This edition of RANDi (Research & Inspiration for Graphic Designers & Web Designers) focuses on the use of shields within logo design.
Shields have a very long historic connection with identity design.
They were once a tool used to defend oneself but they quickly evolved to have a second purpose.
That purpose was design communication.
Privileged shield bearers would customise their shields with images, patterns and symbols to represent who they were personally and so they could be easily identified.
This idea of identification expanded as entire clans would use the same shield design to create their own unique identity as a group of people.
It worked like a flag or signal, communicating allegiance and their presence as a friend or foe.
It worked so well as an identification system that these shield designs were transferred to flags and materials in the form of a “Coat of Arms“.
And the Coat of Arms was a logo unique to each to family, clan or army regiment.
It was basically the birth of the brand identity system!
Today, every county in the UK still has its own “Coat of Arms” and football teams across the world have club logos designed in the form of a “Coat of arms”, containing a shield shape.
And that’s why a shield shape is such a popular concept for logo design.
It represents security and defence but it also represents an ancient form of design communication and identification.
Whilst some modern shield logo designs still hark back to traditional design elements, many designers have evolved the idea of the shield design to create contemporary monograms and unique twists to the idea of a shield logo design.
Take a look at some fantastic shield logo designs that may make you rethink the whole idea of creating a shield logo design.
Click on images for links to the designer or full project previews.
Shields make for great brand identities, signifying not just a clan but a sense of secuirty and purpose, an authority, and based on the above, a shield doen’t have to be a typical sheild like logo.
Get creative and make it into a wowing logo design.
Check out our RANDi edition on stained glass logo designs.
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