20 Weird Logos That Work (and Why They Do)

Jan 2nd in Articles, Inspiration by Chris Spooner

Logos are everywhere. Because of this, only a few can rise among the noise -- and often it's the more unique logos that are most memorable. Sometimes to be unique, you've also got to be weird. In this post, we showcase twenty lovably strange logos that work.

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Author: Chris Spooner

Chris is a web designer, logo designer and vector illustrator. Find Chris's portfolio and blog at SpoonGraphics.

Society 27

The Society 27 logo by Pavel Pavlov makes use of the fantastic ambigram effect, which ensures the logo display exactly the same when viewed in an upside down position. The abstract use of the quotation marks and number seven cleverly make up the complete 27.

London Symphony Orchestra

The LSO logo uses a single flowing line to create the three initials of the London Symphony Orchestra. The semi-representational shapes are recognisable enough to be seen as letters, but also allows the logo on a whole to be seen as an elegant graphic.

I love NY

The simple yet highly recognisable mark of the I Love New York has been used to promote tourism in New York for years. Known as a Rebus logo, it displays a large red heart graphic to symbolise the word love, while representing the word New York with the two initials N and Y.

Museum of London

The new Museum of London logo first appears to be a collation of current logo design trends, but with deeper inspection and research the underlying meaning of the logo is discovered. The organic shapes that make up the logo represent the history of London, showing its growth over time expanding geographically.

Metroplex

The Metroplex logo by BrandBerry creates an excellent sense of depth with the use of three dimensional shapes. The array of cuboid shapes represent skyscraper buildings which make up the overall metropolis graphic, linking well to the meaning behind the name.

Cattleyard

Another logo that links well to its name and subject is that of Cattleyard Promotions. Being a music related business the logo uses various graphics of instruments but combines them to form the overall shape of a cow, bringing together these two inspirations into a unique mark.

CafeClick

The CafeClick logo uses an accepted icon of the internet, the mouse cursor and brings it together with a mug of coffee by replacing the steam. This cleverly links these two elements making a brilliant logo for an internet café.

Logo Motives

The Logo Motives brand that represents designer Jeff Fisher is an admirable collation of imagery and letterforms. The manipulation of the letters O and G allow them to fit seamlessly into the overall train graphic with perfect geometrics all round.

Rehabilitation Hospital Corporation of America

The highly symbolic logo of the Rehabilitation Hospital Corporation of America logo communicates a complex message with just a simple design. Using the globally renown cross symbol to represent help and medical attention and the steps to reflect on the steps taken back to normal life.

Schizophrenic

Another logo that plays in representational symbols while relating heavily to the brand name is the Schizonphrenic logo. Being a medical disorder that often depicts split personalities the logo characterises this with simple shapes that depict a happy and sad face.

Curious

The word curious often goes hand in hand with questions, this is smartly represented in the Curious logo by Action Designer. Using the question mark symbol depicts this while being manipulated to fit into the logo by replacing the letter C.

Modern Nerd

The Modern Nerd logo makes fine use of negative space to fool the eye into seeing the overall image of a figure, using just the symbolic shapes of hair, glasses and tie it links in well to the stereotypical geek/nerd image.

Time Watch

The Time Watch logo brings in elements from daily life to enhance the meaning of the logo. The colon is commonly used on digital clocks and watches, in the logo it is cunningly used to replace the letter I giving a great looking and representative mark.

Full Time

Taking on a more lateral depiction of the brand is the Full Time logo, this mark takes a clock as the symbol of time and uses it as a container of water to represent time being full.

Upside Down

The clever execution of the Upside Down logo maintains legibility by manipulating select letters to represent the brand name. By using alternate letters or flipping the orientation of a letter gives an unusual appearance despite being easily reabable.

Candy

The combination of two images into one is what makes the Candy logo so great. Using both a stereotypical sweet product and an illustration of a girl’s head link in well to the nature of the product. Even the wording blends in to become part of the artwork.

Seven and Six

The geometric layout of the Seven and Six logo creates a groovy looking mark that also acts as the graphical alternative of the brand name. Using the numeric figures and the ampersand reinforce the complete worded variations. The logo was designed by John Gerlach.

Studio Eight

The flowing lines of the Studio 8 logo create an illusion that allows both the initial S and number 8 to be visible in the logo graphic. Splitting the lines at the appropriate places stops the eye from following the curves in order for each symbol to appear.

Zip

The three letters of the Zip logo are blended together to form an almost solid shape. The centre graphic which represents the real life object also holds together the logo by breaking up the block allowing the letter I to be seen as well as allowing the Z and P to become legible.

Bison

The Bison logo by Seamus Leonard is an excellent example of how letters of a word can be distorted to create a completely different shape to reinforce its meaning while maintaining readability.


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  1. PG

    Patrik January 2nd

    Nice article! The modern nerd logo seems to have it’s name Modern Nerd written in just MODERN. But if you take a closer look you’ll see that D & N have the same shape. Making Modern and nerd fitting in Modern. I like!

    ( Reply )
  2. PG

    Don January 2nd

    Why is Logomotives weird? I’ve seen a couple places try the London Symphony Orchestra style and failed. I hope it works out for them.

    ( Reply )
  3. PG

    Farmill January 2nd

    Very cool to be surfing on the web and come across your own logo! :D
    Thanks for featuring it here, I really appreciate it.

    ( Reply )
  4. PG

    Jeremy January 2nd

    I find the Rehabilitation Hospital Corporation of America and Upside Down logos to be absolutely brilliant

    ( Reply )
  5. PG

    azpenguin January 2nd

    I love the conductor look of the London Symphony Orchestra logo. It also has two of the qualities I love for a logo – simplicity and the ability to work in pretty much any color or even in grayscale

    ( Reply )
    1. PG

      Elven May 29th

      Interesting the conductor look of the London Symphony Orchestra logo, very nice composed

      ( Reply )
  6. PG

    Yael K. Miller January 2nd

    Cattleyard is beautiful, creative, and glues the eyes to it.

    ( Reply )
  7. PG

    Yael K. Miller January 2nd

    Ugh, I should have looked at Cattleyard’s website before dropping a comment. I have no idea what they do. The logo’s gorgeous but the site needs a redesign QUICK! How are those cats (cattle) and what do they do?

    ( Reply )
  8. PG

    Anders January 2nd

    The Metroplex logo is not really a “true” logo, unless it works in b/w and can fit on the side of a pen. The test all logos should be able to pass.
    The Rehabilitation logo is cool, simple, smart and works 100%.

    ( Reply )
  9. PG

    Anders January 2nd

    Cattleyard is pretty, but it’s an illustration, not a logo.

    ( Reply )
  10. PG

    Sam Wieck January 2nd

    Hey,

    I’d just like to point out that there is a very big difference between schizophrenia and dissociative personality disorder.

    Schizophrenia in simple terms – is a mental disorder that starts to remove the ability of sufferers to start distinguishing between fantasy and reality.

    I am not sure where the misnomer of schizophrenia / split personalities began, but I think it’s important to make it known that they are very different disorders – as many people are actually misdiagnosed as a result of the confusion.

    ( Reply )
    1. PG

      Red August 26th

      I worked with a child who was schizophrenic. He believed he was a dragon. And I don’t mean in the overly active imagination sort of way.

      The :( : might be a more suitable logo for bi-polar disorder. That logo designer might have done a bit more research.

      Logo design fascinates me. I especially like the Society 27 and the 7 and 6 designs.

      ( Reply )
  11. PG

    Honour Chick January 2nd

    great logos… i especially like the “:(:”

    ( Reply )
  12. PG

    cheez January 2nd

    The upside down productions logo is specifically an ASCII trick used for a long time:

    umopepisdn is upsidedown

    Nothing really ingenius about it. Rotate your head 180 degrees for greater clarity.

    ( Reply )
  13. PG

    Howard M. Lewis Ship January 2nd

    One of my favorite logos is for the Clojure programing language:

    http://clojure.org/space/showimage/clojure-icon.gif

    It mixes the lambda symbol (very important for the philosophy of the language) with a Yin/Yang symbol (also very relevant to the philosophy).

    ( Reply )
  14. PG

    a January 2nd

    London Symphony Orchestra:
    “[..]but also allows the logo on a whole to be seen as an elegant graphic.”

    That graphic is a conductor..

    ( Reply )
  15. PG

    Ex-Vee-Ex January 2nd

    “20 Weird Logos That Work (and Why They Do)…”

    Nice logos, Chris Spooner, but to claim to offer anything other than the most banal insight into exactly Why They Do is perhaps a little misleading.

    ( Reply )
  16. PG

    Ryan January 2nd

    I think the Schizophrenic logo would be better for something called Bipolar, as Schizophrenia doesn’t really have anything to do with sad and happy faces…. and nothing to do with split personalities as noted above… but if the logo were to represent split personalities the company could be called Dissociative Personality Disoder: The Company.

    ( Reply )
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    soupbones January 2nd

    “Nice article! The modern nerd logo seems to have it’s name Modern Nerd written in just MODERN. But if you take a closer look you’ll see that D & N have the same shape. Making Modern and nerd fitting in Modern. I like!”

    - that’s what I took away as the brilliance of the design before I read the blogger’s remarks – funny how the best part of it was over looked :)

    Great choices

    ( Reply )
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    Pedro Sttau January 2nd

    Absolutely inspiring work, although I must say that Cattleyard’s logo is a bit too crowded for my taste. It still conveys the message effectively but it needed to be more incisive.

    ( Reply )
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    Theman January 2nd

    The london symphony orchestra logo is also representative of a conductor holding a baton in his left hand (our left). Just in case you haven’t spotted =)

    ( Reply )
  20. PG

    Kevin January 2nd

    Why are these weird? You just pulled 20 logos off Logopond and wrote a couple sentences about them. Pretty lame.

    ( Reply )
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    Rebus Macdonald January 2nd

    I will really never understand why people continue to kiss Jeff Fisher’s ass. This and his other logos are horribly dated, most circa 1991. The only reason he has a book and gets written up is because of longevity and being notorious self promoter. As for the Logomotives logo – Yuck. I’ve seen weekly shopper ads with better desin.

    ( Reply )
  22. PG

    Corey January 2nd

    Schizophrenia is not “split personality”, nor is it related to split personalities. The “schiz” in Schizophrenia refers to a split from reality; it is often characterized by audio/visual hallucinations and delusions. The only “split personality” disorder diagnosable is Dissociative Identity Disorder.

    ( Reply )
  23. I don’t mind being “weird” at all. Thanks for the inclusion. – J.

    ( Reply )
  24. PG

    Carlosf January 2nd

    Defenetily a great logo collection, If this were a rank based-system byson would obtain the trophy.

    ( Reply )
  25. PG

    Mark H. January 2nd

    Seems to me like you missed the boat on the LSO logo. If you look at it as a whole, it’s actually not just a flowy line, but an image of a conductor with his arm raised. One of the more brilliant logos in this list, actually….

    ( Reply )
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    Steviepunk January 2nd

    Good logo’s, though you don’t seem to have noticed that the ‘Upside Down’ logo is actually just ‘umop episdn’ rotated through 180 degrees

    ( Reply )
  27. PG

    Jim Garrison January 2nd

    Good article. I really liked the flowing line of the seven and six logo. The upside down logo is also great.

    ( Reply )
  28. PG

    Wes Wilson January 2nd

    Great post Chris, Cattleyard is brilliant. Side note, several of these logos are listed on IncSpring: http://incspring.com

    ( Reply )
  29. Me neither, thanks for the inclusion. I’m also weird!

    ( Reply )
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    Shanx January 2nd

    Why are these weird? Some of these are super classy. Time, Zip, and 7&6 are excellent and not weird from any perspective. Schizophrenic is so cool. Cattle instruments is also creative but too busy for a logo–I’d keep it as my main design on brochures/website but not a logo. Great selection, but I don’t see the logic of the title of this posting.

    ( Reply )
  31. PG

    McDivvy January 2nd

    You kind of missed the point of the “upside down” logo – it is not “using alternate letters or flipping the orientation of a letter” – it is much simpler – it is just “umop episdn” ;)

    ( Reply )
  32. PG

    wayne-o January 2nd

    Ugh. I find most of these logos executed terribly… just because there’s a rationale behind a logo doesn’t make it good. And FYI — the best looking logo here, Schizophrenic, gets dinged because schizophrenia is NOT split personality disorder. That’s just someone not doing their homework.

    ( Reply )
  33. Thanks for the inclusion of my ZIP logo.

    ( Reply )
  34. PG

    C. Evans January 2nd

    I like the symmetry of Sun Microsystem’s logo. I have fond memories of it as it was my first UNIX workstation that I coded on many moons ago…

    http://logos.sun.com/

    ( Reply )
  35. PG

    Patrick January 2nd

    The Schizophrenic logo is sorta clever but totally inappropriate in my opinion. To reduce such a serious disease to an emoticon diminishes its significance completely.

    ( Reply )
  36. PG

    Jeff January 2nd

    LSO looks like a conductor.

    ( Reply )
  37. PG

    Jon January 2nd

    There’s an important extra something to the LSO logo: it is in the shape of the Thames flowing through the centre of London.

    ( Reply )
  38. PG

    Michael S. January 2nd

    Upside down is actually UWOP EPISDN, written upside down. Try flipping the logo over and you’ll see it.

    ( Reply )
  39. PG

    John D January 2nd

    You said –
    “The clever execution of the Upside Down logo maintains legibility by manipulating select letters to represent the brand name. By using alternate letters or flipping the orientation of a letter gives an unusual appearance despite being easily reabable (sic).”
    That’s not what happened. They typed out umop episdn in an interesting font with appropriate kerning. Then rotated it 180 degrees. There was no “manipulating select letters.” They rotated the whole thing. It is a brilliant solution though.

    ( Reply )
  40. PG

    George (@geenius545) January 2nd

    The Society 27 logo is fantastic, I love the fact it works upside down, my only comment would be that i’m not keen on the in ‘SOCIeTY27′ – i’m nit picking, a great set!

    ( Reply )
  41. PG

    Jules Andre-Brown January 2nd

    Great Logos!
    I wish I could get someone to make me a cool logo like that!

    ( Reply )
  42. PG

    rKISM January 2nd

    Modern Nerd figure is cool, but the really smart and catchy conflation of “modern” and “nerd” in a single word is the design news for me. The typographical equivalent of a neat hack – heavy leverage accomplished with a light, brilliant touch.

    ( Reply )
  43. PG

    Denis Dias de Lima January 2nd

    The London Symphony Orchestra logo is also a conductor!

    ( Reply )
  44. PG

    Jamie January 2nd

    The LSO logo is meant to look like a conductor with baton while maintaining the legibility of LSO.

    ( Reply )
  45. PG

    andrew January 2nd

    great collection! it looks to me like the “LSO” logo for the London Symphony Orchestra is also a semi-abstract representation of a conductor..?!

    ( Reply )
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    Steven Marzuola January 2nd

    Thanks for a very interesting page. However, as the relative of someone with a related mental illness, I must object to your characterization of schizophrenia. The currently accepted description is available in many locations on the net; for example:

    “Although the word schizophrenia does come from the Greek words meaning “split” and “mind,” people with schizophrenia do not have split personalities. This misunderstanding has caused many people to misuse the term schizophrenia.”

    http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/schiz.html

    ( Reply )
  47. PG

    Jordan Garn January 2nd

    Pretty good logo listing, I think i’ll use them as inspiration

    ( Reply )
  48. PG

    ahabman January 2nd

    The London Symphony Orchestra logo looks like a conductor with a baton.

    ( Reply )
  49. PG

    P. Abbott January 2nd

    Some work, some are just terrible. You can promote anything with enough money. Been doing this for almost 40 years. The simpler the better. Most times ‘what you don’t do is more important than what you do’. Most of these marks will be very short lived and will not stand the test of time. Just because they exist, or are weird or different doesn’t mean that they are good. People will get tired of some of these very quickly. If not sooner. Take a look at ‘Landor and Associates’ or ‘Pentagram’ if you want to see great logo work.

    ( Reply )
  50. PG

    artbot January 2nd

    Since you don’t mention it, you do realize the LSO graphic is a conductor’s head/shoulders with one arm curled toward and the other holding a conductor’s wand/stick/whatever it’s called?

    Also, the Metroplex one is full of fail as it would reproduce very poorly and is just dull.

    The Schizophrenic one is brilliant, though.

    ( Reply )
  51. PG

    Barbra Sundquist January 2nd

    “Being a medical disorder that often depicts split personalities”

    schizophrenic does not mean split personality – that’s a common misconception. It drives me crazy when I see otherwise intelligent writers misuse this word.

    ( Reply )
  52. PG

    anon January 2nd

    [schizophrenia] “Being a medical disorder that often depicts split personalities.”

    Wrong. This is exactly why it’s a bad logo – schizophrenia has nothing to do with split personalities – that’s Dissociative Identity Disorder.

    So, now that you know, you can happily stop propagating the public misnomer. Thanks!

    ( Reply )
  53. PG

    Miguel January 2nd

    >Being a medical disorder that often depicts split personalities…

    That’s a common misconception. However, schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder are different disorders. I wonder if the organization behind the logo appreciates your ignorant commentary.

    ( Reply )
  54. PG

    Pepa Quin January 2nd

    The LSO logo is not just an elegant graphic – it is the head and arms of an orchestra conductor in action.

    ( Reply )
  55. PG

    bill January 2nd

    dude. i’m sorry about your last name.

    ( Reply )
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    Sean January 2nd

    The “elegant graphic” of the LSO logo appears to be an abstract of a symphony conductor.

    ( Reply )
  57. PG

    Leon January 2nd

    LSO graphic is also a representative image of a conductor. The L is the baton, the SO make the head and the conductor’s left hand.

    ( Reply )
  58. PG

    John Mindiola III January 2nd

    the upside down productions logo is absolutely phenomenal. i hope that guy/gal got a raise. three cheers for typography!

    ( Reply )
  59. PG

    Jack January 2nd

    I really enjoy the ones that are purely text — Curious and upside down are awesome!

    ( Reply )
  60. PG

    Daniel McClintock January 2nd

    Excellent out of the box logo designs; keeping yourself at my #1 position for a go-to when looking for design ideas!

    ( Reply )
  61. PG

    ntopics January 2nd

    I need to work on a logo, and these give me
    some good ideas.

    thanks from tony

    ( Reply )
  62. PG

    Llance January 2nd

    I think the LSO logo is also a stylized orchestra conductor, which would make it far more than just a generic graphic.

    ( Reply )
  63. PG

    shag January 2nd

    nice to see the wide assortment of styles. I’ve always been taught that logos should work in b&w so I’m conflicted by the Museum of London and the Metroplex. Don’t get me wrong, they both look great. Perhaps not as much of an issue these days of digital dominance?

    ( Reply )
  64. PG

    ness January 3rd

    the ambigram thing is getting a little faddish. very few of them are done well, most sacrifice readability for the sake of novelty. Also the treatment often has no conceptual tieback to the meaning of the organization.

    just my opinion.

    ( Reply )
  65. PG

    Paul Elwin January 3rd

    The London Symphony Logo also works because it resembles a conductor.

    ( Reply )
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    Joseph January 3rd

    might want to look up Multiple Personality Disorder and Schizophrenia. Your description is wrong.

    ( Reply )
  67. PG

    Chris January 3rd

    re London Symphony Orchestra – hope you all spotted the conductor with baton and gesturing hand …

    ( Reply )
  68. PG

    alel January 3rd

    most of it i’ve never heard of but the logos are all nice anyway

    ( Reply )
  69. PG

    Gary January 3rd

    Very nice list. I can’t say I agree with you on the Modern Nerd logo, but other than that I’m totally with you. I never would have thought the London Symphony Orchestra’s logo would be so… epic.

    ( Reply )
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    Amanda Wray January 3rd

    I see a conductor in the LSO logo….! :)

    ( Reply )
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    fadzli January 3rd

    nice post. make my mind blinking….: D

    ( Reply )
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    AnonymousRanter001 January 3rd

    I think this article’s title is a bit misleading… It should be “20 Cool Logos”. If they work, then how come they’re not booming or recognized everywhere besides the people that have shopped there once or twice? I have only seen the I <3 NY, because it is obviously very easy to recognize. Yeah, these logos are cool, but do they really work or are they just cool? I would think the ones that work are those anyone can recognize. Take Target, Apple, Chanel, etc. Their logos are very recognizable. Those are the ones that work. They might not be so creative as these ones, but they’re the ones making the profit.

    ( Reply )
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    Erik January 3rd

    I think you’re confusing schizophrenia with dissociative identity disorder ;)

    ( Reply )
  74. PG

    kjhghfb January 3rd

    schizophrenia and split-personality are two different disorders.

    ( Reply )
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    Howard Berry January 3rd

    The LSO logo is actually also a simple graphic depiction of a conductor holding a baton.

    ( Reply )
  76. PG

    Monty - Sensonize.com January 3rd

    These logos look great! Thanks for sharing :)

    ( Reply )
  77. PG

    Ben Williams January 3rd

    Some great finds in there, Chris.

    I think the LSO logo has another ‘layer’ to it – to me it looks like a stylised stick man of a conductor readying his orchestra to play.

    Genius!

    ( Reply )
  78. Interesting read. If I had any artistic talent I could come up with something decent, always end up with just some generic text logo with a shadow. =/ lol

    ( Reply )
  79. PG

    Rich January 3rd

    The LSO logo also looks a bit like the shape of a part of the Thames river which flows through London

    ( Reply )
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    Billy Knapper January 3rd

    I’m not sure this was intended, but the London Symphony Orchestra logo also slightly looks like a conductor with the L looking like the baton and the O making the head of a figure?

    Great list anyhow

    ( Reply )
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    Anraiki January 3rd

    In my opinion, Society27 and Bison blew me away. I had to take a double shot look, spinning my head to the east, and looking back again; rubbing my eyes.

    Great Inspiration.

    ( Reply )
  82. PG

    Dude January 3rd

    The LSO logo works because it suggests the motion of a conductor’s baton – it’s very well done. My favourite is the rehabilitation logo, though. That was VERY clever.

    ( Reply )
  83. PG

    kewl January 3rd

    19clothing.com logos pretty cool too.

    ( Reply )
  84. PG

    Bob Rudge January 3rd

    Pathetic article. Just telling us what we see doesn’t explain why they work. Oh wow, what insight you offer us into why the I Love NY logo has been come a worldwide icon – it’s because the heart stands for love and New York is represented by an N and a Y.

    ( Reply )
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    Daniel Duke January 3rd

    I think what you’ve written here is a pretty average attempt at writing an article. Very few, if any, of these logos are “weird” and your descriptions are incomplete and badly written. You missed alot of key points on these logos. It is however a nice little compilation of some very nice logos. Perhaps it should have been labelled “inspiration” instead.

    ( Reply )
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    Rubric January 3rd

    To clarify one of your points on one logo: Schizophrenia has nothing to do with “split personality disorder” though the general public uses the term as such. Knowing people who actually have schizophrenia, I feel it is important for them to be understood as what they are and not what people think of them. It’s rough to have Schizophrenia, and adding the “inform people that they don’t actually have multiple personalities” doesn’t help.

    ( Reply )
  87. PG

    Mark Frost January 3rd

    Some real gems here from some really creative designers!

    ( Reply )
  88. PG

    n icework January 3rd

    Hi! Great Article.

    I think the Headline is a bit misleading, since none of these Logos fall into the Category “weird”.

    The Artists behind these Logos just did a very good Job.

    These are great Examples of how less can be more.

    ( Reply )
  89. PG

    geekTips January 3rd

    Great list mate, there are several logos in the post that I think is way too weird hehehe.

    ( Reply )
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    RCKY January 3rd

    The london synphony orchestra’s logo looks horrible!! And i think there are still some rules for logodesign that f.e. the metroplex logo doesnt follow.
    On the other Hand there are some great Ideas in it as the zip, shizophrenic and upside down …

    ( Reply )
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    me January 3rd

    Sorry, but Schizonphrenic logo is exactlly like “Toni Albà” (Catalan Theater Company) logo.

    The logo was made by ADNstudio in 2005. Inspiration? dunno.

    Link: http://www.tonialba.com

    ( Reply )
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    Meow January 3rd

    It is entirely untrue that schizophrenia is characterized by split personality, Dissociative Identity Disorder is what people are thinking of when they say “split personality” —if anything this logo serves to perpetuate a myth and prejudice that people with schizophrenia must spend their lives dispelling. If anything a happy and sad face would be more apt for one of the cyclic mood disorders such as Bipolar Disorder or Cyclothymia.

    ( Reply )
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    Sean Hodge January 3rd

    @Chris – Great post and lot’s of fun concepts. One issue has come up though.

    Someone emailed us letting me know about Schizonphrenia and then if you follow the link http://siahdesign.com/archives/535 to the logos source, you’ll see lots of comments about this.

    I do think the Schizonphrenic logo is a bit misplaced though, as Schizophrenia isn’t associated with multiple personalities medically and it’s a bit insensitive. I think this is a case of a designer trying out different ideas visual, which work well, but loosing touch with the real world connection of the final design.

    Thx.

    ( Reply )
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    spongekill January 3rd

    Schizophrenia does not involve multiple personalities, that is a different medical condition called something like dissociative identity disorder.

    ( Reply )
  95. PG

    sixibit January 3rd

    nice logos, but they aren’t “wierd”

    ( Reply )
  96. PG

    spongekill January 3rd

    also worth noting the Upside Down logo is actually written backwards and then flipped – a sleeker solution than inverting select letters.

    ( Reply )
  97. PG

    Snerdey January 3rd

    Loco Motive is not weird.. it’s very unique :)

    ( Reply )
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    Pradeep G January 3rd

    The London Symphony Orchestra logo can be understood as a flow of the conductor’s baton as he writes the letters L.S.O in air.

    It is a clever idea and captures their core identity, IMO

    ( Reply )
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    stephen January 3rd

    Inspirational. Whilst I have developed my own logo, these ideas will help with further development of both my own and and clientelle logos. Thanks for showing these to us.

    ( Reply )
  100. PG

    Fabio Platero January 3rd

    Great logo.

    ( Reply )
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    Jody Reale January 3rd

    Fascinating! I’ll bet I can make some guesses as to what Chris Spooner’s personal logo would look like.

    ( Reply )
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    scott b January 3rd

    RE: Bison, Clever like this whole children’s program: http://www.wordworld.com/

    ( Reply )
  103. PG

    Jack Elliot January 3rd

    These logos may be witty, and thus “work,” but I think the time for such smart logos died in the beginning of the 2000s, along with the dot-com dream. Today, and I predict, into the future, logos which reinforce a sense of classiness and/or stability will be the most appealing to consumers and b2b—particularly in this economy. I think we are already seeing a move to seriffed type and deep colors in some of the best up and coming web apps.

    ( Reply )
  104. PG

    Theo Lagendijk January 3rd

    Good post. Maybe you like this one as well.
    http://www.bluecircle.tv/
    Check out this “Blue Circle” logo. (It’s a red rectangle.)

    ( Reply )
  105. PG

    Sean Hodge January 3rd

    I just approved the comments and looks like a lot of first time comments. Welcome everyone to VECTORTUTS and hope to see you again! Thx.

    ( Reply )
  106. PG

    Online Hry January 3rd

    Seven & Six logo is best. Simply, clean and clever.

    ( Reply )
  107. PG

    Jared Lunde January 3rd

    Interesting, but the “why” portion was never really answered. You basically just posted a bunch of logos with one sentence explaining what it was (most of which were fairly obvious, as they should be) but not why it worked.

    ( Reply )
  108. PG

    Geno Prussakov January 3rd

    “Weird” may not be the best word, but I certainly appreciate this post. Most of these logos are nothing short of spectacular! Thank you for compiling the list, Chris.

    ( Reply )
  109. PG

    Brian January 3rd

    I think the Washington State University logo deserves a mention. I love how the WSU letters has been morphed into the shape of the Cougar mascot:

    http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~poovaiah/WSU-logo.png

    ( Reply )
  110. PG

    Anandi January 3rd

    Cool list – I’ve only seen one of them before. LSO is my favorite – simple yet brilliant.

    ( Reply )
  111. PG

    Christopher Hernandez January 3rd

    schizophrenia is a disease in which the victim has no “grip” on reality. It has nothing to do with split personalities- that’s split personality disorder. Damn you Jim Carrey, damn you.

    ( Reply )
  112. PG

    loicdenize January 3rd

    There is effectively 20 logos.

    But they are not weird, nobody knows if they work, and assuming they do, you just say how, not why.

    “One weird title that overpromises and why it deceives.”

    ( Reply )
  113. PG

    Kathe January 3rd

    You’re confusing schizophrenia with dissociative identity disorder. The makers of the logo confused schizophrenia with bipolar disorder.

    ( Reply )
  114. PG

    Osama January 3rd

    Great articles! Was looking into making a logo for my blog and you’ve just given me tons of ideas! Thanks!

    ( Reply )
  115. PG

    cchs January 3rd

    Very disappointing to see the “Curious” logo in here by “Action Designer.” There’s an obscure firm called Pentagram that did something…shall we say…similar:

    http://pentagram.com/en/portfolio/marks/curious-pictures.php

    ( Reply )
  116. PG

    The Baldchemist January 4th

    Great design is a little like obsenity, you can’t describe it but you know it when you se it.
    Design, is not simply a trademark, a slogan or an easily remembered image. It is a studiously crafted personality profile of a corporation, product or service. You have to create it in such a way that people feel it deep down. Because if they don’t feel it; there’s no action or re-action.
    But one that I highly recommend is the Nikolsons marque.on http://www.nikolsons.com. Thanks for the post though. Have a great Life.

    ( Reply )
  117. PG

    Chris Spooner January 4th

    Thankyou for all the comments, it was a pleasure to write the article and it’s nice to see it enjoyed by a few readers.

    Regarding Schizonphrenia and the Schizonphrenic logo, I’m no psychology professional! In my opinion Schizonphrenia is commonly recognised in everyday life as split personalities, even if not 100% accurate – this logo obviously plays on this, and does a great job!

    The choice of the word weird, articles titles are provided and the content created based on that idea but still, where are the guidelines that outline what qualifies as ‘weird’, or just ’slightly strange’? :-)
    I don’t think the title – “20 slightly out of the ordinary, but not quite weird logos” would gain quite as much success as the current title which draws your attention and provides curiosity.

    ( Reply )
  118. PG

    Gennice January 4th

    These logos are created by real artists who made their creative and smart ideas in to these cool legends that can say many words with only couple of letters. Amazing… Thanks for sharing!

    ( Reply )
  119. PG

    solwyvern January 4th

    I personally think these are more clever then weird. :)
    zip, time, upsidedown, and the hospital gets my vote. Simple yet clear.

    ( Reply )
  120. PG

    serdar January 4th

    nice post about logos

    ( Reply )
  121. PG

    Bryce Brimer January 4th

    Most of these logos are OK. But they are far from being great. I don’t think they are even all that weird.

    Some of them are clever. But I doubt if they will stand the test of time. Perhaps the New York one. But in 10 years most of these will not be here.

    ( Reply )
  122. PG

    Grant Friedman January 4th

    Great article Chris!

    http://twitter.com/colorburned

    ( Reply )
  123. PG

    Paul January 4th

    Would have been better article if each example was from an actual application not just concept/stock logo like the examples featured from IncSpring.

    There’s a huge wealth of these “wierd” logos throughout the history of design.

    ( Reply )
  124. PG

    Paul January 4th

    @cchs.

    good call.

    ( Reply )
  125. PG

    KChristoph January 5th

    Thanks from Hannover, Germany !

    ( Reply )
  126. PG

    stantheman January 5th

    2 words:

    Eye Candy

    ( Reply )
  127. PG

    Pavel Pavlov January 5th

    thanks for the feature:)

    ( Reply )
  128. PG

    Timothy January 5th

    These aren’t even all that strange.

    Really nice collection!

    ( Reply )
  129. PG

    m January 5th

    I prefer the Bison logo from my old high school, but I am somewhat biased ;-) This logo has been in use as long as I can remember:
    http://bisontech.gfps.k12.mt.us/gfhs/images/Extra_curr.jpg

    ( Reply )
  130. PG

    Karen January 5th

    Could you not have just posted the logos without the commentary?

    What makes a logo work is its ability to transmit a message that is immediately understandable to the viewer. Explaining every logo completely negates the point of the article, that these are effective logos!

    ( Reply )
  131. PG

    John Cartago January 5th

    The Schizonphrenic logo is just pure genius :)

    ( Reply )
  132. PG

    Croninthebarbarian January 5th

    Schitzophrenia is not split personality, its not only wrong its unfair to assume that that, pity designers coulding get thier shit together and research the actual condition, only 2 known cass have ever been documented of somebody having schitzophrenia AND MPD

    ( Reply )
  133. PG

    lex January 5th

    schizophrenia is not split personalities. that’s a major misconception. it’s a delusional and hallucinating disorder typically with auditory hallucinations

    ( Reply )
  134. PG

    Canon Camera Reviews January 5th

    these are are awesome! I love the click cafe because the smoke is a bunch of cursers

    ( Reply )
  135. PG

    Lachy January 5th

    These logos are great!

    Check this site out. A history of logos.

    http://73259f47.thesegalleries.com

    ( Reply )
  136. PG

    George Coghill January 6th

    I like the “upside down” logo the best.

    ( Reply )
  137. PG

    Your mum. January 6th

    Why is I <3 NY weird? Possibly one of the most UN-weird logos ever. Fail.

    ( Reply )
  138. PG

    David January 6th

    The Schizophrenic logo represents ignorance to those in the know, as Schizophrenia is characterized by grand delusions, not split personality.

    ( Reply )
  139. PG

    jcap January 6th

    “Ugh. I find most of these logos executed terribly… just because there’s a rationale behind a logo doesn’t make it good.”

    Oh really? By that logic, a logo with no rationale can be good. So a logo about a cat pet store in the shape of a dog (as long as the dog looks good) can be a good logo.

    Sorry. No. The rationale is the message. And if you have no message youre just decorating.

    And if anything these are not terribly executed. Lets see some of your stuff. what a pretensious joke wayne o is.

    ( Reply )
  140. PG

    jcap January 6th

    oh and my favorite is the candy. amazing.

    ( Reply )
  141. PG

    kellyg January 6th

    I don’t see how the happy/sad face applies to schizophrenia. I have schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type. I see this being a bipolar symbol of mania and depression.

    ( Reply )
  142. PG

    Natural January 6th

    these were really cool. thanks for sharing. i love the cafe click logo.

    ( Reply )
  143. PG

    Nero January 6th

    another really cool logo that could be added is the one for the pittsburgh zoo. It uses the goblet/faces optical illusion to display a tree and multiple animals

    ( Reply )
  144. PG

    Jonathan Murphy January 7th

    I saw this article on another site.
    It doesn’t have a name so I don’t know if you submitted it there.
    http://bite-dose.com/cool-things/20-weird-logos-that-work-and-why-they-do/

    ( Reply )
  145. PG

    Zakaria January 7th

    Awsome !

    ( Reply )
  146. PG

    raoul duke January 7th

    Another logo that plays in representational symbols while relating heavily to the brand name is the Schizonphrenic logo. Being a medical disorder that often depicts split personalities the logo characterises this with simple shapes that depict a happy and sad face.

    how embarassing, schizophrenia has nothing to do with split personalities that is another disorder entirely, shizophrenia has to do with hallucinations a good example can be seen in A Beautiful Mind

    ( Reply )
  147. PG

    Debra January 7th

    Some nice logo examples, but I don’t find most of them to be weird- I did one in the same style as the Bison one not very long ago, but for a goat ranch. The name of the herd was shaped into a goat. Was a lot of fun doing it too. I’ve done a few other designs that are similar to some of these up here.

    ( Reply )
  148. PG

    Alexandria January 7th

    nice article with some excellent logos, but i’ve noticed a little error. schizophrenia is not characterized by split personalities. that’s a dissociative identity disorder
    schizophrenia is characterized by extreme paranoia, hallucinations and or delusional thinking.
    common misconception, but i think this fact makes your interpretation of that logo false.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia

    ( Reply )
  149. PG

    Anon January 7th

    Shame about the unneccesary commentary where you choose to point out the utterly obvious instead of demonstrating any particular insight or intelligence.

    The pictures you’ve gathered are nice, yes, but a critic you are not.

    ( Reply )
  150. PG

    giuseppe January 7th

    thanks, congrats :-)

    ( Reply )
  151. PG

    WebdesignerDepot January 7th

    Those are really ‘different’ – I loved the ‘museum of london’ one

    ( Reply )
  152. PG

    vonichi January 7th

    those are’nt weird. just well designed.

    ( Reply )
  153. PG

    factor January 7th

    London Symphony Orchestra…
    You failed to mention that the logo as a whole is reminiscent of a conductor conducting. That why it works.

    ( Reply )
  154. PG

    Erica January 8th

    Very creative :)

    ( Reply )
  155. PG

    Martijn de Valk January 8th

    Wow! The Candy logo is amazing

    ( Reply )
  156. PG

    Becca January 8th

    It was mentioned upthread, but the Bison logo is in fact very similar to the Great Falls High School logo, which they have been using for around 30 years.

    ( Reply )
  157. PG

    seansteezy January 8th

    if one more person says something about schizophrenia i am going to stab myself in the face with a graphics tablet pen. These are cool logos, thanks for putting them together. I have been following your blog here and there, some cool stuff. thanks.

    ( Reply )
  158. PG

    Gamma Identity January 10th

    Seven and Six – Great work!
    More >> http://gammaidentity.ru/record/64/

    ( Reply )
  159. PG

    I am bore January 11th

    Wow, great collection.

    Logo’s today are becoming more ingenious than ever before. My belief is: the simpler the better.

    ( Reply )
  160. PG

    Grunge Designer January 12th

    Hey.. Lemme tell you something, your blog looks great and it has some really great content, including this.

    Subscribing to your RSS aswell ;)

    cheers

    ( Reply )
  161. PG

    Robert Paulson January 12th

    THAT’S NOT SCHIZOPHRENIA

    IT’S A CONDUCTOR

    NOW I’M HALF OF THE COMMENTERS ON THIS PAGE

    ( Reply )
  162. PG

    cherie hanson January 13th

    Love your selection. The images are all very playful and evocative. Logos should be fun to be memorable

    ( Reply )
  163. PG

    Adam R January 13th

    By Far, the TOP 3 logos on this page are;

    1. Rehabilitation Hospital Corporation of America
    2. LSO
    3. Society 27

    All three are very unique, simple, clean, highly recognizable, would produce well, highly effective and conceptually AMAZING!

    ( Reply )
  164. PG

    alkaline January 13th

    don’t forget turn the upsidedown 180!! 180!! the horror, its a totally different thing

    ( Reply )
  165. PG

    Billy Ye January 13th

    I love the upside down logo. It is so effective by simply inverting two characters.

    ( Reply )
  166. PG

    nicholaspaul January 14th

    LOVE the upside down logo.
    T:me makes me slap myself with a ‘wish I’d thought of that’ !
    Thanks for the list.

    ( Reply )
  167. PG

    wombat January 14th

    you gotta laugh at the people saying these are not good logos, like the guy who has been doing it for 40 years, show us your work, go ahead, :) what a stuck up ass you are, ive met plenty of your type, cant produce the goods yoruself but love to critique, and the guy listing famous brands saying they work and these dont because he hasnt seen them, hahahah, too much, you are talking about personal recognition, not any other value, the reason that any logo ‘works’ under this definition is essentially repetition, promotion, advertising, they dont ‘work’ they just become part of your brain, look into how the brains pathways are formed and reinforced and theres your answer. The list has some awesomely clever ideas, i have my favorites which are just a matter of taste of course, have to agree with a bunch of people though, cant see how they are weird though. Another title would have been preferable.

    ( Reply )
  168. PG

    Biswarup Nath January 15th

    Love the Rehabilitation Hospital Corporation of America logo!
    Thanks for the list.

    ( Reply )
  169. PG

    ad January 15th

    ’shopped.

    ( Reply )
  170. PG

    guido January 15th

    The logos are fanatastic. I like all of when, the logo of the candy is the worst.

    http://www.icositetrahedron.com

    ( Reply )
  171. PG

    cynfy January 17th

    wow. amazing logos :)

    ( Reply )
  172. PG

    IH8CRITICS January 18th

    Hey did you know schizophrenia is commonly confused with split personality disorder?

    The author did not make any of these logos people. And on another site the creator of the logo explained he just slapped schizophrenic on their because people commonly associate split personality with it.

    And ‘weird’ can simply mean unusual or out-of-the-ordinary. Quit being such literal fckin pricks.

    ( Reply )
  173. PG

    Slip January 22nd

    How about the FedEx logo? Can’t believe how many people have never noticed that cool little arrow.

    ( Reply )
  174. PG

    Seb January 26th

    Some nice stuff in here, but the article is terribly written, and there’s no particular consistency to the theme or context of these logos. Some are personal, some are corporate, some are for theoretical purpose, some are for actual business purposes.

    ( Reply )
  175. PG

    Hardip February 2nd

    Why it has lots of diggs?

    ( Reply )
  176. PG

    3dp February 4th

    I’m sorry but i disagree in Cattleyard’s logo. It’s too complex, hard to recognize, can’t be appreciated in small size, it’s not everything that a logo should be. And Bison’s logo is wierd, it’s true, but I don’t know what company it represents, so I can’t judge it right. What I see is that the “S” could be mistaken for a “g” and the logo seems a little childish.
    Here I found another two Bison’s Logos:
    http://www.bison.com.mx/
    http://www.bison.co.uk/

    ( Reply )
  177. OK, OK. I just found my Schizophrenic logo here and the dozens of comments on it.

    I definitely had no intentions of having this logo make fun of the schizophrenic disorder and I deeply apologize to those who I have offended. I came up with the concept and figured that schizophrenic would be the most recognized name to go with it.

    I guess it would have been more ‘correct’ to call it “Dissociative Identity Disorder”. This logo is NOT currently associated with any company at the moment and is for sale on IncSpring.com. Thus, if this logo is used for an actual identity someday it most likely won’t have the word ’schizophrenic’ tagged to it.

    ( Reply )
    1. PG

      anon August 26th

      That’s cool… so when I make a logo of a pile of crap and call it “Christianity”, I’ll just assume that they’ll change the name later.

      Lame.

      ( Reply )
  178. PG

    v-render February 19th

    nice article .. you can add wacom logo in this ..

    ( Reply )
  179. PG

    GFX Video Tutorials February 21st

    grt article… thanks…

    ( Reply )
  180. PG

    Cole March 4th

    I really like the Bison logo, but it just bugs me that the bison is missing a front leg. The more I look at it, the more annoyed I am by it.

    ( Reply )
  181. Excellent Post! Thanks for this! For more inspiration check out 50 Inspirational Logo Designs

    ( Reply )
  182. PG

    Earl Dukes March 23rd

    When you read through this list of comments, it’s obvious why people hate graphic designers. HOW many people have to mention the schitzophrenia thing? HOW MANY people need to point out the “conductor” shape in there…

    …perhaps the commentary is banal, but YOU ALL READ IT, and you all were moved to comment! Mission accomplished!

    ( Reply )
  183. PG

    rynot March 25th

    bizarre list. some of this are amazing, others are downright horrid.

    ( Reply )
  184. PG

    louis gubitosi March 31st

    this is great!

    Upside Down is my favorite….

    ( Reply )
  185. PG

    Grid April 20th

    Nice collection.

    Can any of these commentors read? Yes, it’s a conductor and schitzo doesn’t mean split personality :P

    ( Reply )
  186. PG

    jd May 19th

    omg i can’t believe no one else has taken note of a clear rip off of dude’s logo on DA for the Schizophrenic logo. they look exactly the same

    ( Reply )
  187. PG

    Jessica Cave June 1st

    The LSO logo is absolutely brilliant. Yes, it’s flowy and beautiful. And yes, everyone has pointed out the conductor. But I can also see the bottom of an eighth note. Not sure if that part’s as intentional as the conductor, but it just adds more meaning to it. Genius. Pure genius.

    ( Reply )
  188. PG

    Nada August 19th

    i like’em all, very creative logos

    ( Reply )
  189. Stunningly creative these logo designs are.. In fact, i do not find these weird at all rather these are fueled by imagination and absolutely mind blowing.. I loved the Cattleyard, CafeClick, and Upsidedown designs.. these are excellent..

    ( Reply )
  190. PG

    linko September 5th

    Nice logos Chris , but why is Logomotives logo weird? I like all of when, the Rehabilitation Hospital logo is the worst. :) )

    ( Reply )
  191. the bison logo doesn’t seem that original, considering it was my HIGH SCHOOLS LOGO! See:

    http://thecoacho.com/2005%20PROFILES/KELLYCONNERS.htm

    ( Reply )
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