Some people argue that the best logos are the ones that evoke certain feelings in people. Simply put, it’s easier to make a logo stand out when it evokes a feeling in the viewer. It can be argued that logos do not actually have to look like pictures but can actually be words or concepts. That is the basis of the argument that is usually brought up when discussing logos.
Logos: An actor delivers a speech and uses a certain type of imagery to influence the audience’s sense of logic or reason through appeal. The same thing can be said of a commercial. Politicians use similar techniques with regard to speeches and commercial messages. Candidate debates for office uses a certain type of rhetoric to influence the audience’s sense of logic or reason with regard to his/her plans. A company’s marketing strategies can be explained through the examples of logos used. In both cases, the techniques being used are meant to persuade others to react a certain way or to think a certain way.
Logos and the use of certain visual cues/symbols, especially if they are designed and created in a way that appeals to the senses, create strong visual analogues to specific ideas/worlds. When an individual sees an example of a logo, it causes the feelings of the audience to react in a certain way. The logos create an emotional reaction in the audience because of the specific details and images depicted. In other words, logos and other visual cues/symbols appeal to the emotions of people. Such appeals result to persuasion.
The above discussion shows that logos and other visual cues/symbols/emblems appeal to people’s emotions. What is behind their appeal then? Does it have something to do with the logical structure of logos? These questions may seem unimportant to some, but the fact is that logos create appeal when they perfectly match (symmetrical) to the logical structure of any given text.
Logos are ‘image representations’ of a certain concept. They’re nothing more than pictures or images of things that someone wants to communicate to the audience. Logos are therefore ‘image manipulatives’. This means that they influence the audience’s interpretation of a certain idea using a logical approach. A great example of a persuasive logo would be Nike’s swoosh.
Logos thus influence the audience’s sense of direction and balance. An obvious example would be a speeding car. People intuitively understand that speeding means falling to pieces. This is an unconscious meaning that they are responding to because of the impact that the car has on gravity. The car’s speed, though relative to the gravity, is what makes it fall – it’s not its collision with the surrounding scenery. This gives us the first two definitions of logos.
As the case studies reveal, Nike’s use of color is critical in its appeal and success. It appeals to our sense of balance and motion. We also interpret the Nike swoosh as a representative of strength and power, which it is. This is not an inherent logical argument, but it is an argument we often make based on our personal experience of seeing and touching it. The strength and power of Nike’s design is in its ability to represent the strength and power of man.
An important point to remember is that logos are ‘referred to’ a specific audience. This is true even for non-logos. The word ‘Nike’ has a universal meaning, regardless of the context in which it is used. Therefore logos, being pictures and ideas, have the potential to influence the attitudes of the audience towards a certain concept. That means that logos have a greater potential to create new knowledge and understanding than does the facts contained in any given article.