What makes it tick

Carolyn Davidson’s Swoosh for Nike is iconic, and Indian companies are just doing it as far as corporate logos go. Retail chain Sahara Q Shop, travel portal Cleartrip.com, Dish TV, Rexona, India Post, Yes Bank, Selvel, and Wills Classic (the older version) have all adopted the sign (purportedly derived from the letter V, for veritas, the Latin for truth) in their corporate designs.

“The tick mark stands for trueness, correctness, domination, and the ideas of ‘go’ and ‘yes’,” says Ishan Khosla, the founder and principal of graphic design company Ishan Khosla Design. “There’s dynamism and positivity attached to it.” However, Khosla adds that using it as an extension of a ‘V’ or a ‘W’ in the company’s name is “just lazy ”.

That hasn’t stopped designers, who find the mark simple and flexible, suiting a host of media. Despite the simplicity, there are challenges. Khosla gives the example of the tick mark in the Yes Bank logo, which slices the ‘Yes’ and ‘Bank’. “It’s more like a slash ... a negative connotation. I would also use a different colour because red and finance don’t gel.” For once, just doing it isn’t enough.