A Showcase of Unique Retro and Vintage Logo Designs

Vintage and retro logos have really been taken to the fore recently, with many companies adopting the old style of image for their company. Vintage logos create a certain feel of nostalgia and adhere for our need for a time when things weren’t as fast-paced and goods weren’t thrown away and psychologically create an impression of value.

There is also an element of the cool and stylish to them, which creates a similar impression of a company.

Modern vintage styles, if that isn’t some sort of oxymoron, are generally clean and minimalist, but use certain matte colours and vintage lettering to give the impression of the old-fashioned style.

Modern vintage styles, if that isn’t some sort of oxymoron, are generally clean and minimalist, but use certain matte colours and vintage lettering to give the impression of the old fashioned style.

Modern vintage is displayed well in these examples

nyc

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ultiny

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Texture can also make a huge difference in logo design. Look at the texture of the paper here, it has a real old world feel about it that creates a lot of the vintage feel of the logo.

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in a similar way, look at this texture

west-center

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The stamped feel of the West Center logo also adds to the feel and gives it a real pre-digital age look. And it has the same effect here

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Whereas the lithograph style here does a similar but very different job and has a very different effect, which is equally as appealing

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The less is more effect also works well here and the retro logos look great when bare but clear

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Like with all logos, vintage logos still look great with symbols or associations. This is a beautiful logo for a music night in Holland

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Indie, or slightly witty humour is also a part of these logos and reflects the style and feel of the companies that use them.

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as does this one for graphic design – a bit of self depreciation never goes amiss

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Or a retro 50s robot

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Of course creative, cute and funny all go together to excellent effect and this logo really manages to pull all three together wonderfully

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Characters, especially strong stereotypical characters also look well with this advertising as they were used widely at the time and provide a certain impression. Look at this butcher – reliable, strong friendly local meant man?

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Or, look at this dapper chap

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This logo for a classic restaurant creates an impression of sophistication also through association

This one certainly pays homage to the Japanese Empire and Art Deco influences, but looks great andadds up to fantastic effect

So, as can be seen the vintage logo works on association to an extent, but can also be used as it is timeless and adopts many of the basics a good logo should follow. Old logos make it easy to be unique from competitors as there is that many for inspiration out there. They are often quite minimalist and get the message across through clarity and also usually work well in black and white because of this. Add the fact most are quite simple and can be scaled up or down in size without problem and you have a winner from a tried and tested formula.

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