Ask students to name their favorite brands (for cars, clothes, restaurants, snacks, shoes, electronics, etc.). Ask them if they can describe the logos for those companies and products.

Point out logos on clothing and personal items you and students in your class may be wearing. Ask students what feelings or ideas may be represented with the shapes and colors of the logos. 

Ask students to provide adjectives and nouns to describe the logos and to guess the company’s intentions behind the designs. For example, the McDonald’s logo has golden arches – yellow is a happy color, and the arches are symbolic for French fries. The Nike “swoosh” represents the wing of the Greek Goddess Nike.

Tell students that most companies spend considerable time and/or effort in designing a logo that will symbolize or beassociated with the brand. Oftentimes, shapes,colors, and images in the logo represent thecompany history, reputation, its founder, or attempt to evoke certain feelings or emotions. Also, some logos include the company nameand/or the company slogan.

Play a Kahoot game such as Logos Kahoot to see what logos are most recognizable to the class. Ask students what about these logos make them memorable.

Ask students if they know the story behind any other company brands (such as Apple, Levis, the logo for your school, etc.).

Tell students that they are going to learn about types of logos, research a logo of a company or product they use and present their findings, learn about hidden meanings in some famous logos, and create, write, and present a personal logo that represents who they are, their interests, and their goals.

Display the Amazon logo and ask students to guess the meaning of its design (Why does it have an orange smiles hape with an arrow going from A to Z? Why the orange/yellow color? What feeling does it evoke? Why are the letters black on a white background?) Then the explain the design.Show students how to use FamousLogos.net. Select a couple of other logos from the list on the left and read to students about the history, the symbolism, and the style of the logos selected.

Tell students that they are going to research a logo of their choice using the site.

Introduce the logo mini project:

For this mini presentation, you will share information with your classmates about the origin and meaning of a logo of any famous company to show how the logo helps the company create it corporate identity, which is a vital element of a company’s success and communication with the world.

Steps:

1.    Visit the website famouslogos.net. You can see the names of companies listed alphabetically on the left under “Famous Logos.” Select a company whose products/services you use or that you like.

2.    Add your name to a shared Google Slideshow. Copy and paste the logo you select onto your slide. Take notes on the history, origin, meaning or anything interesting you learn about the logo. Add a few words to the slide. Example

3.    Make a brief (3 minutes max) presentation to the class.

Students will watch videos to learn more about logos: Different types of logos and hidden meanings (symbolism) of well-known company logos.

There is a note-taking handout that accompanies this lesson.

The videos are the following:  

What are logos (3 types + one more) and examples?What makes a truly great logo (Links to an external site.)(< 5 min)

What are the hidden meanings of these 16 logos? 16 FAMOUS LOGOS WITH A HIDDEN MEANING (That We Never Even Noticed) (Links to an external site.)

(~6.5 min)

Another optional article: 30 Secret Messages Hidden in Popular Logos

NOTE to ESL teachers: The ESL reading and writing textbook Prism (4) by Jessica Williams, Cambridge University Press, has a unit on logos that could be included for reading and vocabulary development, as well as for building students' background knowlege.

Have students check their note-taking in small groups or as a whole class. Ask them something new they learned.

Now students will create their own personal logos.

Tell students: For this project, you will create a personal logo with your name (if desired), images, colors, and symbols that represent who you are, your character, your career/professional goal, and/or what is important in your life. 

First have them plan what images or graphics and colors they want to include and what these represent. Model brainstorming a list of two to four or more images and design elements to include, as follows:

Example 1:

apple = symbol of my profession (teacher)

heart = my birthday is on Valentine’s Day.

Example 2:

A mixing bowl - I am a great cook

A book - I am a stuident, and I love to read.

The color blue - I am a calm, relaxed person.

Then choose and demo or allow students to choose a tool for creating their logos:

Google Draw, a Google Slide, PowerPoint (use image layering tools with one slide saved as a jpg) or the Canva Logo Maker (see tutorials) or Looka Logo Maker websites (easiest).  

Samples of student logos.

After students have designed and created their logos, it's time to write about them. 

Distribute or project the project prompt document. Note: If you have created your own logo, write a model paragraph appropriate to your students' level so that they can see an example and understand the expectations. For lower level students, have them use a paragraph frame.

Collect students' writing and provide feedback on content (title, topic sentence, organization, coherence, transitions, and conclusion). Have students revise their writing based on your feedback. Then provide feedback on mechanics (grammar, word order, punctuation, spelling, etc.) and have students edit their work.

Note: In the editing phase of the lesson, the teacher can collect common errors (such as spelling or subject/verb agreement or punctuation), writing down 8 – 10 sentences from students’ writing that contain such errors. An error correction sheet is distributed. Students are instructed to find and correct errors. Students are paired to explain to their partners which errors they found, why they are errors, and how they corrected them. Teacher follows up with a whole-class check and grammar mini lesson(s), as needed.

Finally, collect students' logos and be ready to display them. Have students present their logos to the class, using their writing as the basis for their presentations. Model a presentation so that students understand expectations. Ask students to prepare by rehearsing and not reading their paragraphs and to be sure to make their presentations with the following:

• introduce themselves
• introduce their logos
• explain each part of their logo in a logical order, telling what each item/part represents or symbolizes and describes who they are 
• include a conclusion
• thank and take questions from the audience
• use good volume and make eye contact with the audience

Use a rubric such as that included with this lesson. Modify the rubric as desired to meet your course objectives.

Students will have gained visual literacy skills in addition to have practiced traditional literacy. Students will have more confience in using a variety of tools for class projects and in writing and speaking about themselves.