Logo Design Shape and Character

A shape will always convey a message about the character of a logo and implicit the company, organization or person it represents. The shape is the essence of what we remember and a logo should involve a shape that is appropriate and memorable. Our brain loves to use shape to identify things, because it can do it very quickly.

Let's look at the basic and most common shapes and identify the message they transmit and also see the way those shape were used in designing corporate logos. Designing with this information in mind will allow a designer to imprint the logo a certain character.


Circles are protective or infinite. They endure, restrict, confine what is inside them while keeping the other things out. Circles suggest integrity, community, perfection and completeness. Circles move freely or they can roll, their movement suggesting energy and power. Their completeness suggests the infinite, unity, and harmony. Circles are graceful and their curves are seen as feminine. They are warm, comforting and give a sense of sensuality and love.


Squares and rectangles are stable suggesting conformity, peacefulness, solidity, security and equality. They are familiar and trusted shapes and imply honesty. Their angles represent order, mathematics, rationality, and formality. Rectangles are the most common geometric shape encountered. The majority of text we read is set in rectangles or squares. Their commonness can seem boring, they generally do not get attention, but they can be tilted to add an unexpected twist.

Triangles can be stable when sitting on their base or dynamic when angled. They suggest tension or conflict, action and aggression. Triangles have energy and power and their dynamic can suggest either conflict or steady strength. Based on which way they point triangles can direct movement. Triangles are masculine shapes and can be used to convey progression, direction and purpose. They are balanced and can be a symbol for law, science and religion. On one hand triangles can be used to suggest familiar themes like pyramids, arrows and pennants while on the other hand they represent the religious trinity, self-discovery or revelation.