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Capitalization of logos

Question:

I am creating a logo for my organization, and I'm having trouble deciding which words should be capitalized. Can you help?

Answer:

There aren't actually any specific guidelines on capitalization in logos, but you should follow the same guidelines you use for capitalizing headings.

Basically, you have two choices:

  1. Capitalize the first letter of each major word.
    • The Canadian Style tells us to "… capitalize all words except for articles (unless they begin the heading) and any conjunctions or prepositions of fewer than four letters."
  2. Capitalize the first letter of only the first word.
    • Oxford's Guide to Canadian English Usage says that "… a 'down' style, i.e., a style that uses fewer capital letters, is becoming more and more popular. Often now newspapers capitalize only the first word in a headline, and many science journals capitalize only the first word in the title of an academic article."

Whichever style of capitalization you choose, remember to use it consistently whenever you use your logo or make reference to it in your writing.

Date Modified: 2012-03-29

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