We live in a world of fast consumption and instant gratification—but when it comes to your company logo, evergreen is the way to go. While it’s easy to get swept up in design trends (everyone wants to be seen as the cool new kid) choosing longevity over street cred will help you create a timeless design logo that stands the test of time.
Why? Think about it: your audience will age with you, so your brand must appeal to kids and parents alike. It’s important to maintain a strong connection to your customers as you age together. And ideally you want a logo that appeals to the masses rather than singling out specific markets, which means (you guessed it) keeping it simple and easily recognizable.
There are some general rules when it comes to creating a timeless logo design:
- keep it simple yet strong
- stick with classic fonts
- use just 2 to 3 colors
- make it adaptable for all platforms—from social media to packaging
Here are our top timeless logos. Check out how it’s done!
Vintage timeless logos
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These logos offer a grainy texture, sometimes even fuzzy, which nods to old printing machines and adds an emotional, nostalgic feel. Vintage logos tend to have a border, which encloses the logo, and sometimes seem hand-drawn, such as the Copper Kettle Bakery example.
Back in the day, such styles would only have been possible in monochrome, but adding color gives it a contemporary twist, like the White Elephant Real Estate logo.
Vintage timeless logos work for traditional companies or those who have been around for a long time, such as a stationery brand or a company that makes leather goods. A vintage style gives your logo a timeless feel precisely because it purposefully leans into the past. A traditional vintage logo tells your customers that your brand has been around forever and will be around forever—no matter when it was actually founded.
Minimalist timeless logos
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Timeless logo design shouldn’t be over complicated. The best way to convey a message to a broad range of audiences is to keep it simple and stripped back. Line art, geometric shapes and sans serif typography are great tools to create a minimalistic, modern and timeless logo.
Minimalist timeless logos are easy to understand and can be recognized quickly by the masses. These are some examples of timeless logos that sum up a business via a simple quality logo in one fell swoop, from agriculture to interior design.
Monochrome timeless logos
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Firstly, monochrome logos promise much better value when printing by avoiding multiple expensive color inks. They also appear more clean-cut and classic than young, bright, sometimes garish colors, such as neons.
With a monochrome logo, you can afford to include more detail in your logo because the palette is unfussy, allowing more room for experimentation elsewhere. Sometimes it’s hard to pull off intricate logos in color as they may confuse the viewer.
This style works well for professional service companies that want to keep it simple and appear sophisticated at the same time.
Timeless colourful logos
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If you are going to go with color, we recommend sticking with primary colors and keeping your palette to a minimum. You could even just add one extra color to a monochrome base, or stick to different shades of the same color, like the blue hues of Kim Real Estate and the green in the Eden logo.
This is a good choice for industries who are often associated with certain color groups like green shades for wellness and environmental brands. Color can be very powerful, and you have to be careful not to go overboard. You can integrate it in a timeless way by using meaningful colors that are placed strategically within your logo.
Timeless typographic logos
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A surefire way to build a timeless logo is by sticking to a classic font and making it the focal point of your logo. Don’t try to be a maverick by choosing something utterly undecipherable (even if you think it looks cool). Many of these examples don’t even capitalise the first letter to keep the word concise, in one uniform level, rather than a scrawl all over the page.
If choosing a more free flowing style, make sure the word is easy to read, like the elegant Polarfuchs example. These work well for service led companies who don’t want to overcomplicate their offering or, alternatively, businesses that require pulling a few heart strings, such as the pet or toy industries.
Subject-specific timeless logos
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If your company centers around one service or word, why not concentrate on that when you’re designing your timeless logo? Animals are a great example: a horse represents a rodeo, a barking dog for Woof Boost a dog walking service and a Hummingbird for the restaurant of the same name. Depicting one subject as a representation of your brand will give your business a timeless symbol you can stick with for decades.
These logos use images that can be identified even as a cut-out silhouette. The message applies across all languages and alphabets, so this style of timeless logo is also perfect for international brands.
Time to go timeless
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Having a timeless logo is a solid basis for your brand, no matter what your plans are. With these examples as inspiration you can create a logo that defies time and will keep on giving for generations to come.
About the author:
Annabel Herrick is a freelance journalist and copywriter, specialising in travel and art/design. She has travelled all over the world on commission, in between working on commercial copywriting projects with big name brands, like Google and Casio. Her adventures have included interviewing a fashion designer in Montreal, hunting desert art installations in California, reviewing restaurants in Tel Aviv, trying ‘vinotherapy’ in Bordeaux and glamping in New York.
