In the first ten months of 2011, there were 44,227 logos filed for trademark registration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Among them:
- The two most common design elements were “shaded circles” (found in 4.3 percent of the logos) and “shaded rectangles” (found in 3.8 percent of the logos); see Logos Taking Shape
- The most common color used was red (of logos featuring colors, 23.84 percent contained red and 23.69 percent contained blue); see The Color of Logos
- The most common USPTO industry classification was advertising/business management/administration (16.2 percent of the logos fell into this category)
- Logotype/symbol combinations accounted for 87.1 percent of the logos, while logos that only contained symbols made up the other 12.9 percent (logotypes alone are not included in this analysis); see Logotype vs. Symbol
- The state producing the most logos was California, with 14.9 percent of the total; see Logo Geography
The EMAX VPMA logo, above, a trademark of Encore Legal Solutions of Los Angeles, represents a web-based legal support service system. It may not be 2011’s most beautiful, best-designed, or most effective logo, but it fits the criteria above perfectly and is therefore the most typical, making it Emblemetric’s Logo of the Year.