The 3 most important characteristics of a good word mark

kumartk · Post by **kumartk** » Mon Apr 21, 2025 9:15 am

Wordmark? Heard of it? We know it. The Volkswagen logo, for example – stop, wrong! The globally recognized symbol stands for the name "Volkswagen," that's true. But it's a word-image trademark: It has a visual element, the individual letters are designed in a defined way, and a very specific font is used. The famous Nike logo with the swoosh or the WWF logo with the malaysia mobile phone number data panda are further examples of word-image trademarks. Good wordmark examples would be SIEMENS or Netflix.

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Word mark vs. word figurative mark

Word-image trademarks are more common and often better known than pure word marks. The human brain generally finds it easier to remember a name and associate it with brand characteristics when it is combined with an image or symbol. We have also designed numerous trademarks for various clients that combine the brand name with a design concept, making it particularly memorable. A recent example of this is our work for the Theater im Bauturm: The symbol thrives on design minimalism, is astonishingly simple, and easily recognizable.

Wordmark Theater im Bauturm

And what is a word mark?
This is the registered name of the trademark without any design extras. Anyone wishing to register and protect a word as a trademark must meet the following criteria:

The name may consist of words, letters, numbers and other characters.
The name must be able to be displayed in the typeface used by the German Patent and Trademark Office – this is the Arial font.
The name must be an original term.

Good examples of wordmarks include Siemens, Nutella, Nivea—or even vierviertel, since our agency name also meets these requirements. These names require no visual element and stand alone, even if they are usually used within a specific design context. There's probably hardly a person over 30 in Germany who isn't familiar with the signature blue with white typography used by Nivea.

But what qualities does a good word mark need to successfully anchor itself in the consumer mind? And what pitfalls should be avoided? In this context, please also read our Corporate Design Check-up.