Photo icons

These can be extremely well-done or extremely overdone. A simple photo icon from a CD stuffed with royalty-free images is isolated on a white background, and the name of the company is run beneath it. The approach is decidedly more elegant when the visual is supported with a twist of phrase, or when the phrase is supplied with a somehow unexpected visual.

1. Sanna Design Group, Inc. for Orange E-graphic 2. Chermayeff & Geismar for Turning Stone Casino 3. Propart Graphics/Gabriel Kalach forOur Special Video

Slinky

This is an effect that is one generation past the swoop. Instead of just making the short stroke, these marks loop in orderly patterns often above the company name. The curvilinear form is very reminiscent of the fun of a Spirograph, and perhaps these accurate but flowing forms suggest the feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction that two plastic gears, four pins, and a ballpoint pen can provide. It's a simple victory.

Then again, the form may simply spring from osmosis, absorbed from the screensavers we all share our spaces with, especially iTunes visual space. Their ability to fill space with light and a fluid image is calculated and fresh.

1. Cato Purnell Partners for Energex Australia 2. Hornall Anderon for Okamoto Corporation 3. Enterprise IG for Delta

Wire

Put a pen to paper and craft an image with absolute economy and elegance of line. Picasso and Calder were creating art this way long before anyone embraced the form as a means of illustration or logo design. Felix Sockwell is the master of the technique today, and others have achieve success with it as well.

Because of its intensely artistic nature, designers may feel the saturation of this technique before clients and the public will. But wireform logos will probably continue to appear for at least a few more years unless a behemoth of a company adopts the style and wrangles the life right out of it.

1. Tim Frame for Host Marriott 2. Howalt Design Studio for Herman Miller 3. Felix Sockwell for Hand Eye

So which of the trends are completely passe? Wings are worn out. Running men are exhausted. Swooshes should be squashed. Furthermore, water ripples, woodcut looks, and highly illustrated logos have seen their day. (A detailed woodcut of ripples would be especially tiresome.)

All this being said, it's time for back-pedaling. Even the most overused effect can be given new brilliance with the right twist. "I continue to be most captivated by solutions that break the rules but aren't blatant about it," Gardner says.

Many designers have discovered Photoshop's tools that produce a glassine appearance. Like the recently revised UPS logo, many marks have been crystal-capped. Also like the UPS logo, many of these same marks are updates of older designs, and perhaps the added highlights are intended to infuse new life or present a rehabbed logo in a new way.

These designs do stand out: They have a little extra sparkle or light that was previously seen more in packaging design, either through art effects or foiled papers. Perhaps this trend is an homage to the previous generations highly airbrushed and chromed designs of 20 years ago. Or perhaps it's just the realization on the part of designers that in an RGB environment, where so many logos live today, flat art is just not necessary.

1.Design for Goldfinger C.S. Hothouse Inc. for Nike 2.Design for Duffy & Partners for IC Corporation 3.Design for Landor and Assosiates for John Deere 4.Design for Futurebrand for Cricket Australia