For example, some directions in design are driven by certain tools. Illustrator’s Swirl and Pucker tools as well as Scriptographer would emerge as likely suspects this past year. Also, that design can be heavily influenced by current events would become evident quickly: Witness the enormous crop of O-shaped logos inspired by the 2009 U.S. Presidential elections that have emerged in the last year.

But it’s only the human eye—combined with the eight-year track that this LogoLounge Trends Report has now blazed—that could reveal actual movement. Here’s what I discovered after reviewing the thousands of submissions: Transparency in logo design has become a bona fide design tool, like type or color, not a trend. It’s too ubiquitous anymore to be considered a direction: It just is.

Also, brightness in hue has become pervasive, likely due to the public’s eye being thoroughly trained now for light-projected, on-screen color. We now live in a RGB, not a CMYK world.

Text is ever more important in identity design. Driven by the delinquent dollar, clients and designers are working hard to make identity messages more succinct and/or direct, and incorporating actual words into logos makes the message all the more immediate. Some logos are simply stuffed with information.

Use of color is even more unrestrained now—which is somewhat counterintuitive given the flu-ish economy. Rainbow-like color has moved out beyond any preexisting symbolism and is often used to represent the concept of full spectrum, more choices, or additional capabilities.

A highly encouraging trend is the emergence of innovative, fresh design emerging from Eastern Bloc countries. Designers there seem to have a freeness that some Western designers have lost: They are more prone to submit a whole range of dramatically different logo designs to a single client, approaching the same problem from many directions. All trials may not be successful, but the effort and exploration are there.

Scandinavian design has also seen a shift of late, to a lighter, fresher approach in design. The clean line and contemporary feel has always been there, but designers are moving past even these factors. There’s a real feeling of freedom and exploration here.

What else is especially noticeable this year?

• There is plenty of optimism shining through in many designs—or at least clients are trying to bravely declare through their identities that they aren’t the slightest bit afraid.
  
• There is significantly more warping, faceting, and animation.
  
• Circles upon circles upon circles, especially nested inside each other and of diminishing sizes, are everywhere, as are building objects from circles.
  
• "Greeness" is still pervasive, but it no longer apparently has to be expressed by the color green: Any fresh palette will do.
• Finally, there is another significant development. For many years, successful logos were built from beautiful shapes. They were usually one color, or perhaps they incorporated a few colors. Now, designers have begun to look at the actual surface of the shapes as an entirely new canvas that can be addressed in myriad ways. Good draftsmanship and good ideas are still crucial to the process, but surface effects now add entirely new levels of meaning.

Every year, it’s worth noting that this is a report on trends, not a recipe book of styles. It is also not a finite list: There are other valid trends out there that are not mentioned here.

The report should serve you as an ongoing view of where logo design is headed. The word “trends” in itself can have a very negative cast, but in truth, trends aren’t bad. They reveal our growth. It’s our take on them that allows us to move even further forward.

http://www.logolounge.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=782