I came across this collection of metal logos today via the excellent Fffound! feed.

Whereas bands like Radiohead and U2 reinvent their visual language with every new album, metal bands often carry the same logo throughout their careers. This observation led me to ponder whether any of them are what we pedantic designers would call genuinely good.

Here are some of the attributes which traditionally make up a good logo:

- It has a distinctive silhouette (the human brain finds this memorable – think Mickey Mouse's head)
- It's easily reproduced in black and white and at poor resolution (the traditional example is "does it survive being sent as a fax)
- It's original and well drawn (or typeset)

While most of the logos above fail these simple tests, a few of them are genuinely good logos. Metallica, Slayer and AC/DC are all well crafted, have great personality and stick in the mind. I'd love to say this was also true of Iron Maiden, but unfortunately the rubbish letterspacing lets it down - boo.

If you know of any more band logos which are genuinely good examples of logo design, please suggest them in the comments.