Learn English – the difference between a variant and a variation

differencesnounsword-choice

I designed a logo for a client. He liked the idea it presented, but wanted to see alternative ways to represent its idea, so I came up with several new designs of similar concept. I now have to package the new designs into a presentation document, and when it came to titling its sections, I wondered: are the new designs variants of the initial one, or are they variations?

Best Answer

Very strictly speaking, variation is change, and a variant is one of the forms resulting from the change.

The use of variation to mean variant is so common, though, that only a hardcore pedant would ever even recognize a difference in that context, much less say either one is incorrect.