The logo is the focal point of any brand. The first point of contact between you and your customer, an effective logo can express your business’s product, culture, and goals on items such as gifts and merchandise such as promotional pens to technology such as apps.

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.

First, we chose 10 of Europe’s biggest brands. Covering a variety of industries, the shortlist contains some of the most recognisable consumer names in international business:

Aldi

BMW

Cadbury

Lacoste

Lego

Puma

Red Bull

Shell

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Vodafone

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.

Aldi

17% of drawings contained just an “A” rather than the full brand name

22% of drawings coloured the text in yellow

Aldi is one of the biggest names in the supermarket industry. Despite the regularity with which many of us see it, their logo was one of the least successfully recreated out of our 10. By the looks of things, some drawers just chanced their arm and guessed. Among the 100, you can find a padlock and what looks remarkably like the Windows PC logo.

BMW

31% of drawings didn’t include any text in their logo

5% of drawings more closely resemble the logos of other leading German car brands

BMW is one of the most recognisable brands on the planet, but for some, the crowded German car industry caused confusion. Despite plenty of successful logos, some drew versions of their competitors. In the image above, you’ll find a number of Mercedes-Benz logos, and even a couple of iterations of the Volkswagen logo.

Cadbury

24% of drawings included pouring jugs in their logo

50% of drawings incorrectly spelt the brand as “Cadburys” or “Cadbury’s”

Despite being possibly the biggest name in chocolate, our participant’s attempts to draw Cadbury’s logo resulted in some interesting results. We admire the honesty of the least accurate drawing of the lot. Clearly not an indulger in chocolate, one drawer simply wrote “No Clue”.

Lacoste

31% of drawings had their crocodile facing the wrong way

85% of drawings didn’t include red in the crocodile’s mouth

French sports clothing brand Lacoste is familiar for one thing – the crocodile. It appears to have paid off though with everyone drawing some form of the reptile; or at least we think they have. Among the 100 crocs are some fairly loose interpretations, with all kinds of shapes, sizes, and expressions used.

Lego

82% of drawings didn’t include all four correct colours: yellow, red, white and black

27% of drawings didn’t wrap the text in a box

Lego was one of the most consistently drawn logos of the lot, but we can still give one honourable mention to the least accurately drawn out there. For one participant, they used it as an excuse to get a bit creative and draw a little person with what appears to be a Lego brick for a body.

Puma

45% of drawings had the puma facing the wrong way

39% of drawings didn’t include the brand name

Back to the clothing industry again with Puma. Again, animals are our subject’s downfall. Glance over the big cats drawn above, and you find various different members of the animal kingdom. Everything from tadpoles to birds are found in our participants’ attempts to recreate the Puma logo.

RedBull

28% of drawings included just one bull

61% of drawings didn’t include the full brand name

Red Bull has one of the most complex logos of our 10, which led to some of our drawers confusing different elements of their brand. Wings, which aren’t a part of the real logo, have been drawn by many different participants. One even included a part of the famous slogan “Red Bull Gives You Wings”. Often, a slogan is even more memorable than a logo.

Shell

12% of drawings included orange in their logo

10% of drawings included horizontal lines rather than vertical

Again, the simplicity and literal connection of brand name and logo ring true with the accuracy of Shell. For some, however, the shell was still a stern test of their drawing capabilities. We can find more than a couple of logos that more closely resemble flowers, leaves, and maybe even the odd mushroom.

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