What is a Brandmark?
A brandmark is a logo made of a symbol or image alone, with no company name attached. The Nike swoosh and Apple’s apple are famous brandmarks: graphics so recognizable they identify the brand without a single word. Most companies pair a brandmark with a text version of their name rather than using it alone.
More About Brandmarks
Brandmarks sit inside a family of logo types, as the diagram above shows. Designers usually pick one of three approaches for a brand’s primary logo, and the choice follows the brand from business cards to favicons.
Brandmark vs. wordmark vs. combination mark
- Wordmark. The company name itself, set in distinctive type. Google and Coca-Cola are wordmarks: the text is the logo.
- Brandmark. A symbol with no text, like the Starbucks siren. Also called a pictorial mark or logomark.
- Combination mark. Symbol and name together. Many brands design the pair so the symbol can eventually stand alone.
When can a brandmark stand alone?
After the audience already knows the mark. Nike dropped its name from the swoosh only after years of pairing them, once recognition was strong enough to carry the mark solo. A new business that leads with an unexplained symbol is asking strangers to memorize two things at once: the mark and the name. Most start with a combination mark instead and drop the text once the symbol is recognized on its own.
Brandmarks on your website
Even brands that never run a symbol-only logo need one on the web. The favicon in a browser tab, the app icon on a phone, and the profile picture on social accounts are all tiny squares where a full logo with text turns to mush. A simplified brandmark that survives at 16 pixels is part of any complete brand style guide, whatever the primary logo looks like.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between a brandmark and a logo?
A logo is the umbrella term for any graphic that identifies a brand. A brandmark is one specific type, made of a symbol alone. Every brandmark is a logo, but most logos are not brandmarks, because most include the company name in text.
Can a brandmark be trademarked?
Yes. Trademark offices register symbol-only logos as design marks, which protect the exact graphic. Registering the name separately protects the wording in any styling, which is why many companies register both: the symbol and the name are each defensible on their own.
Is a logo made from initials a brandmark?
Not quite. Initials set as a graphic, like IBM's, are usually called a lettermark or monogram, a separate category. A lettermark behaves like a brandmark at small sizes, but it still spells something, so it keeps a hint of the name a pure symbol gives up.
What file formats does a brandmark need?
A brandmark needs a vector original, usually SVG, so it scales from favicon to billboard without blurring, plus exported PNGs at the sizes your platforms ask for. Keep a single-color version too; it's what survives dark mode, embroidery, and print.
