not that easy to understand that peacock's head is flipped to the right to suggest it is looking forward (as the company philosophy).

Talking about hidden meaning for the FedEx logo could be wrong, but even if it is one of the most popular logo, have you ever see the arrow between “E” and “X”, that represents speed and precision of this courier?

Also the Amazon logo needs to take a more careful look at it in order to completely understand the meaning: the arrow (besides the smile) indicates that they do have all types of goods, from “A to Z”.

The Sony Vaio logo has a strong hidden meaning (maybe too much). It represents the integration of analog and digital technology with the “VA” representing an analog wave and the 'IO' representing a digital binary code. How many of you can understand it without an explanation?

The current Artlington Pediatric Center is that one on the left. It was changed by the Association after reading the comment on the web supposedly. The formerly logo was that one on the right, and it was not very helpful for their reputation.

The choice of the italian clothing brand A-Style is made on purpose: the letter “A” with two dots creates a symbol... well, it doesn’t need any further explanation. This was a guerrilla marketing case: this logo was introduced as a teaser campaign in the main cities of the World (Roma, London, Moscow, Miami…).