One golden rule that any designer is guaranteed to come up against time and again is this: don't mess with the logo.
Somewhere in most style guides you'll find a section telling you exactly how to use the logo, and warning you in no uncertain terms not to mess about with the logo design, under any circumstances, ever.
Which is fair enough; branding needs consistency if it's going to do its job, after all. But sometimes you just have to break the rules – something that McDonald's has done twice recently.
McDonald's has broken all the logo rules with these cleverly cropped billboards
First it put up billboards in Canada, cropping the iconic Golden Arches logo to give directions to the nearest restaurant. Then for International Women's Day, it turned the logo upside down, making it into a big W.
Such logo manipulation is a ballsy move, and while it's paid off for McDonald's with a stack of publicity, it's the sort of trick a brand can only really get away with if its logo is instantly recognisable.
So, how well can you guess the logo if it's been given a serious crop? Test your brand awareness with our extreme close-up logo quiz...
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