Sometimes, a bright, memorable emblem can boost efficiency and commercial success. First, the logo conveys the initial, and often fundamental, idea of the company’s attitude toward its corporate identity. It helps shape the owner’s identity in a competitive market and creates a visual image of the brand even before the proposal is known. However, creating a truly memorable and vivid visual image is not easy and requires appropriate knowledge and skills, as well as a creative approach.
Looking at the history of this direction, we can see that masterpieces of visual identification often emerged by coincidence. But today, we can use this game of chance for good by studying why such successful logos emerged and applying those lessons creatively and professionally to new developments. A list of today’s most recognizable brand owners, with unique, particularly attractive logos, confirms this.
Adidas (1967)
The world-famous sports shoe manufacturer Adidas’s logo was created by Edy Dassler, the company’s CEO, in 1967. However, the stripes were first used in 1947, which led to a dispute with the Finnish company Karhu Sports. They settled for 1,600 euros and two bottles of whisky. In 1971, Adidas added a shamrock to its logo, and in 1991, the stripes became slanted to form a mountain peak. The modern version of a circle intersected by three curved stripes appeared in the early 2000s. The stripes reflected the shoe’s design and helped ensure its durability. The trefoil symbolized the diversity and international focus of the brand: each of the leaves symbolized the part of the world in which the company sold its products, North America, Europe, and Asia.
Apple (1976)
One of the most recognizable logos worldwide is the emblem of Apple Corporation, the American manufacturer of personal and tablet computers, software with a graphical user interface, smartphones, and audio players. Founded in 1976 by Steve Wozniak, Ronald Wayne, and Steve Jobs, the company immediately made an impression with its original logo, a minimalist design that struck everyone with its brevity. The emblem’s success was so overwhelming that the bitten, striped apple with a twig and a leaf has remained the brand’s emblem to this day. Recently, Apple updated the logo and digitized it, sharpening the lines and filling the entire space with solid black instead of stripes.
BMW (1913)
Today, it’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t know what the emblem of the world’s leading automaker, the German brand BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke AG), looks like. Founded in 1916 in Munich by Carl Friedrich Rapp and Gustav Otto, it now ranks among the world’s largest automobile companies. Its emblem reflects the company’s history, which began with aircraft engine manufacturing. The central element of the round emblem is a small circular sector divided into four identical segments, in white and blue in a diagonal design. These colors match the flag of Bavaria, where the company’s history began, and pay tribute to that history. However, they are reversed. The composition is said to resemble a rotating propeller, linking the brand to its history and emphasizing its roots and experience. The larger circle of the BMW logo contains the abbreviated name. The latest update features a minimalist design and a transparent interior in the large sector, symbolizing future mobility.
Coca-Cola (1886)
The most successful and viable suggestion came from Frank Robinson, a friend of the founder of the American food giant Coca-Cola, who created the Coca-Cola trademark and logo. Time has proven the claim that the two C’s in his design would be a great eye-catcher. For 130 years, the emblem has remained virtually unchanged. Spencerian-shaped font, popular in the late XIX – early XX century in American business correspondence, the fancy lower tail of the first C and the upper curl of the second- all these elements have ensured the invariability of brand recognition. Since 1958, the letters have been executed in white on a bright red background. The lower white wave, adopted in 1969, returned and took its original form in 2007.
Google (1998)
The popularity of another American multinational corporation, Google, is hard to overstate. The company, founded in 1998, and its logo are now known to every child who has just learned to find cartoons online. The brand’s appeal and originality were established when the name was formed: Google, which means “one with 100 zeros”. But the accidentally lost letter “O” was never returned, preserving the name’s original sound. Sergey Brin, one of the company’s founders, created the first Google logo. Its modern interpretation is a colorful, multicolored version of the traditional text module – the name of the brand- in which the letters are made in bright corporate colors: blue, red, green, and yellow, in line with the visualization of the current owner of the brand, Alphabet Inc., since 2015. The text is in Product Sans font.
McDonald’s (1962)
The world’s largest restaurant chain, McDonald’s, was founded in 1940 by Dick and Mac McDonald in Oak Brook, Illinois, USA. Today, almost everyone in the world has tried this brand’s products at least once. Its logo is known worldwide, even though the chain has no restaurants yet. The brand’s emblem is a stylized gold M. This execution gave the logo its name, “Golden Arches.” To create a clear image and provide contrast, each element of the sign was highlighted with a rich, bright red border. This combination of colors increases appetite. Below the sign, the full company name is in bright red, set in a round, dense sans-serif font.
Mercedes-Benz (1909)
In 1926, Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler, and Wilhelm Maybach founded the German automobile company Mercedes-Benz in Stuttgart, which later became a leading manufacturer of high-tech modern cars. Its emblem is known to everyone. The company was formed through a merger of Benz & Cie and Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft. Gottlieb Daimler drew the first emblem with a star in 1909. After the 2011 update, the emblem gained volume and took on a steel-gray hue with shadows, imitating the shine of metal. The emblem is a circle, symbolizing the steering wheel, placed on a traditional three-pointed star. Below the emblem is the full brand name in a beautiful Serif typeface, slightly compressed in width. The thin, classic letters provide high definition and readability in both typographic and digital formats.
Nike (1971)
In 1964, the company Blue Ribbon Sports was registered, and 14 years later, it changed its name to the world-famous Nike sportswear brand. Today, it is the most expensive sports brand and needs no additional representation; its emblem reflects more than quality. The company logo has become a style element and a sign of the high status of those who wear such clothes. A young designer, Caroline Davidson, developed the most famous emblem and received $37 for her work. The inspiration for the Jeff Johnson emblem was the image of the goddess Nike. But the well-known “tick” was not the only project. The mark came from the designer’s dissatisfaction with his brand variants, which he crossed out irritably. This black stroke became famous and is one of the most recognizable logos today.
Pacific (1958)
“Bird’s Foot,” “peace cross,” or Pacific, created in 1958 by Gerald Holtom, became a worldwide emblem for peace, disarmament, and anti-war movements, including the hippie movement popular in 60s America. Designed for Britain’s nuclear disarmament movement in 1958, the logo became an international emblem. It represents a circle outline with short lines resembling a dove’s footprint, a bird symbolizing peace. The logo is black, making it easy to reproduce on any surface and ensuring readability across print and digital versions.
Playboy (1953)
Hugh Hefner founded another recognizable American brand: the erotic magazine Playboy, which he edited in 1953. That same year, artist and designer Arthur Paul designed the world-famous rabbit emblem. The monophonic silhouette of a long-eared black rabbit with an imposing bow tie became the most popular. The rabbit embodied the magazine’s playfulness and boldness, while the bow tie added sophistication. At the same time, the animal is associated with sexual activity and vigor, which perfectly reflects the magazine’s character. The bow tie spoke of intelligence.