Team logos convey an entire culture at a glance. Corporate logos on branded merch need to be immediately identifiable. A fashion brands logo is everything. That’s why a brand’s identity and its logo are so valuable and deserves to be protected. This is normally done by utilizing a “style guide” which is a document that collects all the rules on how a logo can be portrayed and ensures branding consistency. All of this is a necessity, but it can also make it tough out there for a designer. Having to constantly come up with new iterations of the same logo every season to keep things fresh, without running afoul of the brand style guide. Luckily there are a ton of ways to keep a brand’s integrity in place and deliver some truly unique looks when it comes to apparel branding. The following examples and technique are our go to options when we are coming up with material builds for logos that have some pretty strict does and don'ts around them.
Print or Heat Transfers
A print only option or heat transfer is a great place to start and will work with any logo. Small type, gradients, PMS specific colors, and photoreal images are all doable. It's easy, lightweight, and cost effective. Prints are also a smart choice when working with a collection of logos that all may have their own rules and specific colors, like in a pro sports league for example. A material build may look great for a team with a simple logo but may not translate as well when applied to a team with a more complicated logo. Considering variables across a design “program” like the small type in the Pittsburg Steelers logo or the complex shapes in the Jacksonville Jaguars logo is important to maintain visual consistency across the whole collection, and printing your patches will allow you to do this easily.
Lion has over 15 printable and PMS matchable materials.
Embroidery
Lion has been doing embroidery for over 120 years, that’s a lot of logos translated into thread. That’s why we can confidently recommend embroidery as another flexible options that will look great with any logo and will work with almost any style guide. It also happens to be one of our most popular offerings. You can approach it with a super traditional take or apply some specialty stitch types for a more contemporary angle. Stitched patches have a lot of the same advantages as printed patches, and Lion can even color match to PMS colors with our expansive library of thread colors. Designs that can be tricky include logos that contain very small letters or photo real images.
Silicone
Silicone is extremely precise, able to reproduce fine details and text, multiple thickness are available, plus it’s color matchable. Not to mention you can get it in matte, glossy, glitter, neon, glow in the dark, the list goes on and on. Silicone really is a one stop shop for pretty much anything you can think up.
Texture
More of an idea and not so much a technique, texture is really where the three-dimensional nature of our business shines. Unlike digital or print media on paper, real texture is inherently baked into any physical medium. It’s when you really lean into this fact though and start mixing and matching materials with different hand feels that things quickly start to come together. Mesh on twill for a sporting look, leather and velvet for luxury, satin on glitter twill for something modern. You want to be designing with texture in mind and applying it to the above options as much as possible. That being said, the more materials in the mix the more manufacturing rules are in play and not all of these will be the best fit for some of the more restrictive logos.
Unlimited Possibilities
These are just a few of the tried-and-true methods that will fit with almost any logo, but these are also just a starting point. We are a truly custom house with everything we make made to order. We have designers standing by ready to walk you through what would work best for you and offer conceptual art services as well. However, innovation and flexibility aren’t the only things on display here. These examples also showcase how Lion can create solutions at multiple price points. We don't want your design problem to turn into a price problem. Think of it as a good, better, best but where all the options look outstanding.