Logan is a US superhero film released in 2017. It’s the final part of the Wolverine trilogy and the 10th movie in the X-Men series. Its predecessors from the trilogy are X-Men Origins: Wolverine (released in 2009) and The Wolverine (released in 2013). In the film, Logan, together with Charles Xavier, fights against enemies to defend a young female mutant.
The Logan logo may strike you with its unpretentious, seemingly generic style. Yet, such simplicity is deceptive. The wordmark was created according to a carefully thought-out formula.
Before we start with the logo analysis, let’s first discuss the film itself. The movie was first introduced in early 2017 (February 17, to be precise), during the 67th Berlin International Film Festival. Just a fortnight later, it was released in the cinemas of the US, in IMAX and standard formats. It got glowing reviews. Both the main heroes, Jackman and Stewart, were lauded for their interpretation of the characters of Wolverine and Professor X.
What is Logan
The main character of the superhero film Logan was portrayed by Hugh Jackman. The story set in an alternative future was based on the “Old Man Logan” theme from comics by Millar and Steve McNiven.
Compared to other releases in the X-Men franchise, Logan has been known as the most positively accepted one. Although some critics still found something that, in their view, deserved to be panned, Logan ended up as the third-highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, with the box office of more than $619 million worldwide.
The film is set in 2029. Logan, whose job is driving limos, lives in Texas. A break comes when he agrees to protect two women on their way to refuge across the border. Following a gripping string of adventures, we find Logan on his deathbed talking to one of the women (who happens to be his daughter).
While the final scene may be harrowing, many fans hope that screenwriters will resurrect Logan in films that (hopefully) will follow.
However, in this very release, we see Logan as a character whose physical aging is obvious. This is how he is presented in the movie poster. The darkness of his skin is emphasized by the clean white of the wordmark. Even the whites of his eyes are too dark to rival this crisp, snowy color. Using the “aging” imagery from the outset, the film’s design team sets the scene for what is going to happen in the story.
Compared to the two previous releases in the Wolverine trilogy, the wordmark in the Logan poster looks heavier. One of the reasons behind this choice was probably the mere length of the word – you didn’t have to make the letters lighter to squeeze a long name like “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”. You may also notice, however, that the width of the glyphs echoes the width of some of the elements positioned nearby.
The austere sans serif typeface in the Logan logo doesn’t look unique. That’s because it plays an ancillary part. Were it too unusual, it could have stolen the limelight.
The glyphs have a classic shape, so it may seem that it’s easy to identify the type. Yet, in actual fact, finding an exact match is a challenge, although there can be similar glyphs in many fonts. If you want to find a type that shares some elements with the Logan logo, you may browse through such fonts as ATF Franklin Gothic Heavy (released by ATF Collection), Video Black Regular (published by Wooden Type Fonts), Figgins Sans ExtraBold (Shinntype), and Folio Bold (URW Type Foundry).
The basic version features the lettering in white, whereas the background is black. The reasons behind such a scheme become obvious when you look at the movie poster – the wordmark is positioned in its darkest part. Here, the white seems bright and eye-catching.