It's a simple question, but one that can provoke a myriad of different answers.

One of the most obvious factors when you're dealing with art, is that it is subjective. YES ! Graphic design is a fine art, and as with any art, beautty can often be in the eye of the beholder. Some people will absolutely love a grey and blue logo, while others still may shiver at the idea of having a blue and grey logo represent their company. The real fun begins when you get both of these people in charge of marketing for the same company ! : )

All the personal preferences aside, there are some factors that are universally accepted as fundamental to good logo design. They are;

1. Simplicity

Simplicity has got to be near the most important factor in good logo design. Close your eyes and visualize the NIKE logo, Good. Now close your eyes again, and this time visualize the McDonalds logo. Good. Both of these logo's are both so clean and straight forward that perhaps even a child could sketch them for you from memory.

Now close your eyes and visualize the Starbucks Coffee logo. Come on. Now draw it for me from memory. Come on, I'll give you ten minutes ! Can't do it ? Hey ! You had a starbucks card in your wallet ?!?!?! Cheater !

Now this is an important distinction; It would be incorrect to say that Starbucks has a bad logo, as this is simply not the case, but what makes the Starbucks company memorable clearly has far more to do with thier 'brand' in general, their corporate culture, and their level of service than it does with their logo itself. From a purely visual perspective it is far more complicated than the other two examples referenced above. If you want to be noticed quickly, and remembered quickly, you are best to keep it succinct. Much like a conversation that drags on and on and is easily forgetable, a good logo speaks up, makes it's point clearly, and leaves you wanting to know more.

Generally speaking the cleaner and simpler the logo, while still distiguishable, unique, and apropriate the better.

Relivance is key when discussing logos. While art can make any type of a statement it wishes for art's sake, logo design serves the express purpose of acting to represent a business or organization and how effectively it does this is imperative.

If you close your eyes and visualize the 'Disney' logo with it's soft and playfull illustrative style you might get a kind of euphoric feeling of what it felt like the first time you saw the Jungle Book. This reaction is not accidental, it is intended and the stylized Disney logo is as relivant and apropriate today as it was 50 years ago.

The fun and franetic lettering that works perfectly for Disney would likely look sorely out of place if used to brand an insurance brokerage that specialized in death and disability. In this instance the tone should fall somewhere between professional and secure but misses the mark completely when landing at overwhelming exuberance.

Logos do not exist on their own, rather they are part of a larger whole. A logo is a component of a companies entire visual 'idenity' system. The visual idenity is again a part of a larger whole, a companies 'Brand'. A brand, simply put reffers to the companies image is percieved by the world at large. A brand, really, is a businesses reputation, and the set of values and beliefs that people associate with that business. In the context of a logo assisting in furthering a "brand", a logo becomes much more than simply a shape, a word, and a color.

The Nike logo is widely referenced and regarded as being very clever. The 'swoosh' or 'check' symbol that rides across the bottom of the word mark says a whole lot without having to try. Imediately when you view the NIKE logo you are struck with impression of speed, agility, changing directions, shooting across, and so forth. All of this is of course happening on a sub-concious level. The utitility of the visual mark is to say what cannot be said using letters, and to say it quickly ! Case in point you are in your car, and somebody cuts you off in traffic. You can pull up beside them and explain at length how much it has upset you that they have chosen to disregard your right of way, or alternatively there is a certain combination of fingers on either of your hands you may wish to display which will quickly, and effectively illustrate the same point. In fact doing it with your hands may ellicite a far stronger emotional response because of all the negative associations this bad driver may have had in their lifes with this particular hand-sign. This short demonstration simply shows the power of a FUNCTIONAL and apropriate image. Imagery garners and imediate emotional response in a speed and a fashion, which words are simply not qualified to produce. This is the power of a great logo.

A great logo must be unique in some way.

To create a unique logo 75 years ago would have been far easier than it is today, simply due to the vast many more companies dotting the planet earth and our prolifically branded, media saturated North American culture. Having said that, this is why it's of even MORE importance to stand apart from the competition today.

Copycat logos are a dime a dozen. How many logo's where created in the 90's with some sort of swooshing element ? At one point it was near impossible to find a dot-com startup that did not have between 1 and 6 swooshes criss crossing throughout some part of their logo. At the end of the day, Google's logo, while in my opinion not an exceptionaly attractive logo, really does differentiate Google from a pile of other online properties simply via it's unique-ness. For this reason alone I deem it a fairly great logo.