A logo is one of the most important elements in creating a brand identity. It can make or break a business, especially if it is well-known and recognizable.
The logo is often the first thing people see when they come across your brand, whether it’s in print or on a website. It’s important that a logo be memorable enough to stick in someone’s head and make them want to buy your product or service.
There are many different types of logos, but one thing all of them have in common is that they need to be memorable.
The logos below have been used for decades and are instantly recognizable by millions of people around the world. Here’s what you need to know about some of these famous brand logos:
1. Apple
Rob Janoff created the Apple logo in 1977. The design is based on the idea of an apple with a bite taken out of it, which suggests that the company’s products are both nutritious and enjoyable to use.
Janoff had been working as a graphic designer for several years when he was approached by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, who was looking for someone to create their company’s branding identity.
After reviewing over 100 entries from various designers around the world, Janoff’s design was chosen because it stood out as being distinctive and simple enough to be understood globally without having any language attached to it (Apple has offices all over the world).
The bite out of Apple was also intended to represent how easy it is for people to use their products, which helped them succeed in a market where there were many competitors.
Apple has continued using this logo since its creation in 1976, although they did update it in 1998 when Steve Jobs returned to the company. The logo is still used today, and the simplicity of the design has earned Janoff numerous awards for his work.
2. IBM
IBM’s logo is a blue monospaced letter “i” with a rightward-pointing helix that slants to the right. The letter “i” is meant to represent “thought” and “intelligence”.
The blue color in the logo is meant to represent reliability and security, while also being an homage to IBM founder Thomas J Watson’s favorite color (blue).
The company has used several different types of logos over its history: from 1924 until 1956; from 1956 until 1972; from 1972 until 1981; from 1981 until 1984; from 1984 until 1993; and finally since 1993.
The first IBM logo was designed by Paul Rand. This logo was used from 1924 until 1956. It featured a monospaced letter “i” in blue, with a rightward-pointing helix and the text “International Business Machines Corporation”.
The current logo was designed by Massimo Vignelli and is still in use today. It features a monospaced sans-serif “IBM” in blue with a rightward-pointing helix, which is sometimes referred to as the “Mark of Excellence”.
The IBM logo is one of the most recognized corporate logos in the world. The monospaced letter “i” in blue with a rightward-pointing helix is used on all IBM products, as well as official documents such as patents and papers.
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3. Amazon
Amazon is a U.S.-based online retailer and a cloud-computing company that was originally based in Seattle, Washington. It is the world’s largest online retailer and the fourth-largest information technology company by revenue behind Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc., Microsoft Corporation, and Facebook Inc.
In 2015, Amazon surpassed Walmart as the most valuable retailer in America by market capitalization (the total value of its stock), and then Apple in early 2018 to become the second most valuable publicly traded company in the world after Alibaba Group Holding Limited.
The very first logo of Amazon was designed by Turner Duckworth which was the letter ‘‘A’’ with a shape of a river inside.
The latest logo of Amazon is created by Turner Duckworth in the year 2000. It is simple, bold, and solid with a small arrow pointing to the right. The logo represents Amazon’s obsession with customer experience, speed, and convenience.
The logo is also very easy to remember because of its simple and bold design. Amazon’s logo has changed over the years from a simple ‘A’ to a more complex one, but it still maintains the same goal of representing speed and convenience.
4. Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola was founded in 1886 by John Pemberton, a pharmacist who had been inspired by the coca leaf and kola nut while living in Georgia.
The drink became popular quickly, especially among Americans who were tired of drinking alcoholic beverages during Prohibition.
Coca-Cola’s logo is one of the most recognizable logos in the world today; it features an image of a bottle with its name written on it in script lettering across its front face, with “Coca-Cola” written below it in all capital letters.
The company’s logo is a monospaced letter “i” in blue with a rightward-pointing helix that slants to the right. The letter “i” represents “thought” and “intelligence” while the blue color represents reliability and security.
This iconic logo of Coca-Cola was designed by Frank Mason Robinson, who was also the designer of the modernized version of Santa Claus’s costume.
The logo has been featured on all Coca-Cola products since 1886 when it was first introduced by Frank Mason Robinson, who also designed Santa’s suit.
5. KFC
KFC, or Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a fast-food restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken. The company is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky
It is the world’s second-largest restaurant chain (as measured by sales) after McDonald’s, with almost 41,000 locations globally in 125 countries and territories as of March 2023.
Harland Sanders was a businessman who began selling fried chicken from his roadside restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky during the Great Depression. He then went on to franchise this concept throughout America’s South and Midwest.
Sanders identified the potential of the restaurant franchising concept, and the first “Kentucky Fried Chicken” franchise opened in 1952.
The logo of KFC was designed by a graphic designer, Lippincott & Margulies in 1952. The iconic logo is still used today, although it has undergone several modifications.
The major change was done in 2006 when the company switched from a solid red background to a red-and-white checkerboard pattern. KFC’s core product is fried chicken pieces.
The present logo is a bucket of chicken, with the initials “FKC” inside. The bucket has undergone several modifications since 1952. The most recent change was in 2018 when KFC switched from a solid red background to a red-and-white checkerboard pattern in form of a bucket.
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6. Porsche
Porsche is a German manufacturer of luxury automobiles, sports cars, and SUVs, which is currently owned by Volkswagen AG. Porsche started out as a small engineering shop in 1931, founded by Ferdinand Porsche.
The first logo used by the company was a badge with a black horse on a yellow shield, which had its roots in one of the family crests of the city of Stuttgart where the company was founded.
The logo was designed by Ferdinand Porsche himself, in 1931. It was used until 1952 when it was replaced by a new logo that featured the same horse design but with different colors which were designed by Franz Xaver Reimpiess.
The new logo had the same color scheme as the original one, but the horse was now white on a red shield instead of black on yellow.
The company’s logo has been changed several times since then, with the latest one being introduced in 2013. The current version of the Porsche logo features a black shield with a white horse silhouette, which is an exact copy of the original 1931 badge design.
7. Ferrari
The Ferrari logo is one of the most well-known logos in the world. It was first used by Enzo Ferrari, founder of the luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy.
The company has become known for its racing success and has won 16 Formula One championships (more than any other team) as well as 28 International Sports Car Championships and 24 Hours of Le Man’s titles.
The logo was originally painted on an airplane belonging to World War I Italian pilot Francesco Baracca who nicknamed himself “Ferrari” after his hometown near Modena because he enjoyed driving fast cars there so much.
The colors have since been reversed but it’s still used today as part of their branding strategy–and it works!
Few people know that the black prancing horse on a yellow shield first appeared on Ferrari cars in 1929, but its roots can be traced back to Italy’s rich aviation history and the earliest days of flight.
The prancing horse, a symbol of Italy and its national hero Francesco Baracca, was put on planes during World War I. After the death of the famous pilot’s mother asked Ferrari to keep her son’s logotype alive.
The original Ferrari logo was composed of a yellow shield with black, red, and white lines on its top and letters “S” and “F” (standing for Scuderia Ferrari) at the bottom.
The black horse featured in the middle—running left to right—was inspired by founder Enzo’s passion for racing.
8. PayPal
PayPal is a global online payment system that offers you the ability to send, receive, and store money in over 100 currencies worldwide. It was founded in 1998 by Elon Musk and Peter Thiel.
The PayPal logo was designed by Fuseproject design bureaux in 1999. The logo is inspired by the letter P which represents “the speed at which money moves around the world”.
The letter P is made up of two elements: a diamond shape that represents this speed and a circle that represents the planet. The blue and green colors represent the Earth’s atmosphere and water respectively.
This logo is very simple and minimalistic. It’s easy to remember and it looks great on any color background.
9. Mastercard
Mastercard is a payment card company and one of the biggest credit card companies in the world. It was founded in 1966, and its logo is an interlocking red-and-yellow circle that represents the simplicity of using Mastercard.
The colors used in this logo represent those found on customers’ credit cards–red for Visa, blue for American Express, etc.
The logo of Mastercard was designed by Michael Beirut and is one of the most popular logos in the world. It was designed so that people could easily recognize it at a distance, even if they were only able to see a small portion of it.
The Mastercard logo was designed to be simple and easy to recognize. The red-and-yellow circle is a common symbol that represents money, which makes it very recognizable. The logo also uses simple lines and geometric shapes to create the letters of “Mastercard” inside the circle.
The simplicity of the Mastercard logo makes it easy to recognize and remember. It also allows people to easily create their own versions of the logo, which has helped the company expand into many different countries and cultures.
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10. Nike
Nike’s swoosh logo was designed in 1971 by a graphic design student named Carolyn Davidson. She was paid $35 for her work and the swoosh represents an arrow, a symbol of speed and precision.
The company slogan is “Just Do It,” which comes from a phrase that was said by their founder Phil Knight after he failed at running his first marathon.
Nike’s name is based on the Greek goddess of victory (Nike). In 1963, Bill Bowerman started making custom shoes out of his garage using waffle irons as soles instead of leather ones because they were lighter weight and more flexible than traditional soles; this helped him win races with his athletes at Oregon University where he taught at that time
The Swoosh was inspired by the curve of an athlete’s foot while they ran, and was meant to be a symbol of motion.
11. H&M
H&M was founded by Erling Persson in 1947 in Sweden. It was originally named Hennes (meaning “hers” in Swedish), but had to change its name to the now-famous H&M because of trademark issues with a German supermarket chain that was also called Hennes.
The designer of the first logo is not known but the latest logo was created in 2000 by the Swedish design agency BVD. They created the blue and white striped logo, which is still used today.
The logo is very simple and it’s easy to recognize. It represents H&M’s target customers, mainly young people between 15 and 25 years old.
12. Walmart
Walmart is the world’s largest retailer and has over 11,000 stores in 28 countries. It was founded by Sam Walton in 1962 and its logo features a smiley face in two different colors.
The original design was created by a team of designers, but it was Sam who decided on the use of this particular icon for his business. The idea behind this choice was to create something that would be easily recognizable by customers and attract them to come into Walmart stores on a regular basis.
The Walmart logo is simple, yet effective. It represents the brand’s target customers: families on a budget who need to make every dollar count.
The logo also represents the Walmart brand as a whole: it is simple, fun, and friendly. It also reminds the audience of Walmart’s mission statement, which is to save people money so that they can live better lives.
Conclusion
The list goes on and on, but these are some of the most famous and recognizable logos out there. It’s interesting to see how each one has its own story behind it and how much thought goes into creating something that will be remembered for years to come.
Recommended Reading: Top 10 Factors to Consider Before Designing a Logo
FAQs
What is the world’s most famous logo?
The world’s most famous logo is Apple’s. It was created by Rob Janoff, an independent graphic designer who was only 23 years old at the time.
The logo is a representation of two things: the apple itself and the word “apple.” The apple itself is an homage to the logo of the Beatles, who were hugely popular at the time.
What should you learn from famous brand logos?
You can learn a lot from famous brand logos. First, you can see how they use color to highlight their brand values. Second, you can see how they use typography to highlight their brand values. Lastly, you can see how they use imagery to highlight their brand values.
What are memorable logos?
A memorable logo is one that is not only aesthetically appealing but also has a story behind it. The story can be about the company and its values, or it can be about the products and services it offers.
What do you mean by an Iconic Logo?
An iconic logo is one that is recognized by its shape, color, and/or design. These logos can be used to identify a brand and make it memorable.
There are many examples of iconic logos. The Nike swoosh and Apple logo are some of the most recognizable logos in the world. They are instantly recognizable by their shape, color, and design.
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