What is a wordmark? A wordmark is a logo where the brand name is the logo — set in carefully chosen typography, with no separate icon or symbol. Coca-Cola, FedEx, Google, Sony, Visa, eBay: all wordmarks. No symbols. Just the brand name, designed.
This is the 2026 guide. What makes a wordmark work, how it differs from logotype and lettermark, famous examples broken down, and how to design one that holds up at every size.
Quick answer: A wordmark is a logo composed entirely of the brand name as designed typography. No separate icon. No separate symbol. The discipline is choosing or designing letterforms that carry the brand personality on their own.
Wordmark vs Logotype vs Lettermark
The terminology gets tangled. Here's the clean version:
- Wordmark — full brand name as the logo, no separate symbol. (Coca-Cola, FedEx, Google.)
- Logotype — used interchangeably with wordmark by most working designers. Some purists reserve it for fully custom letterforms designed specifically for the brand.
- Lettermark — initials of the brand name as the logo, no full name. (IBM, HBO, NASA, HP, CNN.)
- Combination mark — wordmark plus a separate logomark/symbol, locked up. (Adidas, Burger King, Lacoste.)
If the entire logo is the name spelled out: it's a wordmark.
Famous Wordmarks (And Why They Work)
Coca-Cola. Spencerian script with a hand-drawn flourish under the "C". Reads as heritage, hospitality, optimism. The wordmark has barely changed since 1887 — almost 140 years of consistent use is what makes the script itself an asset.
FedEx. Tightly kerned Futura-derived sans serif in a single colour-block. Famous for the hidden arrow in the negative space between "E" and "x". Reads as efficient, modern, transit. The single design move (the negative-space arrow) lifts what would be a generic sans-serif wordmark into something memorable.
Google. A custom geometric sans with subtle variation between the letters (note the slight tilt in the "e", the open counter in the "o", the warm humanist touches that prevent it from feeling robotic). Reads as modern, friendly, accessible. The 2015 redesign moved from a serif to this geometric sans specifically because the brand had matured into a major consumer player and needed less of the technical-research feel.
Sony. Heavy sans-serif wordmark, all-caps, slightly condensed proportions. Reads as engineered, industrial, premium. The width and weight do all the work — there's no flourish, no decoration, just the right proportions.
Visa. Custom sans-serif wordmark with a hand-tuned tail on the "V". The descender into a small subtle yellow swoosh accent ties the wordmark to the brand's visual system. Reads as established, financial, trustworthy.
eBay. Lower-case, multi-coloured, custom-drawn rounded sans. Reads as accessible, friendly, internet-native. The colour blocking and the lowercase casing are deliberate — eBay's brand strategy emphasises approachability over corporate gravitas.
The common thread: every famous wordmark has at least one distinctive design move — a hidden detail, an unusual letterform, a custom flourish, a specific colour treatment — that lifts it above "brand name typed in a default typeface."
What Makes a Wordmark Work
Five criteria:
- The typeface choice carries the personality. A serif wordmark says something different from a geometric-sans wordmark says something different from a script wordmark. Pick the typeface that matches what the brand should feel like, before worrying about decoration.
- At least one distinctive design move. A custom ligature, an unusual character treatment, a hidden detail, a specific colour treatment — something that makes the wordmark feel designed rather than typed.
- Reads clearly at small sizes. Test the wordmark at 16 pixels (favicon size), at 100 pixels (mobile signature), at typical web-hero size, and at large print scale. If letterforms collide or counters fill in at small sizes, the wordmark needs adjustment.
- Hand-tuned letter spacing. Default kerning from any typeface is rarely good enough for a wordmark. Every letter pair should be optically adjusted so the wordmark reads evenly.
- Works in monochrome. The wordmark should hold up in single-colour black, single-colour white, and any brand colour — without depending on a multi-colour treatment to be recognisable.
When to Use a Wordmark (And When Not To)
Use a wordmark when:
- The brand name is short enough to read at small sizes (favicons, app icons, mobile signatures)
- The brand name is distinctive — not a generic word shared with many other brands
- The brand category benefits from the clarity of seeing the name (financial services, consumer brands, retail)
- You want the name itself to be the brand equity, not a separate symbol
Avoid a wordmark when:
- The name is long (Burger King uses a combination mark for a reason — "Burger King" alone wouldn't work at small sizes)
- The brand will appear in icon-only contexts regularly (app icons, social avatars, favicons) — you need a logomark for those, which means a combination mark
- The name is generic and will be confused with competitors without a differentiating symbol
- You're building toward an eventual logomark-only identity (Apple, Nike) — start with a combination mark and earn the symbol recognition
How to Design a Wordmark — The 5-Step Process
- Choose the base typeface. Serif for editorial/premium, sans for modern/tech, script for hospitality/luxury, slab for contemporary. Match the typeface category to the brand strategy.
- Tune the letterforms. Modify one or two characters slightly — a custom ligature where two letters meet, an unusual tail on one descender, a slightly opened counter on an "o" or "e". This is what stops the wordmark from reading as "brand name in default Times New Roman."
- Tune the spacing. Kern every letter pair manually. Don't trust the typeface default — wordmark spacing should be optically perfect, not metrically default.
- Test at every size and surface. Favicon. Mobile signature. Web hero. Signage. Vehicle wrap. Adjust at every size where the wordmark struggles.
- Build the full system. Monochrome black, monochrome white, brand-colour variants. Minimum-size rule (smallest size the wordmark is legible). Clear-space rule (minimum padding around the wordmark). Backgrounds rules (which colours the wordmark can sit on).
When You're Outsourcing Wordmark Design
A proper wordmark design package should include:
- The master wordmark in vector AI / EPS source files
- Monochrome variants (single-colour black, single-colour white)
- Brand-colour variants for any approved background colours
- Spacing rules — exact tracking and kerning values
- Clear-space rule — minimum padding around the wordmark
- Minimum-size rule — smallest pixel size the wordmark is legible at
- PNG and SVG exports at common sizes for direct use
DigitalPolo's logo design service delivers full wordmark packages including custom letterform tuning, hand-kerned spacing, monochrome variants, and the spacing-and-sizing rules — built to hold up across every surface the brand will appear on. See plans → | Read the logo-types guide →
Bottom Line
A wordmark is a logo where the brand name is the logo — set in carefully chosen typography, with no separate symbol.
The discipline is typography: picking the right typeface, tuning one or two letterforms, hand-kerning every letter pair, and testing at every size and surface.
Wordmarks work for short distinctive brand names and for brands that want the name itself to be the equity.
Use a combination mark (wordmark + symbol) instead when the brand name is long, when you'll need an icon-only version, or when you're building toward eventual logomark-alone recognition.
That is the wordmark.
