Ghostbusters Logo

Ghostbusters Logo PNG

For monsters and ghosts, the passage is closed, says the Ghostbusters logo. The emblem promises: that all otherworldly creatures will be caught and safely hidden behind bars. There is no place for the abnormal and frightening in people’s lives, and the sign speaks ambiguously about this.

Meaning and History

Viewers remembered the first film for its expensive special effects, timeless single, and classic No-Ghost emblem. The iconic icon deserves special attention because it makes fun of ghosts and teaches you to treat them as something mundane, although they look intimidating in episodes of Ghostbusters. A cute graphic makes up for the frenzy. Moreover, it was used not only on posters but also in the comedy itself – as a business logo for the main characters.

This emblem was invented by the original scriptwriter Dan Aykroyd. He worked on the project for several years, inspired by an article on parapsychology and quantum physics. Dan originally wanted to star in the film with his friend John Belushi, but he didn’t live to see filming. The story was later completely redone to become the world-famous Ghostbusters.

In the script, the logo was described with just a couple of phrases, and the art director Michael C. Gross had to detail it. He worked with his colleagues from the art department to work through several unfortunate concepts. As a result, Gross only slightly changed the shape of the ghost, after which he turned to the artist Brent Boates, who was a consultant on the design of otherworldly creatures, for help. Brent immediately proposed the final version.

Now the No-Ghost symbol is the most recognizable element of the media franchise. He practically did not change after the release of the following films.

What is Ghostbusters?

Ghostbusters is a fantastic comedy about supernatural beings, events, and phenomena. It first appeared in 1984 and was directed by Ivan Reitman. Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd wrote the film.

1984

Initially, it was assumed that the logo would be used only in the plot of Ghostbusters; that is, viewers will see it on the special uniforms of the main characters and the side of the Ecto-1 car. But by the time the first teaser was needed, the Columbia studio did not have the rights to the film’s name: the Ghostbusters brand belonged to an unpopular TV show. So that the poster is not empty, the developers decided to depict the final emblem on it, which was supposed to decorate the main characters’ scenery, costumes, and props.

The comedy creators were so eager to avoid legal problems and find a temporary replacement for the film’s title that they left out one important detail. As it turned out, the ghost in the logo looked a lot like Fatso from the Casper cartoon. The art department did not attach any importance to this because no one even imagined that the symbol would be used for an advertising campaign. As a result, the Columbia studio received a lawsuit from Harvey Comics. The court was on the side of the film crew, as the copyright for the characters expired from the publisher Casper.

This is how No-Ghost became the film’s logo and appeared in its title: a ghost trapped inside a prohibition sign replaced the letter “O” in the word “GHOSTBUSTERS.” The designers have blacked the lettering and opted for an elegant sans serif typeface.

2016

In 2016, the third film Ghostbusters was released, not related to the plot of the first two. Its creators tried to preserve the original symbol, only made it three-dimensional using a gradient and white reflections. The prohibition sign has a silvery border, and the inscription has wide gray shadows. At the same time, the letters themselves turned white, and the spacing between them decreased significantly.

The creators of the logo were inspired by the universal prohibition sign, which consists of a red ring and a diagonal line of the same color. The International Organization for Standardization developed this symbol. But the designers of the Ghostbusters logo did not use the original version with a stripe that goes from the lower-left corner to the upper right corner, but its mirrored, inverted version. The “correct” mark only appears on film posters in Europe.

A cartoon ghost is depicted inside the circle. His name is Mooglie. This nickname was given to him by Dan Aykroyd (author of the idea, performer of one of the main roles) and Ivan Reitman (director, producer).

Font and Colors

The emblem is used in the wordmark instead of the letter “O.” The rest of the lettering is in a custom short serif typeface. Regarding the color scheme, the prohibition sign is always red, and the ghost is white. Only the color of the word “GHOSTBUSTERS” is different. At first, the film’s title was black, but then the designers made it the same white as Mooglie, decorating the edges with gray shadows.

Ghostbusters color codes