Organizations in the Entertainment market are in a field that is heavy on creativity, innovation, style, and trends. What people found entertaining last year may be boring this year. Trends in music and video game tastes change over time. Stability is not a hallmark of this industry. So a logo that works great for a bank may be too sedate for an Entertainment company. The relevant point here is that a logo must fit the company's image and the nature of its business. Some entertainment business owners actually ask professional designers to "piggyback" on some identity from an unrelated company simply because they like it. All images -- regardless of industry -- must fit the company they are intended to represent.
Considerations in Designing an Entertainment Logo
Entertainment companies are particularly difficult to design for. Because of the nature of that industry it's easy to overdo the "sizzle" in designing the logo. Yes you want strong and bold colors but be careful of how many you use. Yes you want creative imagery, but be careful about incorporating graphics that can't be enlarged or reduced. Will that 3d enhancement that looks great on a poster transfer to a letterhead or to the Internet? Just like any other business, entertainment company logos are the starting point for all communication efforts. Letterhead, business cards, marketing material, promotional items, advertising material, and even corporate offices all incorporate the business identity.
Take color as an example. Yes you want to use bold colors like red, orange, and maybe even indigo. Blues and blacks are desirable as well and gradients of these colors add impact. But make sure you check what happens in Black and White. If the logo won't produce well either adjust the colors or make sure the entertainment company for whom the image is being designed has a budget that will allow for a hundred percent color reproduction.
Font size is another issue that follows the same principle. 3d Effects with certain fonts look great but will they look great everywhere the identity is applied. The "Keep it Simple" rule of design is especially important because it is easy to confuse simplicity with being dull and boring. But simplicity works with these companies. Consider one of the most famous entertainment logos of all time: Paramount Pictures.
The Paramount Logo - Great Entertainment Logo Example
Simple, elegant, and originally appearing in three colors with minimal shading, this logo has been around with some minor variations for almost a hundred years. The mountain, the stars, and the sky are all attention grabbers. What's more this image evokes curiosity in the viewer. What does a mountain have to do with movies? Is that Mount Fujiyama? What do the stars represent? Some think the movie was just a doodle on the designer's pad but the stars we know were meant to represent the twenty four movie stars who were signed with Paramount at the time. Paramount's original owner, Adolph Zukor, was one of the first to establish Hollywood's star system where famous actors and actresses would make movies for a single studio. While the stars are white note the color gradations in the sky in some uses of the logo. Note that these gradations do not harm the impact of the design when reproduced in black and white. Current entertainment companies would do well to study those images that have withstood the test of time.
