Over the years, a common design choice for companies has been to incorporate mascots into their logos – think of Michelin’s Michelin Man or KFC’s Colonel Sanders. Even companies that don’t have mascots in their logos themselves use them as part of their branding, like McDonald’s with Ronald McDonald and Kellogg’s with Tony the Tiger. And, of course, sports teams around the world have mascots, which they’ll bring on the field whenever they play.
But with the ubiquity of minimalist design and brands relying much more heavily on social media than they used to, is the age of the mascot over? And will they still work in 2024? Here, we take a look at some of the benefits and drawbacks to brand mascots when thinking about how to design a logo or a brand system.
