Hello,

For my first blog using the brand new site design, I thought I'd talk about Trucking Logos, as this topic is one of the more popular items that people are searching for when coming to this site.

However, I am unsure if people are simply wanting logo, slogan or tag line ideas by viewing other trucking logo samples - or if they are actually wanting to get a price quote on having a professional create the trucking logo for them. I have a feeling it is the former... so I will briefly talk about what you may encounter while coming up with concepts for your own trucking logo.

First - Should you include an outline or picture of a truck? Sounds logical that you would, but tractor styles change with time, and you want your logo to be around for the next 20 years, and your logo will become out-dated quickly if you do this. Ultimately, the decision is up to the owner, but as a designer I think of two things first when designing a trucking company logo:

1) what the trucking company transports most (heavy haul, refrigerated, etc.)

2) whether the company (or school) wants to reflect a "high-end" look, or appeal to a more general / diverse audience. In either case, a slogan (tag line) should be created if at all possible because it will provide the direction of not just the logo, but of the entire brand.

Think about the above for a moment, and take a look at logos of the big boys in trucking, like

After looking at each logo, what do you "walk away with"? For Swift, you should obviously have the concept of "fast" (which is funny since their trucks are governed at what I consider to be a low speed). For, Central - you should automatically know that they transport refrigerated goods, and with Coventant Transport, you should get 2 things: 1) they are a nationwide company and 2) they take their relationships with their customers seriously - almost religiously...  However, Schneider hits hard on just their branding - orange. Every truck they have is  in orange and their logo is either in orange or white against orange. Of the 3, only Schneider shows no "benefit" that a customer will obtain by doing business with them. Example, the benefit of doing business with Swift is that your freight should arrive to its destination very quickly. By "benefit", I mean - what value does the customer get by doing business with you...?

Note, however, that none of the "big boys" use a truck / tractor  in their logo.

The strongest logo of the 4 mentioned in this blog is Central Refrigerated because they visually show "cold" and verbally state "refrigerated" - the main benefit of doing business with them.

So - if you can show verberally exactly what you do (via the name or slogan), and if you can show it visually, it is obviously going to be stronger.

Let's say however that your business name is: Stallion Transport  - you obviously want to portray a Stallion - perhaps the outline. You don't have to, but its the first thing that comes to mind. If you can strengthen this further, by creating a slogan, such as:  "On Track. On Time." - then the viewer "walks away with" a much more robust idea about company. Further, if the tag line can be aggressive rather than passive, all the better. By aggressive, I mean that the tag line actually tells the viewer to do something (that would be in the company's favor), such as Nike's:   Just Do It.

Bottom Line: a tag line / slogan can provide the direction for branding as well as the benefit of doing business with a particular company and strengthen the brand of that company for years to come. For a company that transports many different types of freight and does not specialize in any particular one (such as a broker), using an icon reflective of the name (or of transporting) may be the only way to go.

Lastly - even in this Web 2.0 world, where online logos make use of reflections and dimensions, using only 2 colors and lines / vectors (which make it appear flat / one dimensional), is probably the best solution. One can have a 3 dimensional logo online and a one dimensional logo cut out of vinyl and placed on trucks, but keeping all logos consistent is preferred method - with one exception - if you have the money to actually print 3 dimensional logos onto your trucks, and you are able to keep the logos consistent on print, web and signage, then by all means... go with a 3 dimensional logo. Since about 85% of trucking companies in the U.S. have less than 10 trucks in their fleets.... I doubt this will be the case. My suggestion is to keep your trucking logo two solid colors, and make it easily transferrable to signage, embroidery and print.