7 Great Logos With Stories to Tell

Apple 

Founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in 1976, the apple logo was created by Ronald Wayne. The three worked together at Atari before they all left to start Apple.  The 1977 logo included the iconic bite taken from the apple to help distinguish the apple from a cherry. The logo has since been through a few redesigns, one icon one features a horizontally rainbow-striped apple and was accompanied by the word Apple. In 1984, along with the release of the Macintosh, the company decided to simplify the logo, believing it was already iconic enough to use without the company's name. Though the logo has changed a few times over the years, the logo has never steered from its iconic symbol, making it one of the most recognizable brands in the world. 

Starbucks

The Starbucks logo was designed by Terry Heckler in 1971 and was inspired by a 16th-century Norse woodcut of a two-tailed mermaid. He portrayed her as a bare-chested siren with an intricate crown and tail. Heckler was invited back in 1987, when Starbucks was going through a merger, to update and censor the original design. Heckler was again invited to revise the logo in 1992 that featured a mermaid with a smile, a simplified crown, and two symmetrical tails. The latest redesign in 2011 worked from Heckler’s 1992 design where the outer circle was removed and updated the primary logo color from black to the trademark Starbuck's green. 

Nike

Nike was originally founded in 1964 under the name Blue Ribbon Sports and didn’t become Nike until 1971. The iconic “swoosh” was only half-heartedly chosen by Philip Knight. The symbol was created by Carolyn Davidson in 1971 for a measly $35. Taking inflation into consideration, today that still would only equate to just over $200. The “Swoosh” became so popular the company decided to remove the brand name from the logo, leaving just the Nike “Swoosh” as the sole symbol of the company. 

Google

Google’s first logo was created when the company was called BackRub. The logo featured a hand and the words BackRub in a simple red font. The first Google logo was created in 1998 when the company rebranded and followed a style similar to the Yahoo! logo at the time. Google then went through several redesigns from 1999 through 2010 where the yellow O was changed to orange and the font's shadowing was dropped. Google recently launched its more recent, updated logo that doesn’t stray too far from Ruth Kedar’s original design. 

McDonald’s

The first McDonald’s logo featured two parallel lines that emphasized the word Famous. In 1953, McDonalds introduced the "Speedee" mascot that was animated inside its logo. "Speedee" remained the mascot until 1960 when Stanley Meston created the unmistakable golden arches that form an “M”. In 2003 the slogan “I’m lovin’ it” was added to the arches and the phrase was translated into several languages to be used in a global marketing and brand evolution campaign.

Coca-Cola

The Coca-Cola formula was perfected by John S. Pemberton in 1886. His bookkeeper at the time, Frank M. Robinson, suggested the name, believing the two capital "C"s would look great in advertising. The word "Trade mark" was added close to the tail of the first capital "C" in 1887. There was one redesign that featured what seemed to be cherries hanging from each "C" and a lot more swirls, but this design didn’t stick and now we see Frank M. Robinson’s design on every Coca-Cola product and can easily be called one of the worlds most recognizable brands. 

NASA

Founded by the United States Government in 1958, their first logo dates back to when the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics became NASA. NASA has three logos: the NASA insignia, the NASA logotype, and the NASA seal. The insignia logo was created by the head of Lewis' Research Reports Division, James Modarelli. The blue sphere represents a planet, the stars represent space, and the red chevron represents a wing that symbolizes aeronautics. The insignia was created to be a less formulaic version of the NASA seal. The NASA seal was approved by President Eisenhower and later modifications were approved by President Kennedy.