Thanks to Reddit, I came across a very cool website. It’s called Neal.fun and it has a bunch of interactive infographics and impressive game-like exercises for when you need a break from your day. There was one game I found that was particularly interesting. It was called ‘Draw Logos From Memory‘. Now this isn’t a challenge I’ve ever had to actually do before, but I thought I would do okay.
The game provides you with the brand colours, which is really helpful. Just seeing the colours alone sparks your memory into trying to put them into their correct shapes. Unfortunately, despite being a graphic designer, my attempt to draw logos from memory was pretty bad due to the rudimentary drawing tools and my inability to properly picture each logo in my head. However, I think that’s why it’s so much fun.
Draw Logos From Memory
In fairness, the game only asks you to draw easily recognizable logos like McDonalds, Apple, etc. For the most part, I was able to draw a very rough interpretation of each logo. McDonalds is an orange M, Nike is a swoosh, and Apple is a bitten apple. The others were only slightly more complex, although I completely blanked on how to draw a bird for Twitter, and also which direction it faced.
And let’s not talk about the Spotify logo. It’s not something I use and I had no memory of what the logo actually looked like. I spent about four minutes drawing in total, so don’t obsess over my lack of drawing skills; I was not aiming to impress.
An Exercise For Creatives
These kind of activities are great for creatives because they stir those problem solving juices in a really fun way. This one in particular proves to designers that making a memorable logo often means making a simple logo. A logo that is still recognizable once it’s been drawn in an crude way with poor tools is likely a well designed logo.
This game in particular involves recalling a logo and breaking it down into its simplest parts, then quickly drawing it with a large brush. The end results won’t be impressive, but they might just be hilarious. Check out my attempt. I promise, I draw much better on paper.
Draw Logos From Memory – In Summary
Overall, the logos I was able to draw the best were the most simple. They were created using very simple shapes and in single colours only. That being said, they are also the logos I’ve seen the most throughout my life.
It can be hard to picture a logo in your mind unless you’re exposed to it a lot during the day. But even then, some logos are so complex that your mind won’t be able to draw them perfectly. For instance, the Starbucks logo. This one is hard to recreate even when you’re looking right at it. That goes for NASA as well. Does that make them more or less successful than other logos? It certainly makes redrawing them more challenging.
Have you played the game yet? Which logo did you find the most challenging? Do you find it fun to draw logos from memory? Let me know in the comments below!
If you enjoy playing logo games check out The Logo Game where you can test out how well you actually know slogans, commercials, and logos. If you’ve studied popular logos and their brands you’ll probably beat anyone you play this with.
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To gain some insight into modern-day branding, we handed 100 people some coloured pens and embarked on an experiment. Then, we asked experts in marketing and branding to give us their tips on how a business of any size can develop a memorable logo that resonates with its audience. We then asked 100 members of the public to draw each logo of the above brands. Drawn by hand, they had a total of 30 minutes, with no restrictions on colours and absolutely no use of the internet. Here is what we found.