A two-dimensional logo works great if your company wants to do business in the 20th century.
If you want to compete in the current marketplace, you need branding that keeps pace with trends in social media, video, and web content. That means looking at animated logos.
History is littered with terribly animated logos. Just think of every GeoCities page you ever visited if you need a reminder. So how do you avoid the traps of terrible animation and choose a moving logo that really sings?
For starters, you can keep reading. We've compiled this list of 10 top animated logos that can provide you inspiration when it comes time to go to your own digital drawing board.
Animated Logos You Won't Soon Forget
We've chosen these specific logo examples to give you a wide cross-section of types of businesses and animated logos. There are multinational corporations on this list, but there is also a food truck. There are internet power players and physical product providers.
Whatever your business is and whatever needs you have in designing an animated logo, we trust you'll find something inspiring in the list below.
1. Amazon
Most often a simple and universal design are key ingredients to animated logos for complex companies. That is especially true for Amazon's rather simple and clean animated logo.
Although Amazon is one of the most complex and innovative companies out there, their logo animation is just friendly and short, easily understandable for everybody.
2. Shazam
An animated logo that looks sharp and impressive is great. If you have a logo that also communicates something about the function of your company, that's ideal.
Shazam's logo gives a double impression. There is booming audio from the logo, but there is also the impression that the logo is making sense of the chaos around it. That's a perfect description of Shazam's service, which makes this a logo to study.
3. Firefox
Successful logos also communicate the values of the business. In Firefox's case, that's speed. Firefox users want a web browser that loads sites reliably but also as quickly as possible.
The spin of the fox in the logo gets across that value of speed simply. The ever-increasing size lets users know that Firefox is evolving along with them.
4. IKEA
IKEA communicates its mission well in its animated logo. The Swedish megacorporation targets customers who need common household items at affordable prices.
Since most of IKEA's products involve some assembly, the company is wise to display that assembly process in its logo. The expanding letters in the logo show the satisfaction that comes from a fully assembled piece of furniture. The bouncing ball that provides the seed of growth for each letter shows the ease of assembly.
IKEA isn't always known for easy-to-assemble products. There are countless IKEA memes and jokes about spare parts and ignored manuals. Thus, in its logo, we also see the company doing some correction of misconceptions about the brand.
5. Cub Studio
Cub Studio's business is animation, so its animated logo better be impressive. Fortunately for Cub, it is.
The Cub Studio logo communicates a couple of things about the brand right off the bat. There are at least three distinct "acts" in the logo in which the logo itself makes a drastic change. It goes from static bear to moving bear to roaring bear to company name to a color reversal.
That's an impressive amount of change over the course of just a few seconds. That kind of ambition shows off the scope of what the company can do.
The other immediate characteristic of this logo is the way Cub Studio is able to endear itself to the viewer of the logo. That bear is cute! There's no other way to say it.
That Cub was able to get such an endearing image from so few visual elements points back to how impressive the company's animators are.
6. Google
Are you surprised we included one of the biggest companies in the world on a list of brand inspirations? Yeah, we didn't think so.
Google's logo is another like Cub Studio's, in that it displays many facets of the company in a short span of time.
In this logo, there is the microphone, the pulsing audio levels, the company's signature "G," and the four primary color (except for green) dots that connect all three of the aforementioned images. With these elements, Google shows how powerful its platform is, though its built on the back of simplicity.
7. Squarespace
This logo is so simple you can miss how effective it is.
It's a simple morph of the number 6 from Squarespace's existing logo, which allows the company to keep its brand strong while signifying to customers that change is on its way.
8. Hypercompact
True to the company's name, Hypercompact does a lot with a little bit of space in this logo. It's an image that implies a "boom" sound effect, and that multi-sensory assault is impressive and kind of old school.
The space theme in the logo lets the customer know that Hypercompact is forward-looking in the apps it builds.
9. Macaw
Fun and color! Macaw does a lot with stripes and colors in this logo. It's an image that implies a democratic and open minded concept, and that multi layering effect is simple and effective.
10. Spotify
We end with a big one. This well known music streaming company communicates all it needs to in this animated logo.
We clearly see the name of the company and their icon, which are elements you shouldn't underrate when animating your own logo. We also see animations resembling data and music in a snappy way that inspires strong confidence that this is a brand that moves forward into the future.
Animation Inspiration
We hope you've found some nice inspiration from the animated logos of these famous companies. If you don't have even a logo yet and just starting out check out how to get a logo, here.
Once you've got your logo ready and want to know more, read more about our guide to the sizes of animated logos.
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