Are serifs dead for logos? Tech companies would seem to think so.

One of my clients is at the Gartner Expo in Barcelona and I was interested to see who else was exhibiting there. As I scanned through the logos I was struck by how ‘samey’ they all looked.

No one company seemed to be trying to stand out from the crowd. Black and blue were the dominant colours with splashes of red, orange and some green to be seen. But the thing that struck me the most (and which is why they look so much the same) was the overwhelming use of sans serif fonts for the logos.

There were 135 logos on the home page. All but six used a sans serif. The notable exceptions were the old guard – IBM and T (formerly T-Mobile) plus a few others.

I never thought I’d be singling out a logo as old as Big Blue’s but it at least still stands out compared to the younger Turks shown there.

Now, you’d expect me to bang on about visibility and getting your message across in a distinctive way. But it is pretty important isn’t it? If your logo looks the same as every other logo out there then is your website, collateral, and everything else to do with your brand a yawn as well?

Answers on a plain white postcard please.