In this blog, I will start looking at the design strategy, specifically designing my wordmark;

First, I need to further my understanding of what a wordmark is. In my research, I was able to look at a few different sources to guide me in my understanding. One of the best sources I found was an online article called the "Wordmark Logo Design: A Beginner’s Guide"

From the article, I learnt that wordmarks are "a type of logo design that includes only the company name — no symbols, mascots, or badges."

One of the reasons why wordmarks are so important for a brand is that the wordmark will eventually become the visual landmark for the brand. Some examples where the wordmark has become a visual landmark for brands include;

Those famous brands demonstrate to us what it means when wordmarks/typography become and visual landmark. If we did not know the meaning behind the words/did not know the brand themselves, the fonts would just be letters and shapes. However, as we get to know the brand and see it in our everyday lives, as would be the case for famous brands; the style, colour and lettering of these words become specific to objects and organizations.

Another good explanation of this is by Ian Paget, a U.K based graphic designer -

"if I asked anyone to choose an appropriate font for the word ‘Army,’ most of us will picture a heavy stencil typeface, and we would most likely color it in dark green, too.”

Paget also states that before designing a wordmark, it is crucial to understand your target audience. Only through understanding your audience will we be able to " take advantage of these cultural and visual associations to communicate specific messages through the use of font and color in your logo."

What Paget said reminded me that as I develop my logo, I must keep in mind my young target audience. So before I resume any future reading into the online article about wordmarks, I need to have a look at what competitors' wordmarks are. As a young person myself, i decided to look at some online banks/online payment services which appeals to me, such as Monzo and Klarna;

I contrast this against the older "legacy" bank word marks;

This is an older version of the Santander wordmark;

I also took a photo from my bank card as a real-life comparison, below is the newer version of the wordmark;