Polar Logo PNG
The Polar logo resembles a point moving along a snowy trail and pulsating. The emblem reflects the heartbeat of an athlete in extreme conditions. The sign introduces the customer to the brand’s main concept.
Polar began in 1977 on a Finnish ski trail, where a cross-country coach told researcher Seppo Säynäjäkangas that lab-based pulse checks revealed too little about real training. Athletes needed heart-rate data during movement, cold, and full sessions. That year, Polar Electro Oy was founded in Kempele, Finland, filed its first patent application for fingertip pulse measurement, and built an early prototype with the University of Oulu. In 1978, it released its first commercial product, the Tunturi Pulser.
In 1982, Polar introduced the Sport Tester PE 2000, the world’s first wearable wireless heart-rate monitor. It used a chest transmitter with a simplified ECG sensor and a wrist receiver that showed the pulse in real time. Before that, athletes usually had to stop training and count beats by hand on the neck or wrist, a rough method with poor accuracy.
The PE2000 quickly moved from experiment to sports practice. In 1983, Finnish orienteer Kari Sallinen began training with it, and his coach, Jukka Kalliokoski, linked his progress to heart rate monitoring. In 1985, after switching to the PE3000, Sallinen won gold at the World Orienteering Championships. In 1996, Polar launched the Xtrainer Plus, the first cycling computer to measure speed, cadence, and heart rate together. In 1997, the Power SmartEdge added OwnZone, which set a personal heart-rate range for each workout.
By the late 1990s and 2000s, Polar led the sports heart-rate monitor market. At the same time, Garmin and Suunto grew as serious rivals in GPS and multisport watches. Polar released its first GPS watch in 2012, later than Garmin’s deeper move into GPS and the Fenix line. The company remains based in Kempele, stays private, and is led by founder Seppo Säynäjäkangas’s daughter, Sari Säynäjäkangas. Seppo died in 2018.
Meaning and History
The company is quite consistent in its visual preferences and has not updated its identity in the last 50 years. This consistency also holds for the product the company focuses on. The main message of the sign is encrypted in additional transformations of the characters. Modifications make the wordmark memorable and create strong associations with winter, cold, and the hot breath of sports.
What is Polar?
A sports electronics manufacturer with headquarters in Kempele and 26 subsidiary companies in other countries. The main products are heart rate monitors, sports watches, cardio sensors, running speed detectors, bike computers, and accessories.
1977 – today
The company’s logo consists of the brand name intersected by a white line. The brand name was not chosen randomly. It represents the Arctic Circle, which passes through Finland, the company’s country of origin.
The white line directly on the word represents this cold, snowy boundary. The stripe partially cuts through the letters, just as the northern meridian places part of the country beyond the Arctic Circle. The stroke personifies movement: running, skiing, for which the heart rate monitor was originally designed.
The letter O is designed as a red circle, symbolizing:
- The sun of the polar region. In this area, it often does not set below the horizon and shines 24 hours a day. At that time, the sun and the sky around it appear red.
- Pulse. The brand’s first product: heart rate monitors, the Sport Tester PE2000.
- The shape of the main products. Most indicators are measured using sensors built into watches with a round screen.
The special emphasis on the letter O is related to the company’s full name, Oy Polar Electro. The entire inscription, like a watch strap with a display, connects the emblem and products familiar to consumers.
Font and Colors
The emblem is built on a combination of contrasting colors, having multiple associations.
- Red – blood, heart, pulse, warmth from movement, sports exercises.
- White – snow, cold, extreme conditions, health, medical supervision.
- Black – reliability, confidence, constancy.
The combination of red and white creates a contrast between cold weather and a heated skier or runner. The idea of developing pulse meters came to Seppo Säynäjäkangas while skiing.
The contrast between black and red is the opposition of movement and energy with the precision of the mechanism’s performance. It hints at activities with precise control of all indicators.
The font of the inscription is distinctive because of the white line that cuts through and alters the characters. The resulting open glyphs indicate development and sports achievements.