1. Meaning

Logo (logo, also written as logo, both are pronounced biāozhì) is a mark used by people in life to indicate the characteristics of a certain thing. It uses simple, significant and easily identifiable objects, graphics or text symbols as intuitive language. In addition to expressing and replacing something, it also has the function of expressing meaning, emotion and instructing actions. The definition of sign in the modern Chinese dictionary is: a mark indicating characteristics.

2. Classification of signs

1. According to the different properties of the signs, they can be divided into three categories

(1) Quality signs

(2) Quantity mark.

Marks

(3) Marks of attributes and characteristics. For example, Deng's new definition of information: Information is a collection of attribute signs (logos) of things; inverse Wiener information definition, information is information, and information is the label of matter, energy, information and its attributes.

2. According to the variation of signs, they can be divided into

(1) Invariant signs

(2) Variable signs

3. According to the basic components, logos can be divided into:

1) Text logos: Text logos are directly composed of words in Chinese, foreign languages ??or Hanyu Pinyin, and may have the prefix of Chinese Pinyin or foreign words. combined.

2) Graphic logo: a logo represented by geometric patterns or pictographic patterns. Graphic logos can be divided into three types, namely, concrete graphic logos, abstract graphic logos and logos that combine concrete abstraction.

3). Graphic and text combination logo: Graphic and text combination logo combines the strengths of text logos and graphic logos and overcomes the shortcomings of both.

3. The origin of the logo

The origin of the logo can be traced back to the "totem" of ancient times. At that time, each clan and tribe chose an animal or natural object that it believed had a special mysterious relationship with itself as a special mark of the clan or tribe (called a totem). For example, the Nuwa clan uses snakes as their totems, Xia Yu's ancestors use the yellow bear as their totems, and some use the sun, moon, and crow as their totems. At first, people carved totems on the caves where they lived and on working tools. Later, they became symbols of war and sacrifice, and became clan flags and emblems. After the country was born, it evolved into the national flag and national emblem. [5]

In production labor and social life, ancient people continued to create and widely use various types of signs, such as road signs, village signs, etc., in order to facilitate contact, indicate meaning, and distinguish the types, characteristics, and attributions of things. Marks, tablets, seals and coats of arms, etc. Broadly speaking, these are signs. Most of the vessels with logo patterns found in ancient Egyptian tombs were the maker's logo and name, which were later changed into patterns. In ancient Greece, signs were widely used. Stonemason's symbols such as crescent wheels, grape leaves, and similar simple designs have been found carved on ancient buildings in Rome and Pompeii, as well as in Palestine. China's own workshops and shops are accompanied by signs, banners and other signs. Paper produced in the Tang Dynasty already had dark markings in it. By the Song Dynasty, the use of trademarks had become quite common. For example, the Liujia Needle Shop in Jinan, which specialized in manufacturing fine needles at that time, printed a rabbit image and a trademark with the words "Recognize the white rabbit in front of the door as a mark" on the product packaging. The armor worn by European medieval soldiers had invisible marks on their head coverings to identify their affiliations, and noble families also had family emblems.