Many established brands have opted to polish-up their existing logos rather than rebrand entirely. Corporations are clinging to the equity they have already built and are updating their logos to reflect that.

Last year was brighter. This year is lighter. In truth, though, like with all Trends Reports, we were objectively reporting what we saw. The color dial was certainly pegged.

When gauging the relative merits of the 35,000-plus logos that have been submitted from all over the world to the LogoLounge.com site in the past 18 months, it would have been supremely helpful to have some sort of magical scanner-like device...

These are austere times, but the logos recently loaded onto LogoLounge.com - nearly 35,000 since 2008 - certainly do not reflect it. And that is how it should continue to be.

What makes these designs unique is that they are designed to be in motion. They are not static designs that were juiced up later.

Trend-watching, until recently, has largely been an exercise in watching connections form between direct associations. Photoshop releases a new filter, and voila - entire raft of logos take on that effect.

At LogoLounge.com we look at A LOT of logos and see plenty of trends: Some are aesthetic, some conceptual, and some cultural. For instance, we have seen many more 3-D logos that are designed to be in motion, never still or flat.

You simply can't organize 42,000 logos-the approximate number of designs now on the LogoLounge.com web site-and not notice commonalities. Categories. Directions. Insights.

The word "trend" seems to raise the little hairs on the back of some designers' necks. Everybody wants to be a you-know-what-setter; no one wants to acknowledge the aftermath.

When you've spent a month studying 17,000 logos from around the world, your mind can't help but notice certain similarities. Just ask Bill Gardner, who at this writing was putting the final touches on the second book to be released by the web site he founded, LogoLounge.com.

The word "trend" has taken on a negative cast in recent years, particularly when the letter "y" is appended to it. "Trend" is actually a pretty innocuous phenomenon, though: Simply speaking, it is defined as a new line of direction.