50 Excellent Circular Logos

Wow, when I first saw the Filmax logo I thought for sure it was TipTop (http://tiptop.co.nz/) Those are shockingly similar.

Nice collection though. I think a properly executed circle logo is one of the most powerful visual symbols you can have.

I was with you until Blaupunkt

I’m sorry but its not iconic, memorable or even interesting.

I hear you but what do you think of Japan’s flag? Isn’t it the ultimate in simplicity and memorability?

it’s funny how similar they can look, as much as certain ones stand out. I question the decision of adding Bayer.. never liked that one.

Isn’t it amazing how many know, well-established companies have chosen to go with a circular logo? I wonder whether the circle makes it more memorable, more of a poignant visual pointer in the consumer’s mind?

wow that blaupunkt~ is that even a logo? or just a blue rounded circle?

So, basically Korean Air took Pepsi’s logo and distorted it?

Very cool! And in high quality! oooooh!

Where do you get these giant logo samples?

The Internet

Nice to see my post here.
Thanks Walter!

It’s funny how we see most of them nearly everyday and not noticing they are circular in shape (or maybe just me, lol). Very well compiled, each with very own artistic and distinctive logo design.

Yup, and Blaupunkt… who would’ve thought? ^^

@wchingya
Social Media/Blogging

http://www.brandsoftheworld.com is a great logo resource for vector logos from just about any company you can think of.

The new Pepsi logo is ugly. The original was iconic, the new one is just gross.

Surely you designed it yourself taking the inspiration of the original logos.. Awesome big sizes! BMW & Volkswagen, Firefox, Timbrland look very well designed.

Aaaalright – nobody likes the Blaupunkt logo it seems, so I’ve replaced it with the Nissan logo.

Interesting. I think you can raise a the value of this nice post if you add at the end a page sized table of all the logos. This table can help me to choose my favourite and so to comment.
See you soon.

One from my country of origin, that should be posted. Its reeeally good, only it “dwells within the darkness of 3d logos” …(…) http://www.regilete.com

i agree with ching ya, we always see this logo, but the only things that pop up to our minds whenever we see these logos are the product that they represent

You left out Toyota. Its pretty much a circle, or almost perfectly circular.

In today’s world of social media, it’s especially nice to have a square or circular logo variation available. So many profiles, avatars, and other identifying images for accounts online are square. A nice round logo fits nicely in them.

Awesome Collection.

For those of you wanting high quality logos, try doing a Google search for “vector logos”.

Some good logos can be found at:
http://www.brandsoftheworld.com, and
http://www.allfreelogo.com

Good Concept!

All logos are pretty good.

It’s good stuff for logo inspiration.

Thanks in advance.

Awesome Thanks

Now people can see where the inspiration from the Logo Of The Day award comes from…

http://logooftheday.com

Amazing round-up! Never knew there were so many circle based logos! (well, I did, I just couldn’t think of that many!). Thanks

I prefer the palm and bmw logos…

Nice post The quality of images is incredible where did you get them?
Just one specification, the logo you reported as EAC’s logo is the European Space Agency logo EAC is just one of the establishments.

Very interesting stuff… circular logos are great… if you want to add mine to the list, I’ll gladly provide a better Resolution !

This must be the best post I’ve seen in months! I really enjoyed seeing all the different approaches per company! I especially like the ‘Lucent’ one. Great job!

The new Opel Logo could extend the collection:
http://80.252.99.81/MOPIDB/viewcataloguedetails.htm?obj=255987&cat=109040

Unfortunatelly I can’t find a vector-Version in their media database.

amazing collection of logos,
but it has big size ..

best

There are two korea company
korean air and lg

You all know the BMW Roundal is a statement about their heritage in the aviation industry?
Once somebody mentions it you get the spinning propellor design.

Quite good selection with some exceptions. NASA, LG, Tide, Virgin,… – these are far far from being “excellent” imho

Great post – thanks. Anyone else never noticed that the firefox logo is actually of a fox before? Maybe it’s me being thick? Though in my defense I’d say that it’s fairly complicated for something that’s often shown at 72 dpi and tiny. Anyone agree?

I suppose the Korean flag ripped off Pepsi as well? It’s the taeguk symbol (yin & yang), which comes from Taoism.

Nice collection, great inspiration and love the large logo samples.

Korean Air just screams out “a mushed” pepsi logo.
Weirdly similar.

Great collection. I think Assurant has a great circular logo too.

http://www.assurant.com/

HP has also a circular logo – especialy new PSG logos

Really, AT&T’s death star 2.0 logo is excellent? Iconic, sure, but not excellent.

I like ramada and jiffy lube’s new circular logos.
MUCH better than their previous attempts.

Quite a few of those have been around for a long time with little change to the design. There’s something enduring about them. It’s encouraging to see that it is possible to just do it right the first time with logo design.

The idea of this piece was great. It’s a good reminder to think about some of the basics that we often forget about when we have been designing for a long time.

But there are a few on here I have to admit just aren’t great examples, but just here because they are circular.

Had you put the old pepsi logo on there I would have agreed, but not the new one. Radio Shack, more known for the fact that it is bad than good.

But this was definitely a very nice piece.

Aldo Coppola have an elegant, minimalist circular logo, sort of like Lucent (mentioned in the post above):
http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/brands/0011/3866/brand.gif

I saw it once and it stood out for me straight away.

I disagree with some of your choices in terms of ‘excellent’ logos… Some stand out simply because they belong to an established brand, not because the logo is particularly great. Then again, it’s often down to personal taste, isn’t it?

Ok, some of these logos are one of the best (Volkswagen for example).
But you’d also list logos which are the best example for bad design (Alpha Romeo is one of the badest logos of all time).
Nice similarities between Korean Air and new Pepsi logo

I was impressed by Schindler logo. Awesome!

amazing list! congrat

This is an amazing collection. Thanks for presenting the logos in hi-quality format. You should have also included ‘Burger King’ and ‘Pepsi’ in the list. That would’ve made the list look much more comprehensive. But a good job done nevertheless

Awesome post!

Think my favourites in that list has to be:
Timberland
Firefox
oxfam
Sony erricson
and
volkswagen

Great Collection of Circular Logos.
Here’s another collection I found last week with 60+ great Sphere Logos.

I forgot the link. =)

http://mattus.web-log.nl/vibe_visual_brand_experie/2009/03/last-week-swede.html

Circles rule! That’s why we went for a circle for our company logo.

thx, great article

Just a small typo: it’s called “Der Grüne Punkt” or without umlaut: “Der Gruene Punkt” (in English: “The Green Point”—a German recycling programme).

I would also add the Internet Explorer logo (the old IE 6.0 cyan one), because it’s the only good thing of this old browser.

Anyway, nice list

2 football-related examples are
Football Australia : http://www.fnqfootball.com.au/images/FFA-logo.jpg
A-League: http://spirit.webcity.com.au/AFN/files/a-l-logo.jpg

Awesome post, I love getting inspiration from different logos. I love the Starbucks, Firefox and NASA logos. Those are some decent res images you’ve got there.

So inspiring. nice post

Agreed.

http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/pepsilogoblowatlife1.jpg

I had no idea the Tupperware logo looked so cool

No, the Korean Air mark was designed long before Pepsi redid their mark in the 90′s or last year. Take a look at their flag.

I will copyright my pupils tomorrow. Just add a bit of text and I have two circle icons for sale!

The left will in and the right will say out. The meaning will be as deep as my soul.

dv

Some very cool designs there. However, I don’t know if I’d label it ’50 excellent circular logos.’ A good amount of these are rather poor (famous or not) and this is more like ’50 circular logos.’ Good collection though to see how much a circle shape can be varied.

Ultimate in simplicity? yes, indeed. Memorable – sure = but from the 15th century on, it maintained a rich historical significance. None of which could be truly prescribed to the design itself. More that it arose from the warrior classes who marched it into battle as their banner. Also the “rising sun” flag was not set up as a single use Logo but exists inside of larger design which lends it context and form.

A freekn blue dot by itself is not a “well designed” logo.

Awesome post, really nice designs. Definitely bookmarking for use later on for inspiration. Thanks again!

What she said.

Yamaha is my favorite!

Pretty cool list! I hadn’t heard of a quite a few companies listed. So I guess not all of the symbols have been that effective in getting me to remember the brands.

you should add this one
http://pressemitteilung.ws/files/Verve%20Logo.jpeg

Very nice collection. Who would of thought that Tupperware had a funking logo:)

Is there a particular significance with round logos? Do they communicate a certain message that perhaps other shaped logos do not?

You could also most put Apple on the list…??

I agree with most of your choices. But for the few I don’t agree with I’d suggest replacing one of them with the Mozilla Thunderbird logo.

It’s excellent. http://bit.ly/mwSm5

Good point. A circle can symbolize many things. Do a search in Google for ‘meaning of a circle’ – many different definitions, all very interesting indeed. Here’s one:

” An ancient and universal symbol of unity, wholeness, infinity, the goddess, and female power.”

WOW. Thats a great compilation of logos. There are so many iconic brands that use circular logos. I’ve just decided that I’m only using circles from now on when deigning identities.

Considering that Blaupunkt translates as ‘Blue Dot’, I think their logo is quite appropriate. I certainly prefer it to the ABC, Texaco, and Vodafone logos.

Wow I did not know that, thanks for the insight!

It does make you wonder though don’t you think… when a person actually looks at a circular logo do they consciously (or subconsciously) think ‘unity, wholeness, infinity, goodness’??

I think maybe in most cases (mine for example) it is predominantly subconscious communication… for example the person looking at logo may automatically ‘feel’ unity, wholeness and goodness towards company OR feel that company portrays these good qualities.

The fascination of branding! Reminds me of a video on Subliminal Advertising I saw once http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyQjr1YL0zg

@Benek, Wow. I had not heard of TipTop, but you are very right. They are so similar that it is stunning.

Even having see it here I was not convinced, so I surfed to tupperware.com where they don’t seem to be using it.

Great collection!!

this PEPSI logo is awful.
bring back the OLD one.

Nissan is also not intresting .. aspecjaly in this form

Very nice collection, but because I’m french I expected this one :

http://www.salondessolidarites.org/images/logos/logo_RATP.png

the RATP transport service in Paris (subway, bus…)

Very cool!!! BASIC and Powerfull!!

wow.
ignorant comment

It’s not until you see them so beautifully presented, that you are simply reminded how timeless, yet powerful and distinct each symbol really, truly is.

Wrong … that’s an urban legend, as far as I know.
The blue and white parts are abstracting the Bavarian flag/coat of arms.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Bavaria

Jorg (a born Bavarian)

the pepsi logo looks strange, here’s all the pepsi logos since the beginning http://thebrandbuilder.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/pepsi-11.png

Some about being round… pi is not a perfect number yet being round is just perfectly simple. I know this is obvious, but the obvious ideas are so often overlooked.

Nice collection! I saved it in my favorites.
Thanks.

Top post! thanks.

Aren’t circles cool? I don’t know if you can get any better than Target. Also love London Underground.

Hi all!

Only I want to say that Indra’s logo is different now, just check http://www.indra.es/

I think it’s better now!

Very nice collection of logo’s

I love the WordPress logo!!

Thats a great compilation of logos. I agree with most of your choices. Keep up the good work.

Wow that’s a great collection putted together. Good work!

Awesome quality, do you draw those logos?

Nice list. Many of them very well known. Good for inspiration. Thanks.

Check out the VIZIO logo { http://www.vizio.com }

- recently redesigned, should prolly make the list

I think Circuit City had a nice round logo.

You have forgotten Fiat Logo… http%3A//www.carbrands.us/uploads/fiat/fiat_brand_wallpaper.jpg

Sorry, URL wrong. Take a look at this:http://www.carbrands.us/uploads/fiat/fiat_brand_wallpaper.jpg

thanks !!!

I don’t think the att&t logo should have been included. That thing is hideous and badly drawn to boot.

Oxfam is awesome, never seen this brand, but it’s really nice.

i love korea ..

There are two korea company korean air and lg.

thank you!!

The Korean Air logo would have made a good Pepsi logo!

Very cool! And in high quality! oooooh!

Im surprised the current BT logo isnt on show here, if only for its refreshing nature in what are otherwise some very simmilar designs. Kudos still though, some great logos.

Good stuff thanks.
On thing however: it’s not EAC but ESA, which stands for European Space Agency!
(between Texaco and Starbucks)

Great logos and I include this once.
This is the great new logo from a big television company in Brazil.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/lamparinna/R_E6M6GAbbI/AAAAAAAABqA/OXJYRfQdz0M/nova_logo_globo_comunicadores.jpg

Sweet list of logos, the VW is my favorite, mainly because I own one of their campervans

“So, basically Korean Air took Pepsi’s logo and distorted it?”
@ Eli

Nope. It’s based on the Taegeuk, a centuries-old illustration that you’ll find everywhere in Korean culture. You’ll see an example on the South Korean flag. If anything, it’s Pepsi that copied the idea from Korea.

Cheers

they get a little abstracted at this large size so it’s hard to see how good/bad without taking a few steps back from my computer

Pepsi as an innovator. That’s funny.

The Korean Air logo could be drawn better, though. The curves are slow and bumpy. That’s just bad logo form and a sign of diminishing craftsmanship in our industry.

Suspiciously similar…got spot!

I find the Starbucks logo hilarious. Such a dirty logo and yet so main stream! The mermaid has two set of fins/flippers, which she has separated and held up round her ears…

I suppose it’s in keeping with the original one…which is based on a siren!
http://www.deadprogrammer.com/starbucks-logo-mermaid

I find the new Pepsi logo a bit contrived…bring back the old one! And on that note, how similar is the Korean Air logo?!?!

I love the logos with depth like Firefox, VW, Sony Ericsson but for those that follow the more traditional logo rules (such as no gradients!) then the London Underground, Vodafone, Barcadi and Danone logos are great!

BMW is beautiful

“BMW is beautiful”

But is it smart?

http://www.brandsoftheworld.com or en.wikipadia.org

The Firefox and Sony Erricson logos is awesome!!

=)

Truly a fantastic collection of logos.

All of them are vectors or 2d.
Is that because they need to be reproduced in print?

With the capability of digital printing technology I think it won’t be long before many are rendered as 3d logos. That is certainly true on web sites already.

3d is great and wonderful, but sometimes it’s nice to see the simplicity of 2 dimensional / vector logos.

Great inspiration, thank you

The circle is the figure with more energy, it haves infinite sides and vertices. And the circle is also protector.

Amazing Collection.

what about the Convers’s logo?

Amazing collection of designs. I really like the Firefox logo, it’s really striking! There’s a huge collection of diverse inspiration here!

Great designs. I’m, now thinking whether I should change the Carderoo logo and make it circular. The ‘C’ could work really nicely.

Thanks for the inspiration.

Great group of logos. The Vodafone, Lucent and London Underground being so close together like that makes it apparent that they are pretty similar not only because they are round (hence the name of this blog post) but in color and balance in terms of text and positioning. Great post.

Good mix of vintage and contemporary

i have to design a logo for a yoga site, and guess what? it’s going to be round.

I love this post! I just wrote one about the top 25 inspiring square logos, so I thought it would only be appropriate to post this link:

http://wordsoftheweb.com/2009/10/top-25-inspiring-square-logos/

Cheers

superb..
mathi

I love round logos. Isn’t ‘indras’ a colour-blind test though? lol

I love the AT&T and FF logos

Thanks for sharing

What about Mattel?

hey..really cool logos !!!!

The Baltimore Aircoil Company has a well-known circular logo. Once you start looking for it, you notice it everywhere. (They make the large cooling towers for commercial buildings.) And you can’t go wrong with Cooper Black.

http://www.mf.ukim.edu.mk/web_ohrid2005/main_files/bac_logo.JPG

great list

It took me a long time to realise the importance of having a logo. May be I wasn’t thinking branding. But it’s definitely worth having Logos as we can see in the examples, all these Logos are embedded in our brains.

I could say which was what company! lol (Smart ain’t I? )

Lovely collection, quite a few inspirational names there.

Great collection our Agencija also created couple circle logos.

This is a great collection of logos – they are all brilliant. Thank you for sharing them

so many circular logos and each to different and cool
i personally like the sony Ericsson logo, its cool web2.0 style,

Nice list… definitely not feeling the Bayer logo though. The colors and cheap bevel effect kill it for me.

really awesome– thanks for sharing.nicely done.keep it up.

I love Starbucks’ the most
it’s just so great, the color, the composition, the image…
btw, what’s so great of EAC’s logo????

It kind of is, if you consider the fact that the company’s name literally means “blue dot”.

Looking for great circular logo inspiration for my own logo. Great collection. Thanks for posting!

‘blaupunkt’ means ‘blue dot’.

i always hated the motorola logo

Great resource.
But one question…. Do you actually find the NASA logo very creative and appealing?

While I appreciate the resource, I have to put in my 2¢. Just because a logo “exists” and may have been in use for decades, that does not make it “excellent.” To laud bad design is a disservice. As indicated by the responses, many of the logos here are just awful.

Nice collection…

All the logos are very good and has uniqueness…

But BMW stands out…

Its really agreat work…

Great choices! I was inspired by this article and created one for oval logos: http://www.purposive.com/60-oval-logo-designs/

It’s just so easy not having a logo, but this site proves a fantastic logo makes all the difference.

Wow I think I will get my company logo redesigned having seen what can be done.

This site is really good. Thanks for the inspiration.

rocking logos

nice and clean collection !

korea design i need it

I THINK YOU GUYS FORGOT TO PUT ON THE ELEMENT LOGO, ITS NEAT AND WORKS WELL

A great collection there, The Tupperware one is excellent.

All Cool!!!!!!!!! xD

The BP logo really does look fantastic compared to the old!

To this list I would add the circular logo of the Graphic Artists Guild. I’m not sure when the logo was created, the Guild was founded in 1967 or 1969? http://www.graphicartistsguild.org

really looks fine

These rock, totally cool stuff!

I never realized how important circle’s can be in design,. Some of these would make great favicons.

don’t know but Korean Air and Pepsi logos seem a bit similar at first glance.

Which “original” do you mean? Unlike Coke, Pepsi has never stayed with one logo. They’ve transform and updated many, many times over the years.

http://www.brainfuel.tv/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/pepsi-vs-coke-logos-445×1023.jpg

Nice post The quality of images is incredible where did you get them?
Just one specification, the logo you reported as EAC’s logo is the European Space Agency logo EAC is just one of the establishments.

Most of these logo designs are very famous ones. Most organization go for a circular logo designs too. Even the U.S President’s party has a circular logo.

missing stumbleupon.com

Firefox, AT&T and Sony Ericsson are magical

Nice collection, I personally think the ones from BMW and Vodafone are the best. Decent quality, did you make them yourself?

WDD did not make them, it’s just a compilation post of good circular logos…they managed to get them at hi res sizes though.

A superb collection. I do like the starbucks logo, it is very strong.

What do you think of mine: http://www.letterluck.com

nice collection!

I always like the the WordPress logo.

Awesome collection

I very much liked Virgin Express and Sony Ericsson

Aloha,
hey… and Smart: http://www.n-automation.pl/grafika/smart_logo.jpg
Cheers

Hello,
I had some objections with the ones placed in the list and the ones not placed in the list. Some of the logos featured above are much feeble and uninspiring than the ones that could have been put upon, such as,
Chrome
Pizza Corner
etc. could have joined the list instead of
London Underground
Lucky Strike etc..
Yet the collection was good. Cheers!

Some great logos. From the above AT&T is my favourite. Not as good as our own circle logo at Goblin Ridge however! (the logo to the left)

All nice logos, but questions rises:
Why use a circular logo?
What message does it bring across?
When shall you consider using a circular logo?

I’m with Shannon, Fabian, and Billy — I never knew Tupperware even *had* a logo! It’s a cool one, but according to Telletto’s comment, they don’t use it. I guess come to think of it, I don’t see many advertisements for Tupperware anyway.

Has anyone come across a round silver ball logo with the letter I in red running up the outside righthand edge? I am trying to find out which company it belongs to – since you guys seem to know your logos perhaps you can enlighten me!
Thanks everso.
Penny

great logos. i liked them all.

Great collection of logos, and shows that it is a very powerful symbol, Thanks

Fantastic Logo Collection Cool and enjoyed

Amazing recopilation, what beatiful is the volkswagen logotype : )

Infamous logo designs , Wow, Love the consistency and wholeness of the circle! LT

Beautiful collection of circular logos, definitely one of the most popular shapes to be incorporated into logos, and can see why

I am amazed the logos are all circular yet everyone is unique in its own right, and some of them give you that emotional connection that all companies strive for, Great post Cheers!

Good collection, for me the graphed circle all the information a company or partnership that focuses on brand and exposes everything in one place, simple and visually brilliant

Was looking for some inspiration and found this great collection, great because it is a mix of really good old and new round logos, thanks.

Very nice Collection Regards from Gemany

A brilliant collection! i love the firefox one, never seen it in such high quality:)

ok the radioshack logo just like that doesnt seem that great, a red circle, a generic R that seems awfully placed…

I thought that Filmax one was Tip Top when I saw it at the start. I’m not even sure what Filmax is. And the Korean air one made me think of Pepsi.
I haven’t heard of a lot of these companies before but there are some inspiring ideas.

The circular concept is in the making for my logo….Mr Corey Morris of AfterDarkMag.com is in the process of making the masterpiece! These are excellent images!

The most interesting thing I think is the fact that in 95% of cases these logos are NOT used by themselves. Square and Circular logos are difficult to incorporate into website designs, and while a few like Tide have done it well, most others have the company name NEXT to it text on the web, which makes it in essence a symbol as part of a logo, not a logo itself, when it comes to the most common usage.

This is different to square logos like Lego and American Express, where they make the logo work for them despite being oddly proportioned and difficult compared to rectangular type logos.

Matt

Legendary: ThunderCats
http://docucinema.com/500_words/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/thundercats-logo.png

Nice post and very usefull comments! Thanks from good old germany!

Nice examples, which only show that simplicity is the key an effective design. Circle logos can make a huge impression if you connect the idea of a product with its functionality in creative ways when taking an innovative approach. Take Nasa logo above, no usability issues, but not convincing.

Man, there’s just no time-stop on that Tide logo… Somebody sure knew what they were doing 75 years ago.