The bright and cheerful Toys “R” Us logo perfectly reflects the company’s direction. Movable letters invite you to the world of childhood. The emblem shows: on the shelves of stores, there are toys and children’s products for every taste.
Toys R Us: Brand overview
Founded: | April 1948 |
Founder: | Charles Lazarus |
Headquarters: | Parsippany-Troy Hills, NJ, United States |
Website: | toysrus.com |
Meaning and History
This brand was created by the American entrepreneur Charles Lazarus. Her first stores began operating in Washington, D.C., with children’s furniture as their main product range. The first name of the network is Children’s Bargaintown. There were many buyers, and the demand for the products was high, as it came during the post-war baby boom in the United States.
A few years later, the brand owner changed its focus: he began to sell only toys. The very first store called Toys “R” Us appeared in Rockville, Maryland. This happened in 1957. Lazarus also designed the emblem for him, styling it like a child’s lettering: he deliberately rotated the “R” to make it appear as if they were block letters “drawn” by a child. Moreover, the brand changed owners several times and went bankrupt (according to experts) due to the desire for promotions to increase traffic. After announcing a 24/7 toy sale, the company was forced to hire new employees to cope with the increased workload.
But during this time, she closed her stores in almost all markets, leaving only a few operating. In 2019, the new owner tried to revive it, but he also failed due to the coronavirus pandemic. More than 400 Toys “R” Us stores are slated to launch in North America shortly (2022), announced in late summer 2021. At this time, the commercial center exists only in the Internet space and trades worldwide on the Amazon platform.
Over the long years of its existence, the chain of children’s stores has changed ten logos. The first versions underwent drastic changes. Later versions underwent slight adjustments to the same elements, remaining almost unchanged.
1948 – 1957
The debut logo was simple and in the form of a banner. The sign was above the entrance and consisted of bold red letters. It was located above a blue ad line offering great discounts. Children’s Supermart had an uneven height: the central symbols were shorter than the side ones, so the inscription resembled an arch.
1957 – 1967
In 1957, the legendary transition to the current version took place: then the line appeared for the first time, which later became the name of the trademark. Another key image emerged – a mascot named Geoffrey the Giraffe, who uttered an iconic phrase about toys. An equally significant innovation was the mirrored Rs in all words. The emblem was monochrome and looked like separate fragments collected in one space.
1967 – 1969
The chain of stores was officially renamed Toys “R” Us. The name was written on a long truck driven by a mascot giraffe. At the same time, the logo appeared colorful: the animal received a natural orange color with black spots, the cabin was painted red, the van – light beige. But the inscription turned out to be the most colorful: it consisted of purple, blue, green, yellow bubble-shaped letters.
1969 – 1972
Only a fragment of a long trailer remained on the emblem, which the designers made black, making the text look more contrasting. Moreover, the developers have kept the brackets at the inverted “R” and lengthened them a little to resemble the hands of a child raised up in a fit of joy from the sight of numerous toys. This interpretation ideally echoed the brand name. Down below appeared the slogan “The Children’s Bargain Town!” In cursive handwritten script.
1972 – 1976
During this period, unnecessary elements were removed for the first time. The designers retained only the words “Toys” R “Us” on a plain white background. They added smoothness to the letters. At the same time, the characters were slightly straightened compared to the inscriptions in previous versions.
1976 – 1980
In 1976, the exclamation mark disappeared from the emblem, and the letters became colored. “T” and “R” were dyed blue, “O” got dark beige, “Y” and “U” were olive green, both “S” was burgundy. The bubble shape of the symbols has been retained.
1980 – 1986
The chain of children’s stores has adopted a very striking logo. Each letter has been painted a different color. The designers made T red, O yellow, Y, and the last S blue, R green, U orange, and S dark pink.
1986 – 1999
The developers again picked up a different color scheme, slightly changing the palette of letters. This time, the “T” and the last “S” were dark red, the “O” was orange, the “Y” and “U” were green, the center “S” was dark pink, and the “R” was yellow.
1999 – 2007
In 1999, a graphic sign appeared in the emblem – a dark blue star with five rays. It was aligned with the letter “R” and served as its background.
2007 – today
At the moment, the trademark for the sale of children’s toys uses a modified logo. The designers took the previous version as a basis and transferred the color scheme to the pastel spectrum. In addition, they increased the “R,” making it much larger than the rest. There is now a miniature white star in the center: it is an in-letter lumen. Some symbols have been changed.
Font and Colors
The store logo is dominated by text. This is because he needs a sign with a name so that it not only attracts attention but also performs other functions. For example, it served as an advertisement, identification mark, information element, with which it still copes well. The letters were in uppercase from the very beginning. A graphic image appeared recently in the form of a small star. True, for a long time, the role of the corporate symbol was played by the rotated “R,” reminiscent of the Cyrillic “I.”
The toy and children’s goods store chose a bouncing font for its name. He conveys childish pranks and high spirits. The so-called bubble typeface is smooth, streamlined, wide as if puffed up. It brings in some elements of play and dynamics.
To maintain the cheerful atmosphere of the logo, the company opted for bright colors. Her color scheme is dominated by red, dark pink, green, yellow, orange, blue. But early versions are made in a restrained monochrome palette.
Toys R Us color codes
Razzmatazz | Hex color: | #eb1a5b |
---|---|---|
RGB: | 235 26 91 | |
CMYK: | 0 89 61 8 | |
Pantone: | PMS 192 C |
Cadmium Orange | Hex color: | #f38120 |
---|---|---|
RGB: | 243 129 32 | |
CMYK: | 0 47 87 5 | |
Pantone: | PMS 151 C |
Kelly Green | Hex color: | #73bd44 |
---|---|---|
RGB: | 115 189 68 | |
CMYK: | 39 0 64 26 | |
Pantone: | PMS 361 C |
Lapis Lazuli | Hex color: | #0862ae |
---|---|---|
RGB: | 8 98 174 | |
CMYK: | 95 44 0 32 | |
Pantone: | PMS 285 C |