The seven-pronged pot leaf is the most tired logo in the marijuana industry.
Need proof? In April, Surface Magazine challenged 12 leading design firms to create (mostly leaf-free) packaging for "the future Starbucks of weed," a fictionalized, aspirational marijuana brand.
Nixing the leaf, it turns out, creates stunning results.
Some 44% of logos registered as trademarks for weed-related businesses use the plant in their imagery, according to US Patent and Trademark Office records. As a result, the marijuana industry is unable to shed the kitsch vibe that prevents it from being taken seriously.
As the industry transitions from a black market to a $5.4 billion business, it must unburden some of the clichés: reggae music, Rastafarian colors, and Cheech and Chong, just to name a few.
—Emblemetric (@Emblemetric) April 18, 2016
Just as not all clothing retailers feature a t-shirt in their logo, not all pot companies should use the marijuana leaf. Instead, they should employ branding that speaks to their products.
"The problem with the leaf in a marijuana business logo is that it is so commonly used that it acts as a symbol of merely the general category, rather than of the specific brand," writes James I. Bowie, a sociologist at Northern Arizona University, in a recent blog post on Emblemetric.
Bowie investigates trends in logo design using quantitative analysis of data from the US Patent and Trademark Office. Since the pot leaf first debuted as a logo in 2004, he says it has exploded in popularity.
Snoop Dogg blazed a trail in the weed industry earlier this year with the launch of Leafs by Snoop, a suite of products with design by Pentagram. Its gold-plated pot leaf looks like jewel facets.
While some logos are more tasteful than others, they still rely on novelty to move product.
The solution may be designing logos that capture the intended use case of the product or the characteristics of the target demographic.
Surface Magazine's design challenge illuminated how it should be done.
Base Design in New York dreamed up a marijuana additive as pervasive as coffee or tea. It comes packaged in ketchup-like packets and features a hand making the A-OK symbol in place of the letter "O."
MGMT in Brooklyn employed bright pops of color and clean layouts in its design for an on-demand delivery service called Hi. The imaginary brand curates and distributes artisanal edibles, including Himalayan sea-salt chocolate bars and organic gummy bears infused with pot.
Another fictional design out of New York, Sprankles (by design firm Franklyn) is the Truvía of marijuana.
Sprankles is a blend of flower crumbles and kief, or resin, meant to top the food of your choosing. The logo for the cannabis condiment uses ground marijuana to form the letter "S," and looks like it would fit in among other pantry items a mom might pull.
These examples from Surface Magazine's design challenge have little in common. That's a good thing.
They're distinctive, as a brand should be if it wants to distinguish itself from competitors. In the case of marijuana, brands are still learning how to distance themselves from rivals — and the industry's stigma.
