Vintage Logo Design Inspiration for Graphic Designers
There's something very appealing and satisfying about vintage logo design. For one reason or another, retro logos never go out of style. This list of old logo designs should help get you inspired to create your own modern logo designs (or give you ideas to update an existing logo).
Building a history of the brand
Let’s say you’re tasked with designing a logo for a brand. The first thing you’ll want to do is get a thorough understanding of the brand you are working on. Think about important information such as:
Who are they?
What is their mission?
What are their values?
What is their name?
Once you have that information, use it to create a history for the brand. Don’t be afraid to dig deep into what makes them tick, and how they represent themselves through their name, slogan, and other forms of communication. This will allow you to understand how they want their logo to look and feel so that your design accurately represents the brand or product.
Vintage icons and shapes
Using vintage icons and shapes is an excellent way to create a sense of history for your logo. Vintage icons are often simple and minimalistic, so they’re great for logos with limited space. From the perspective of the audience, you want your logo to be very clear in terms of what it looks like and what it represents. The icon should be relevant to your brand and unique at the same time. Use the vintage design style that fits well with your brand or business theme.
Borrowing from the past
When designing a vintage logo, you may find inspiration in the past. Here are some ideas:
Use recognizable symbols and shapes from the past. If you're designing a logo for an Italian restaurant, why not put a bowl of pasta or a glass of wine in it? Or if you're designing for a bike shop, you could use a bicycle wheel or handlebars as part of the design.
Bring these elements up to date with modern techniques. Don't just take old design templates and slap your brand on them—that's usually considered plagiarism. Instead, play with color combinations that were popular today, or change the font to something more modern without sacrificing its vintage feel.
Vintage fonts and colors typically go together well when they have similar periods they came from. For example, if you have chosen to use neon pink and black in your design because that was popular in the 80's (a very colorful period), then choose fonts that mimic this time too! This can help enhance your overall theme as well as give off more cohesive vibes while not being visually overwhelming.
Retro fonts and colors
Retro is back! With all the hype about the new Star Wars movie, it's no wonder that people are looking to the past for inspiration. But you don't have to be a fan of Chewy or Darth Vader to enjoy retro fonts and colors.
The thing about retro is that it can be used in many ways. It's not just about color schemes and style choices — sometimes it's about finding the right font to match your design.
Find a retro font that suits your business
Does the font suit the style of the brand? For example, if you're designing a logo for a boutique hotel with an old-fashioned feel, you might consider a classy script font. On the other hand, if you're designing a logo for an independent record label with an edgy image, you may want to look into more retro computer/neon fonts.
How to choose colors to match your retro font? The color palette used in logos can vary dramatically depending on what sort of industry the brand is in and its intended aesthetic. For example, old-school sports team logos tend to be loud and bright; these are often created using a combination of primary colors (red, blue, yellow) and neutral ones (black and white). To create contrast from these bold primary hues, many designers opt for retro fonts that are fairly simple so as not to distract from the main focus of the design: the name of the team!
Vibrant colors, vintage line drawings
Vintage logo design is one of the most trending styles used by graphic designers. Graphic designers use different techniques and tools to create vintage logos such as;
Vibrant colors
Vintage line drawings
Bold, graphic shapes
Organic and flowing shapes
Bold typography
Though they do not have any specific rules or guidelines mentioned above are commonly used to create vintage logo designs.
Nostalgia and cliches
It’s no secret that nostalgia is a key component in vintage logo design. An element of nostalgia makes a logo feel like it belongs to the past, even if the brand is still currently active or was only recently created.
Many elements of classic logos are cliches at this point—that’s what gives them their nostalgic feel. Of course, you can use these same cliches to make your own modern brand look more vintage, too!
Personalization in logo design
Personalization is one of the most important trends to come out of advertising in recent years. Customers want to feel like the company knows them, that it understands them and cares about them as an individual. This is especially true for millennials, who are now the largest generation in terms of purchasing power and population.
As a graphic designer, it’s your job to make sure that your clients’ logos reflect these values. That means product branding needs to be more than just a logo design—it must also be an experience that reminds customers why they chose that brand over another each time they interact with it.
Final words
From the ever-popular color combinations to floral patterns and typography, vintage logo design will always be relevant. The practicality, timelessness, and nostalgia behind vintage logos should never be forgotten. By looking at old logo designs we can take away valuable lessons for when we are designing a new logo.
Vintage Logo Design Inspiration for Graphic Designers
