There’s no need to say that a brand logo plays an immense role in a company’s promotion and growth. Now, every few years, major brands will make some big or small adjustments or complete makeovers to the designs of their logos. Along with quality and visual impression, customers are paying attention to a number of other aspects that make up a business, such as brand identity, eco-friendliness and of course, social responsibility. However, even if transformations seem minor from one step to the other, when we compare the initial design with the actual ones, many logos look completely different, and in some cases we may not even recognize the original artwork, being so used to the current one.
So, what better way to evaluate the effectiveness of logos in time than to examine how they have evolved in successful and lasting age-old companies? See how these famous brands have altered the design of their logos since inception:
Siemens
The very first version of the Siemens logo appeared in 1899. It featured interlacing letters “S” and “H”. Each letter symbolized one of the co-founders, Siemens and Halske. The symbol proved to be rather successful, so it became the basis of the company’s logo for the following 37 years. However, the logotype did not stay the same throughout this period.
Xerox
The history of Xerox’s logo began in 1937 when the company was known as Haloid Company. The name was replaced in 1961, following a highly acclaimed copier they developed, the Haloid Xerox 914. Since then, the ‘Xerox’ typeface became the only feature of the logo until 2008. This time, they put in a red ball-like symbol with the white letter ‘X’ painted on it, something that might allow people to recognize the company better.
Adidas
Adi Dassler was a man of many talents. It was he who decided to put three stripes on the Adidas shoes to make them easily identifiable among competing brands. With time, the graphic became a fully-fledged logo that remained practically unchanged for many years. (The only design element Adidas experimented with was the form of the stripes.) In the 60s, Adi Dassler and his wife Käthe came up with another emblem that featured a trefoil. In 1997, the German shoe manufacturer introduced its new corporate symbol, with three slanting stripes forming a steep mountain. The mountain stood for the challenges faced by the company and the goals it’s pursuing.
Volkswagen
The original VW logo from 1937 featured bumped teeth around the circle to make it look like a gear, with long arms rotating around the circle. The arms and gear bumps were eliminated by the time WWII ended and in 2000, VW colored the logo blue and silver.
AT&T
Bell Telephone Co. designed the original logo in 1900. In 1964, the “AT&T” of Bell Telephone Co. became the dominant element of the brand. The company eventually dropped the bell altogether in 1970, and the latest AT&T logo was released in 2005.
IBM
Since inception, IBM has gone through significant identity shifts — not only by updating the logo, but also by changing the name multiple times. This original logo was designed in 1889 and represents the International Time Recording Co. (ITRC). International Business Machines as we know it today was introduced in 1924, leading to the current logo, which was designed in 1972.
NOKIA
The first logo of Nokia was created in 1865 showing the image of a fish. This image should be inspired by the salmon fish of Nokianvirta River. After the merger, Nokia Corporation adopted the logo which was all black rounded shape emblem, in which “Nokia” was written in white. At the start of its telecommunication equipment manufacturing, Nokia adopted the logo which was quite similar to the current one, but with the light blue color and the arrow-like shape pointing upward. The arrow in the logo represents Nokia’s progress and advancement in the telecommunication industry.
Canon
The origin of today’s world-famous brand Canon can be traced in Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory that was established back in 1933. The first set of cameras was manufactured as a part of a business trial and these early birds were named Kwanon after the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy. Now, this Goddess was the possessor of thousand arms and spat flames.
Conclusion
Today there are many corporations, products, brands, services, agencies and other entities using an ideogram (sign, icon) or an emblem (symbol) or a combination of sign and emblem as a logo. A company’s logo is a recognition tool for the public to link their services or products to the company. It is a part of a company’s branding. Let’s look at the evolution of the most well-known companies in the world. They have designed their logo in such a way that people could easily identify with their brand names. This should be our goal too.
Your weekly dose of logo-knowledge was brought to you by: HIBRIDIUM
Hibridium is a freshly freelancer turned to brand project, aiming to offer, as already stated, “more than design”. What is more than design ? Tailor made ideas and concepts, based on our customer’s insights and our own experience.
HIBRIDIUM lives in a Hybrid world, a mixture of digital marketing fairy tales, custom graphic designed dragons, printing materials for the bear in the forest, and brand identity in shining armor.
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