Logo design in today’s world is totally under rated. People do not understand how important a good logo is and how valuable it is to their business and this is why I am highlighting some of the worst logo designs out there.
By outlining these bad logo designs (in my opinion) I hope to raise awareness of how important it is to have a strong brand & identity for your business or product. If you are after examples of high quality logos be sure to check out some logo design inspiration galleries.
Further suggested reading:
- Why logo design does not cost $5.00
- How to design a logo
- How NOT to design a logo
- The real problem of design contests
- When is a bad logo actually good?
- 5 recent rebrands that caused the most upset
What was your favourite ugly / bad / horrible / phallic logo design?
Sources: ArtistMike | YourLogoMakesMeBarf | WebDesignIdeas
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April 21st, 2009 at 11:32 PM
Some pretty bad stuff here. It’s sad that this kind of work is used all over the place. People often try and do/say too much with a logo and often that is where the problems start.
April 21st, 2009 at 11:37 PM
The last one is pure genius. I mean really now… The client must have pissed the designer pretty bad for him to come up with that!
April 21st, 2009 at 11:56 PM
I had a better one.
http://velagym.com/
Nice.
April 21st, 2009 at 11:57 PM
That second last one, with the Asian writing… That’s just wrong. I mean, what were they thinking!?
April 22nd, 2009 at 12:53 AM
Even though I’m not a designer, I love learning about it. This was a great tutorial in “What NOT to do” for designers. Perhaps also for business owners, “Don’t let this happen to you” or “When to go back to the drawing board.”
The Kids Exchange reminded me of a similar showcase of disastrous domain names. Haven’t checked whether these are real or not, but they certainly are bad:
http://humour.200ok.com.au/bad-domain-names.html
It’s always great to start the day with a laugh — or at least, being very curious. “What were they thinking?” is always an interesting exercise.
April 22nd, 2009 at 1:18 AM
Some of those logos are just crying out to be made into t-shirts.
April 22nd, 2009 at 1:25 AM
Ah Papyrus. The logo design equivalent of a frozen throw-in-the-oven pizza. Comic Sans gets all the flack but somehow Papyrus is overlooked.
While we’re throwing the odd phallic logo around, don’t forget the OGC (http://www.ogc.gov.uk/). Look at the logo and tilt your head to the left.
April 22nd, 2009 at 1:29 AM
Wow, the Arlington Pediatrics logo should’ve landed the designer in jail. Nice collection of late 90’s web looking logos. Sad that so many of these logos are still in circulation.
Thanks for the infinite confidence booster!
April 22nd, 2009 at 1:30 AM
Now, that’s a lot of papyrus!
April 22nd, 2009 at 1:44 AM
Wow. Give someone a pirated version of Adobe CS3 and see what happens. It’s sad that logos like these are being published as we speak. Well, all the more reason for good designers to get out there and work their magic!
April 22nd, 2009 at 1:44 AM
You just can’t make this “stuff” up! This is what happens when people with MS Paint decide they can make their own logo! *giggle* Good on them for trying though!
April 22nd, 2009 at 1:46 AM
wow… the last one… that looks like a big red butt with something being thrust into it! That’s AWFUL!!
April 22nd, 2009 at 1:50 AM
Enjoy a few of these corkers guys…
http://www.estetica-design-for.....sauce.html
April 22nd, 2009 at 1:56 AM
Your logo isn’t really that great mr just creative design
April 22nd, 2009 at 2:01 AM
@Lint – You’re right Jacob’s logo is pretty bad. That’d be why it won “Best of Nation” and “Best of Continent” awards last year.
Oh, wait…
April 22nd, 2009 at 2:08 AM
Haha, I volunteered at a place that requested the use of the Poolservice Company logo on a program booklet. So glad to see that I’m not the only one who thinks this logo should be in this mix. :)
April 22nd, 2009 at 4:56 AM
I actually love the pool service one. I really do. Even if it looks like the frog’s peeing.
April 22nd, 2009 at 5:04 AM
Why does everyone call themselves a “Dr.”?
April 22nd, 2009 at 5:19 AM
The Web and Graphic Solutions one had me stumped for a minute…. took me a moment to see it was a flying penguin rather than a woman in a lounge chair with a shotgun. And the Poolservice Company one… does that martini suggest the company owners are drunks?
April 22nd, 2009 at 5:56 AM
butt plug in the ass gets my vote for worst.
April 22nd, 2009 at 6:08 AM
Wow! I’m glad I looked at these before lunch, or my reaction might have ruined my keyboard! Thanks for these…I guess?
April 22nd, 2009 at 7:54 AM
LMAO
@
kid sex change a.k.a kidsexchange
April 22nd, 2009 at 11:56 AM
Nice assortment of really bad logos Jacob. It is a really good reality check for the public to see how important it is to hire a professional designer opposed to the high school teenager next door with a ripped copy of Photoshop. Logos are one of those things where a client can really see the meaning of the phrase ‘What you pay for is what you get.’
April 22nd, 2009 at 1:17 PM
That got me dizzy!
Thats what you have to show clients when they ask you to lower the logo creation price.
The cheaper, the worst.
April 22nd, 2009 at 5:17 PM
Oh my goodness!The funnest one is “Wisconsin”,Im told it was done by one of the big boys lol
April 22nd, 2009 at 8:00 PM
looks like some of these fools were using microsoft paint
April 24th, 2009 at 10:19 AM
Amazing. The last one takes the cake to me…
April 28th, 2009 at 1:27 PM
IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!
April 28th, 2009 at 9:45 PM
What are you on about Jacob, those logo designs are AMAZING!!!
lol
April 29th, 2009 at 12:37 AM
I not speek guud inglish, but I theenk I unnerstand that these is guud logos.
How kan I reech these arteests to kreeate logo for mee?
I wont logo like ‘pool doctor’ (# 4) verry klever logo deezine.
April 30th, 2009 at 1:42 AM
I don’t think that “Hip Hop for HIV” is that bad. In fact it goes fairly well with the whole hip hop theme.
April 30th, 2009 at 11:49 AM
I lol at the Kudawara Pharmacy =D
May 1st, 2009 at 12:17 PM
amazing what passes for a logo! So did it take you long to gather this assortment? Probably not, which is scarey on it’s own
May 1st, 2009 at 12:33 PM
I have got one to add to the list:
http://www.letsdancecleveland.com.
I don’t know what suprises me most, the horrible crap passed off as logo design, or the clients who actually pay for it.
May 2nd, 2009 at 12:19 AM
Wow…headache after looking through all of them. I use 99designs alot (design contests for logos, website etc) and i always see people entering stuff like this, then i look and they have entered loads of other contests all with the same low quality work, it’s not that they don’t have ideas for them, it’s just that they havent learnt the software they need to to make those ideas look good on a computer, and i always think that why dont they think before they upload it ”Would i use this logo?” or ”Can i imagine this being a companies brand, their identity?” because the answer would probably be no.
Thanks, I love your website by the way. lots of great articles!
May 4th, 2009 at 10:57 PM
got a nose-bleed while scanning this list of horrible design geniuses!
May 7th, 2009 at 6:05 AM
Thank you for posting these. I haven’t laughed that hard in months…
May 11th, 2009 at 2:05 AM
simple is dimple. now a days some clients using these kinds of logos. when some one submitting professional concepts they don’t want to accept it. the want the ugly unprofessional kids drawings. what to do. Iam still remembering the word jacobs told in his earlier posts “Some times we have to educate clients”.
May 27th, 2009 at 8:43 AM
Its good to look at bad…. & learn.
May 29th, 2009 at 5:05 AM
Please, no more, I can’t stand looking at these!
…Well, except for the phallic ones, some of those are pretty hilarious.
June 6th, 2009 at 2:38 AM
The phallic logos were incredibly amusing. The sad thing about it is that the client apparently didn’t notice it. Thanks for sharing!
June 10th, 2009 at 12:35 AM
Thanks for making my morning! I almost spit out my coffee as I scrolled down the page :-)
June 10th, 2009 at 7:42 AM
So when is Microsoft’s bing logo going to be added to this list? http://www.joshuardavis.com/20.....-fail.html
June 10th, 2009 at 11:58 PM
Some of these are awesome – thanks for sharing! The sad thing is most of these will have been done by ‘designers’ (especially the high profile ones like Capital One) – I’m not sure what thay says…
June 13th, 2009 at 7:44 PM
I love the kidsexchange that’s just funny. Do people actually use these?? It’s sos ad! oops forgot to put the spaces in the right places.
June 16th, 2009 at 10:19 PM
Well, I choose to differ with you on some a few logos, especially the hiphop for hiv logo.
June 17th, 2009 at 4:05 PM
There are some logos that I don’t understand why it’s ugly.
Here’s what I don’t know why the logo is on the list
capital one bank
conversant
oracle palms
compass bay
arlington pediatric center
I have a feeling that my design skills aren’t that good enough and I am afraid my work would end up here. Can some of you give some feedback why this is supposed to be here?
Is the logo not memorable?
Doesn’t work without colors?
Thanks in advance!
June 21st, 2009 at 3:30 AM
all these logos suck…to much going on with them!!
i wonder how they came out when they were actually printed lmao.
all those gradents outerglows and what not will not work with the printer..and im sure half these logos got printed on vinyl or whatever to be hung in front of the store lol
these suck
or should i say these are WACK!!!
June 22nd, 2009 at 6:57 PM
now, i know what to avoid during logo design
June 23rd, 2009 at 1:55 AM
Regarding the Hip-hop logo I think it’s obvious: it’s called “Hip-hop for HIV”, so it’s of pretty bad taste the use of red splatters all around the logo that imediatelly remind you of blood…
June 25th, 2009 at 9:28 AM
Ive seen marker comps better then this!
July 1st, 2009 at 2:33 AM
I am just glad that none of my designs made it on the list!
July 2nd, 2009 at 5:15 AM
Some of them look like they’ve been designed by someone who has just discovered WordArt. Bleh. :p
July 16th, 2009 at 1:39 PM
Hey, you just stole all those images from yourlogomakesmebarf/dot/com
Lame.
July 16th, 2009 at 2:56 PM
Yeah there’s alot of bad stuff here. The closest thing to palatable it the Barrett Systems one but the texts needs more oomf.
July 19th, 2009 at 5:03 AM
“KIDSEXCHANGE” – nice job there
August 1st, 2009 at 9:24 AM
The “best” is the priest lol :D
Well, the last one was created in Brazil, and here the “fazer logo” ( make logo ) can be cruel when you see people selling a “job” about 50 reais ( $25 )…
August 7th, 2009 at 9:28 AM
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I really think the W3Schools logo is a bit improper… http://www.w3schools.com/
August 14th, 2009 at 5:55 AM
I never get tired of looking at these. One of the greatest examples for clients not to trust no-name designers.
August 31st, 2009 at 5:33 AM
Boy, you sure located some bad ones! I couldn’t even finish looking at all of them. I always get angry when I see a really stupid logo or a really busy one. Worst are the ones you can’t even read. Annoying. You’ve done a great job of pointing out bad design.
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:15 PM
Simply awesome !
September 11th, 2009 at 6:43 AM
They may be questionable in quality… but they can still serve one good purpose for beginning designers (besides the “beware!” function): re-working bad logos is a great way to add some starting samples to an otherwise sparse portfolio. :)
Granted, we may not have all the background and research info necessary on any particular company at first glance — but its (bad) logo is still a pretty good start.
September 11th, 2009 at 6:49 AM
Haha, can’t believe the clinica dentist!!
September 11th, 2009 at 7:00 AM
there is one that I recently saw that gets the trophy for least compassionate.
Look for “911 restoration” it’s really troublesome.
September 12th, 2009 at 7:21 AM
Where on earth did you find all of these logos? Some of them are so bad I find it hard to believe they are real.
September 15th, 2009 at 4:43 AM
Yikes.
Obviously, 90% of these were not designed by a professional. I mean a professional professional, not someone who just plays a professional on TV.
September 15th, 2009 at 11:21 AM
I did a logo for a class assignment once that I thought was just the coolest design ever. The teacher was emphatically against it and I didn’t understand why until later when a classmate showed me how phallic it was. The teacher didn’t want to humiliate me (thanks where ever you are!) but I learned a valuable design lesson, none the less.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:39 AM
Papyrus is a big no no. At least that was one of the big things I learned in college. What are some other font no no’s?
September 27th, 2009 at 1:36 AM
My eyes hurt.
September 29th, 2009 at 5:47 AM
Oh man this is great! I will have to forward it to my designer.
October 11th, 2009 at 1:11 PM
Any logo design should work in 1 color (black w/halftone). Those layer effects & MS default fonts are just tacky. Clients love that ugly shit…It makes me lose sleep.
October 13th, 2009 at 3:54 PM
OOOPSSSS, Really a bad stuf all logos just try to make as playing and all logos are discovered just like a Columbas Discovered the America, no Concept relating to any logo. color scheme not matched with logo theory. so overall bad thinking.
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:10 AM
HAHAHAHA! Some of these are so baaad! I can’t believe people got paid for these. And that clients actually used them! The Arlington Pedeatric Centre – Totally CLASSIC!!!! And rather disturbing that educated people in USA came up with it and then used it. There’s not even the possible excuse of getting lost in translation like some tag lines in China/Indoa etc. So so SO ironic!
October 24th, 2009 at 6:32 AM
some of the lgos here have followed the clients requiremnets which seems to be ugly and bad. even they are educated but they arey thinkin h that is right.
nad the designer don’t have any choice to they have to just apply their stupid rules.
October 28th, 2009 at 1:17 AM
lot of falic design (sex implications)
November 4th, 2009 at 8:24 PM
No meaning with designs..like they know just something want match with …
If we know what’s wrong……thenn only we know what’s correct
thanks for sharing
mathi
November 14th, 2009 at 8:49 AM
Some of the logos from the above list have very strange connotations. I can’t believe no one picked up on that during the designing process. It’s funny and sad at the same time.
December 10th, 2009 at 5:39 PM
the last logo really hurts in the ass
December 14th, 2009 at 9:35 AM
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January 25th, 2010 at 3:49 AM
This is a very subjective matter. Just imagine everybody have their logo something like what you say as good as Nokia, Apple, IBM, or HP. Those designs that you published here were not bad designs. It’s just another way of interpreting things and it make this world a lot more merrier.
January 31st, 2010 at 6:39 AM
Martian porn:
http://www.saddlebackmaine.com/winter/
February 15th, 2010 at 4:55 PM
I love the last one it looks like a butt & a you know what go figure. lol
February 24th, 2010 at 9:15 AM
And relatedly, a story about companies with “Mr.” (or Mister) in their names, all with terrible logos: http://blog.thisisbase.com/2009/06/16/mr-names/
February 25th, 2010 at 6:13 AM
It is incredible how some logos are not only ugly to look at, but to some extent offensive. I really get the whole do it yourself and save deal,but if you plan to go somewhere with your business it is better to leave it to someone who at least knows what they are doing. Everyone has heard the phrase “sex sells” while it is probably true, you have to be weigh more subtle with it, it has to hit the subconscious mind not hit you with the innuendo.
February 28th, 2010 at 9:32 PM
I just couldn’t stop laughing at some of the logos. KIDSEXCHANGE?? It’s so inappropriate but funny! I guess you really need to distinguish each words with different colors or something. I also found a funny article http://www.logocontests.net/bad-logos.html about bad logos in logo contests.
March 1st, 2010 at 8:17 PM
http://cph.osu.edu/newsletters.....otonia.JPG
March 5th, 2010 at 5:37 AM
gonna print this and save it. next time i can show these to my clients when they tells me they know someone who can do a cheaper logo for them…
March 11th, 2010 at 2:49 AM
i’m deeply saddened how logo design is not as important as building a skycraper or making a fastest car in the world. how they treat logo a least important in the business as they treat the artist who created for them… logo more often suffers a lot when you see them in the streets… people might say this logo is great, or this logo sucks… how embarrassing for the artist who were paid and the only compliment will get is who made this logo? hard for me to think how logo design is sometimes last in the lists!