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What’s the best way to get a good logo design? First you need to know how to avoid bad logo design. That may seem like an oversimplification, but there’s a lot of truth to it. The best designers are aware of the most common logo design mistakes and can catch them before they make them—because they’ve made those missteps themselves at one point or another during their career.
In logo design, certain what-not-to-dos occur more frequently than others. Seeing these ineffective choices in action can help you sidestep them in your own logo design.
In this article, we’ve collected the most common mistakes in bad logo design so you know what to look out for. If you’re already guilty of one of them, don’t worry—read on for our solutions!
Key takeaways:
- Logo designs using outdated visuals can make brands seem out of touch. Redesigning your logo with purposeful vintage elements can help modernize it while maintaining a trending retro aesthetic.
- While intricate logo designs may work on large formats, they often lose impact in smaller applications. Opt for responsive logo variations that adapt seamlessly across different sizes to maintain clarity.
- Logos should reflect your brand’s identity and industry. Avoid irrelevant or generic imagery that fails to communicate your brand’s essence. Instead, use creative and relevant imagery to increase brand recognition.
- Overused trends and symbols result in forgettable logos. To stand out, add your own unique twist to popular design trends while avoiding clichés like the “V-man” or other ubiquitous icons.
- Sometimes logos simply fail due to poor design choices. Hiring a designer ensures you follow design principles, delivering a logo that is visually appealing, functional and effective.
1. Outdated logos
A common problem with logo design is the use of outdated techniques, visuals and effects. These logos look like they have been created decades ago—and not in a good way. Back in the 1980s and 90s clip art, old-fashioned skeuomorphism, 3D gradients and dated fonts were used excessively. Now, they make brand logos look outdated.
Outdated logos
Solution: Purposeful vintage elements
If you’re dealing with an outdated logo, the best solution is often to redesign it. Sure, vintage elements are a logo design trend. But if you want a logo with a retro vibe, do it purposefully. Only use vintage design elements that are currently trending. For example, take a look at the hand-drawn vintage look of the logo below, which taps into the Etched Emblems logo design trend. This is a great example of retro logo design that feels current and trending.
Source: Vintage logo design by Agi Amri via 99designs by Vista
If you’re not sure whether your logo needs a redesign, our article on logo redesign will guide you in the right direction for a fresh brand look.
2. Too detailed logos
It’s not that detailed logos are bad—they’re just not scalable. If you’re working with a large billboard, mural or vehicle wrap, detailed logos may actually work very well. If those were the only places you displayed your logo, detailed logos would be the norm! However, the problem with detailed logos is that they look terrible on computer screens, smartphones, business cards and smaller promotional items like pens.
When designing your logo, consider how often it will appear in smaller contexts, where detail might be harder to see.
Detailed logo design for a cocktail bar
Detailed logo design for The Lion King
So although many detailed logos look great in certain contexts and are designed with skill, those intricate visuals are often wasted at smaller scales, where your logo details may be indistinguishable.
Solution: Responsive logos
If you don’t want to abandon your detailed logo, you don’t have to. A perfectly viable alternative is a responsive logo—where your logo is also available in smaller sizes and other variations. In other words, keep your detailed logo for large placements, but ensure you have others for small placements.
Read our guide to responsive logos for an in-depth explanation of this handy logo design strategy.
Source: Responsive logo design by Agi Amri via 99designs by Vista
Take the Bluffton Inn logo. The classic architecture of their building is a strong selling point and the detailed sketch works well in creating a rustic vibe. But when they need a logo design for smaller applications, like social media or employee uniforms, they use simplified logo variations inside badges, with the keys and company monogram.
3. Irrelevant imagery
In other words: “good logos, but badly matched.” This isn’t always exactly a universally bad logo design—the mismatch is just bad for that particular brand. Take these three logos, for example. While they look great, the imagery used doesn’t accurately depict the brands and they could easily be confused for companies in other industries.
Above all, your logo should represent your brand. You can follow all of the principles of design, but if you don’t design a logo that echoes who you are and what you do, it won’t be effective for brand recognition or for building brand loyalty.
Solution: Relevant imagery
Stick with imagery that’s directly connected to your company, reflecting either your company’s name or what it does. The trick is to be creative. You can still use familiar and relevant imagery without designing a generic logo.
Source: Logo design by pswizzard via 99designs by Vista
Eaglehead Woodcraft could have gone in a number of different directions with their logo imagery: carpentry, furniture, even eagles. But they cleverly chose a tree. This image is directly related to woodworking, but more thought-provoking and sentimental than literal images of woodworking.
4. Vague logos
Again, if your logo looks good but doesn’t say anything about your brand, it’s still a bad logo design. Logos should explain who you are and what you do—even (especially!) if someone is seeing your logo for the first time. Some particularly bad logo designs offer up no information about the business at all. Think: ambiguous company names and random patterns or icons.
For example, these logos would work, if they had just a little more description that shed light on the companies:
Solution: Add text
Sometimes the most obvious solution is the best: in this case, just add a description! You don’t have to give your whole elevator speech—in fact, with logos, less text is more—but you can easily add a few words to explain what you can offer customers, or at the very least your brand name.
This simple yet effective logo design for Phoenix represents the medical company using a trustworthy blue color. But without the description “Internal Medicine,” it could be quickly misinterpreted. The wings could be buildings for an architecture firm, for example, or even piano keys for a music brand.
Source: Logo design by milan gavrilovic via 99designs by Vista
5. Conflicting themes
Logos can help set the mood for your business. Are you a serious brand with a professional edge? Consider using angular shapes and muted colors. Perhaps you’re an innovative and forward-thinking tech company? Communicate your brand identity and values using appropriate imagery, like wire circuits or astral grids.
Sports bar logo with conflicting themes
Logo with conflicting themes
Bad logo design comes when themes are mismatched and you create the wrong impression of your brand. An angry child might be a literal mascot for a kids’ anger management group. However, does that inadvertently come across as aggressive? A more persuasive image for new clients might instead be the final result: a happy child!
Solution: Communicate your brand
Both your imagery and logo style should echo your branding goals. Use your brand colors and fonts, universally-recognized icons and an aesthetic that appeals to your audience for effective visual communication.
Understand the psychology of logo design to create a logo that really hits home with your audience.
Take this adventure company logo, depicting activities like fishing and canoeing, while silhouettes of animals against sunrise/sunset is the perfect visual for their audience of nature-lovers. The logo design extends the messaging further with relevant icons—an arrow, canoe paddle and compass—protruding from the frame.
Source: Adventure company logo design by Dexterous via 99designs by Vista
6. Generic logos
Logos are most effective when they’re memorable. Generic logos using the same trends, styles and icons as other businesses in the same industry are easily forgotten. Do what everyone else is doing and your brand will most likely get lost in the competition or people will confuse it with another.
Generic logo design
Generic dental company logo
The thinking behind generic logos seems logical—copy logos that have already proven to be successful and people like. However, after some time, the market becomes flooded with logos that all look the same. And logos that were once unique are now a dime-a-dozen.
Be particularly careful to avoid the “V-man”. This is an ambiguous human figure that started as a creative way to represent the “everyman” or “everywoman,” but ended up an overused logo design cliche. Tooth clip art for dentist logos or generic house clip art for real estate businesses are more examples of generic bad logo design choices.
Beware the V-man — he may tell you he’s your friend, but he says that to everyone!
Solution: Add a unique touch to trends
The best way to safeguard against generic logos is to keep abreast on what everyone else is doing.
Check out our guide on generic logos to find out which trends are most overused and to-be-avoided.
Generic logos often have elements that appeal to modern audiences, so don’t abandon all graphic design trends just yet. Just be sure to add something that stands out.
Source: Logo design by GOOSEBUMPS via 99designs by Vista
For example, Headstash uses mountain imagery and old-fashioned lettering like many other business logos. However, unique design elements set the logo apart, like the composition, horizontal framing and ornamental aspects. Before you worry that this logo is too detailed, Headstash employs the strategy we recommended in the first section: logo variations for different applications.
Source: Logo variations by GOOSEBUMPS via 99designs by Vista
7. Confusing logos
Like logos with irrelevant images or conflicting themes, visually pleasing logos can still miss their mark with confusing imagery. This is a common problem with logo design—what’s in the head of the designer doesn’t always come across.
Confusing logo design
Confusing logo design
Just look at the On The Heavy Side logo. Do you know what they do? We can see camping equipment, but it’s not clear why golf clubs and a tennis racket are also depicted. And the accompanying text, “don’t let your size stop you” creates more questions than it answers.
Solution: Familiarity, relevance and clarity
Opt for clarity above all else. You can use any of the strategies we advise above, such as relevant icons, easily identifiable images and short text descriptions. It’s always a good idea to get a fresh pair of eyes on a logo design before finalizing it. An outside perspective can reveal what doesn’t come across like it should.
Post some logo options on social media and ask your followers what they think. You can even get them to vote for their favorite design, involving your audience from the get-go.
Source: Logo design by Peaqs™ via 99designs by Vista
Tactical Wealth Management combines iconic imagery with a plain textual description. This tells viewers everything they need to know about the brand. Once the basics are established, the designer is free to take some creative liberties with color, typography and the graphics themselves.
8. Just plain ugly logos
Sometimes, there’s no rhyme or reason about why a logo doesn’t work, it’s just plain ugly. Brands big and small can succumb to ugly logo designs. Even London has fallen victim to an ugly logo—their 2012 Olympics logo was panned for being ugly and incoherent.
Ugly logo design for London 2012 Olympics
Ugly logo design for a record company
Ugly logo design for Mans Cave Aus
The same can be said for Mans Cave and Half Badger records’ logos, which tell us nothing about the businesses and feature odd illustrations that don’t elicit much in the viewer.
Solution: Hire a professional
Unlike with the other common bad logo design mistakes, there’s no cut-and-dry solution here. The only way to avoid ugly logos is to understand the graphic design principles that make good logos.
If you want to learn graphic design yourself, you can always bone up on the best practices with our ultimate guide to how to design a logo. But to really ensure your logo adheres to the principles of logo design, your best option is to hire someone who already knows them by heart.
Working with a designer on your logo can make all the difference. They know the best techniques as well as how to avoid design mistakes. You’re not just paying for their skill, but for their expertise and know-how as well. Just look at what purpleri came up with for a client who wanted “a Siamese cat somehow incorporated into the logo, and anything else that helps stand out as luxurious.”
Source: Logo design by purpleri via 99designs by Vista
Ready to turn over a new leaf?
Creating a logo that ticks all of the boxes can be difficult, especially with no prior experience. Avoiding these pitfalls is a great first step on your journey to great logo design. Once you’ve come up with a design, understand how to evaluate logo quality. And if you need help creating a professional-looking logo, consider working with an experienced graphic designer.
Logo design FAQs
What makes a logo design bad?
Bad logo design refers to logos that fail to effectively represent a brand or do not adhere to key design principles. Outdated designs, too much detail, conflicting themes, and vague, generic or irrelevant elements can all make your logo visually unappealing and confusing for your audience, failing to resonate with them.
What are the key features of good logo design?
A good logo is simple, original, memorable, relevant, scalable and versatile. It should effectively communicate your brand’s values and identity, resonate with your target audience and maintain clarity whether in large or small formats. Always make sure your logo follows the six key principles of logo design.
What makes a logo look dated?
Signs of an outdated logo include the use of old-fashioned styles and dated fonts or colors. If your logo looks like it belongs to a different era and doesn’t align with modern design trends, it may be time to consider a logo redesign using contemporary elements.
