Logo design can be hard enough as it is even without including clever hidden meanings – so it can be extraordinarily impressive when you find a designer who has the skill to thoughtfully include one. Creating a logo that cleverly uses the negative space to complete the image requires a shift in how you see and visualize the art in your head, and can be remarkably challenging to do successfully.
We’ve brought together a showcase of some creatively designed logos that employ negative space to complete the image – hopefully they’ll inspire you for your next logo design.
In the meanwhile you may want to read some of our other Inspirational articles
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LearnGolf Logo with a Golf Flag
Learngolf’s logo uses the green background to form a partially opened book, while the white space is used to create a golf flag.
Royal Clothes Logo with a Crown
Royal Clothes have a logo that merges two t-shirts to subtly form a crown out of the background.
KeenPlayer Logo with a “K”
Keenplayer’s logo features colourful “play” icons, and arranges them in such a way as to form a K out of the negative space in-between.
Cloak & Dagger Logo with a Dagger
Cloak & Dagger, a cleverly branded recruitment company, have a logo that shows off the cloak, and hides the dagger in the negative space.
A CMS Logo with a Mouse Pointer
The logo above, for an easy-to-use CMS, looks like a simple ribbon at first, but forms a mouse pointer using the negative space. It’s a beautiful example of a logo that can incorporate negative space and remain minimal at the same time.
Banana Bird Logo with a Bird
Banana Bird is one of the quirkier logos, and is also beautifully creative, with the negative space forming a bunch of bananas, while the dot completes the image to reveal a bird.
A-Plan Logo with “A”
WhiteWashers Logo with a “W”
This design, for an outdoor maintenance company named Whitewashers, has the bristles of the paint brushes blend into the background. As an added bonus, the fence also forms a W.
MyShirt Logo with a T-Shirt Icon
MyShirt’s logo reveals a large M as the brand, but also uses the negative space to reveal an icon of a t-shirt.
Three Nuts with a Nut
Three Nuts, an engineering contractor firm, has a huge “3” as the main mark, but closer inspection reveals that the end of a wrench is shown in the background.
Two Knives Logo with Blades of Knives
The logo for Two Knives reveals a figure 2, while the cleverly placed dots inside the number allow the negative space to form the blades of kitchen knives.
BossFight Logo with a Small Person
The logo for Bossfight studios uses the silhouette of a huge monster, but it’s not until you look closer that you notice the smaller figure formed from the negative space, that’s ready to fight it.
Rocket Golf Logo with a Rocket
The logo for Rocket Golf cleverly makes use of two golf tees that are positioned the perfect distance apart to form the shape of a rocket taking off in the background.
Honey Logo with “H”
The Honey logo is an amazing example of a minimalist & clever logo that uses negative space. Not only does the whole image (including the “Honey” text) form the appearance of a honey dipper, but the yellow mark hides a capital H within it, too.
Make Logo with Pencil
This logo changes the colour of the final E and forms a pencil out of the negative space – it’s a subtle and clever addition to a type based logo.
Am I Missing Something>
Have you found any examples of clever logos that use negative space well that deserve a mention? Let us know in the comments.
Alex writes for printing experts Print Express, who specialize in custom printed flyers, leaflets & business cards. In his spare time he studies and writes about graphic & web design, and tries to improve his Photoshop skills.
Alex Black – who has written 3 posts on Artatm – Creative Art Magazine.
Well written post, thank you!
Cool roundup of negative logo designs, like them all) Thank you a lot!
Thanks for this very cool and inspirational selection of logos. I really like the design of the learn golf logo, the book and flag work really well together. The banana bird logo is also quite effective, but I fear the banana part of the logo may suffer if it is reproduced in black and white.
Excellent logo design. Great resource for building a website.
oh, great logo inspiration here! 🙂