Architecture Logos and Icons
An architecture logo is the mark that a firm of the discipline of architecture uses to sign its work, and an architecture icon is the small symbol that stands for the field in a place where the full name will not fit, such as the corner of a drawing or the screen of a phone. The 2 are the same idea at 2 sizes, and the field is young in its use of the logo: the Sagrada Familia has been under construction since 1882, yet the small set of symbols that carries the discipline is still the same 3 forms it had when the first modern firms set their marks. This page covers the common symbols, the styles of the mark, the history of the logo in the discipline, and how to pick or build one for a firm.
The common symbols of the field
The common symbols of the field in the architecture logo are the 3 forms that most of the marks are drawn from, and they are the symbols that a reader reads as the discipline of architecture before the name is read. The first is the outline of a building, the simple line of the roof and the wall, and it is the most direct of the 3, because it is the thing that the field is about. The second is the set of 3 lines that form an abstract building, the 2 verticals and the roof, and it is the symbol that a modern mark uses to keep the form small enough for a screen. The third is the letter form, the initial of the name of the firm set as a symbol, and it is the style that the larger firms use when they want the name to carry the mark. The 3 symbols are the vocabulary of the architecture logo, and the mark of a firm is one of the 3, or a mix of them, and the discipline of architecture is the field that the 3 symbols name in the small space of the mark.
Which symbol fits which firm
Which symbol fits which firm can be read in the 3 rows of the table below, one row for each of the symbols, and the rows are the building, the lines and the letter.
| Symbol | What it says | Where it reads best |
|---|---|---|
| The building outline | The work itself, the roof and the wall | On the drawing sheet and the site board |
| The set of lines | The contemporary form, kept small | On the screen and the phone icon |
| The letter form | The name of the firm carries the mark | On the letterhead and the contract |
The 3 rows of the table are the 3 symbols set side by side, and the point of the table is that the choice of the symbol is the first decision in the architecture logo, because the symbol is what the reader reads before the name is read.
The reader of the field meets the 3 symbols in the 4 places where the discipline is taught and argued, and they are the book, the review, the translation and the essay that separates the two names of the craft.
- Architecture and the Landscape, the book that sets the building in the ground around it
- Architecture Digest, the review that carries the mark of the firm to the reader of the field
- Architecture in Chinese, the translation that carries the 3 symbols across the two alphabets of the discipline
- Architecture vs building, the essay that separates the mark of the discipline from the thing the mark is about
The styles of the architecture mark
The styles of the architecture mark are the 2 ends of the range that a firm sits between, and they are the formal and the abstract, and the choice of the style is the choice of the tone of the firm. The formal style uses the symbol of the building or the order of the column, and it is the style that a firm that works in the classical or the civic building uses, because the symbol of the style is the symbol of the work. The abstract style uses the set of lines or the single form, and it is the style that a firm that works in the contemporary building uses, because the form of the style is the form of the work. The 2 styles are the 2 ends, and a firm sits on one of them or between them, and the mark of the firm is the style of the discipline of architecture that the firm practices, set in the small form of the logo. The style is the tone of the firm, and the mark is the tone set in the symbol.
How the field reads its own marks
How the field reads its own marks can be learned from the 4 works that the discipline signs its history with, and the dates of the works set the dates of the marks that carried the name of the maker. Frank Lloyd Wright, born in 1867 and dead in 1959, set his name on buildings across the union, and his monogram is the letter form of the symbol, used long before the logo was a word. The Colosseum in Rome was built between AD 70 and 80, and it has no logo at all, because the building itself is the mark. The Sydney Opera House opened on 20 October 1973, and its shell is the building outline symbol that no firm needs to draw again to be read. The history of the architecture logo is the history of the firm, and the date of the building is the date the mark first went out into the world.
The 4 works that sign the history
The 4 works that sign the history of the logo are the 4 dates that the marks are measured against, and they are the dates that a reader of the field reads as the span of the discipline.
| Work | Date | What it gives the mark |
|---|---|---|
| The Colosseum in Rome | Built between AD 70 and 80 | The building that carries no logo |
| The Sagrada Familia in Barcelona | Under construction since 1882 | The long mark of the one maker |
| The Eiffel Tower in Paris | Completed on 31 March 1889 | The outline that no logo needs to draw |
| The Sydney Opera House | Opened on 20 October 1973 | The shell that is the symbol itself |
The 4 dates of the table run from AD 80 to 1973, and the span of the 4 works is the span the architecture logo is measured in, because every mark of a firm of the discipline of architecture sits inside that span and names a place in it.
How to pick or build a logo
How to pick or build a logo for the firm is a matter of the 3 steps that the firm works through, and they are the choice of the symbol, the choice of the style, and the test of the mark at the small size. The first step is the choice of the symbol, and the firm picks one of the 3 symbols of the field, the building, the lines or the letter, and the choice is the choice of what the mark will say before the name is read. The second step is the choice of the style, and the firm sets the symbol in the formal or the abstract end of the range, and the choice is the choice of the tone of the firm. The third step is the test of the mark at the small size, and the firm checks the mark at the size of the icon, the small symbol in the corner of the drawing or the screen, because the architecture logo that only works large is not a mark that the firm can use. The 3 steps are the way the mark of the firm is built, and the discipline of architecture is the field that the 3 steps draw into the one symbol that the firm signs with.
The steps in the order of the work
The steps in the order of the work are the 3 steps again, set as a list that a firm can work down from the first symbol to the last test.
- The choice of the symbol, one of the 3 forms, the building, the lines or the letter
- The choice of the style, the formal or the abstract end of the range
- The test of the mark at the size of the icon, the small symbol in the corner of the drawing
The 3 steps of the list are the 3 steps of the mark, and the architecture logo and the architecture icon are the 2 sizes of the one mark, and the mark is the symbol of the discipline of architecture that a firm uses to sign the work. The 3 symbols, the 2 styles and the 3 steps are the field of the mark, and the logo is the form that the firm of the discipline of architecture carries on the drawing and the screen.