The silhouette challenge is taking the TikTok world by storm, and if you haven’t heard of it yet, you need to come out of the shadows.

The challenge, however, is not new at all. 

It’s always been a great benchmark to help brands with great identities reinforce recognition deep into the hearts of their communities. 

The brands that win the silhouette challenge are the ones whose logos can be recognized even if they are shown as black outlines against a white background.

Look at this image and see which characters you can recognize by their silhouettes. 

While all logos can’t be passed through the same metric, brands should ideally position themselves to be instantly and easily recognizable by their patrons at all times. 

The Nike swoosh, McDonald’s Golden Arches, Audi’s circles, etc., don’t even need a second to stand out.

Importantly, they’re recognized as concepts rather than letters. So brands that copy such logos will forever remain in the shadows.