It's often agreed that logos should always work in black and white... am I right in thinking that doesn't mean greyscale, and literally just means black and white i.e. positive and negative space?
It would certainly make a logo more versatile, but then obviously doesn't give the designer as much room to be creative. I also see a lot of logos these days that wouldn't work in just black and white... such as those with gradients and those making use of blend modes:
Of course logos can have an alternate single colour version that can be used when necessary... but that just seems a little inconsistent to me.
Answer
A logo should work as black and white because it might be used in non-conventional ways. In this case black and white denotes high contrast or 2 colors/textures. This means that the logo can be used in a setting where color is not available. Some examples of such things include:
Laser engraving and etching on glass
Image 1: Laser engraving on glass
Stripping of paint form surface. Like a computer case.
Milling logo as a 3d item on a surface
Image 2: Logo milled on wood. Source
- Vinyl cuts
- Etc.
Color is limited to printing and screen purposes. A logo needs to be versatile. By checking a high contrast version you will also understand better how the logo works in the visual system.
So in fact by expanding your creativity potential, you are in fact decreasing creative potential for the client. And at the end of the day your logo would have most likely worked in back and white if you had used a bit more brainpower on the subject.
Note: Most of the logos in your example do not necessitate color. They most work in 2 color settings. At least Waymo, tvnz and Currency Cloud can easily be made 2 color non-gradient. And even the first one probably has a black and white version.
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