2. MONSTER ENERGY
Monster energy utilises a conceptual image for the main part of the logo; 3 jagged lines that appear to
be claw marks, as if made by a “monster”. Cleverly these marks make the shape of an M, the first
letter of the brand. The M is in a just off neon green colour that is representative of the Monster
energy brand, this is likely done because neon fonts convey energy and the product that is being
represented is an energy drink. Similarly green is often associated with horror & monsters which makes
it a very relevant colour to use given the brand name.
Another thing worth noting is that the M is almost exclusively displayed on top of black, and neon colours
such as this shade of green work very well on black as they have a high contrast.
3. Beneath the graphic section of the logo is the name of the brand “Monster” written in a display
font that is also jagged and resembles an old norse runic font, the font it self is written in
white with a thin silver outline that gives the name some depth. The font has high line contrast
and manages to convey a sense of chaos while maintaining neat, evenly spaced lettering.
Beneath this can be found the word “Energy” again in capitals, this time it is in the same green
colour as the graphic and in a sans-serif geometric font. The lettering has been spaced out to
give it an increased element of strength and the fact that it shares the colour of the above
graphic manages to balance out the colour scheme, following Green, White, Green.
4. I feel that the design is a powerful one and is successful in representing both the nature of
the product as an energy drink and also the name and branding of the product.
When displayed on the cans, the silver outlining on the logo makes it stand out very well from
the black background and presents a reasonably minimal but yet detailed logo without the need
for much else in the way of product design.
5. SUBWAY
Subway uses a similar method of representing the literal meaning of the
brand name, using two arrows the first on the base of the S and the
second on top of the Y represents what I believe to be a sign giving
directions like you would find in an actual subway; this could also
connote the directions of trains moving between stations or even
speedy preparation of food.
The font used in a Sans-Serif bold font with little line contrast. The whole
word is on a slight tilt but does not appear to actually be italicized which
may also be suggesting movement and fast preparation of food.
6. The logo utilises the colours; green, yellow and white. The contrast
between “SUB” being written in white and “WAY” in yellow might help
bring more attention to the word “Sub” as this is the name of the actual
product sold. The green outline is a rather heavy one and likely serves
the purpose of making it readable when placed against a white
background whilst also connoting nature and freshness as the tagline
suggests “Eat Fresh”.
7. I feel that the logo is effective in standing out and grabbing attention, it
also seeks to implant some links to the nature of the product and brand
through the arrows and the green outline. Other than this I feel that it is
a fairly straight forward logo that does what it needs to.
8. ★STARBUCKS★
The most recent version of the starbucks logo is a twin-tailed mermaid
wearing a crown, on top of a green circle.
The image of the mermaid is quite a simplified one and is made entirely
with the two tones of white and green, which gives it a bold and easily
visible appearance; however the tails appear to be some what obscure
and it can’t clearly be seen that they are actually tails.
9. ★STARBUCKS★
The logo is detailed but still very simplistically done, this makes it quite a
powerful logo and one that is memorable, similarly this shade of green
has started to be associated with the brand even without the logo as it
has now become such a widespread franchise.
I feel that the design is unusual as mermaids have very little to do with
coffee and nor does the colour green. However the logo is clear and
straightforward, shown by itself it doesn’t do much in the way of
representing the brand, but when combined with the word coffee it
doesn’t need to.
10. Compare/Contrast
One thing that all 3 of these logo’s and many others share in common is
that they are all pretty simplistic, they don’t rely on huge attention to
detail and can be easily recognised even if they were printed without
colour.
I feel that Monster and Subway are the stronger logo’s as they work well
to represent the theme of the brand and the actual product sold by the
brand, whereas subway’s logo is fairly irrelevant.
My personal favourite is Monster, with its use of an off-neon green ontop
of black and with its balance of colour, with the Green, White, Green
sandwich. I also feel Monster has more personality to it.
