history behind the logos of top companies

8/4/2019 History behind the Logos of top companies

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Kodak was the first company to integrate its name and looks into one symbol in 1907. First time theKodak name was completely written in the logo in 1935. In 19 60, they tried to show a flip page as alogo, but were changed to a box and graphic 'K' element in 1971. Again, like other companies, Kodakdecided to simplify their logo in 1996 and removed the boxes.

IBM was earlier known as The International Time Recording Company (ITR), whose major productswere mechanical time recorders, invented and patented by Willard L. Bundy in 1888. The old logo ofthe company had ITR inscribed on it. In 1947, IBM decided to bring lot of changes. The logo was not

the only change in 1947,it was accompanied by a change in business from the punched-card tabulatingbusiness to computers.

Tom Watson, Junior decided to project the beginning of a new era in the company, for that he changedthe company's logo as well as the actions. Paul Rand designed the new logo which represented that thechanges in the company would be subtle and will not disrupt the continuity. Also, the new logo lookedmore solid, grounded and balanced. Another change in the logo was designed by Paul Rand which hadstripes instead of the solid font. It depicted 'speed and dynamism' of the company.


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Google's first logo was created by Brin, after he taught himself to use the free graphic software GIMP.Later, an exclamation mark mimicking the Yahoo! logo was added. In 1999, Stanford's Consultant ArtProfessor Ruth Kedar designed the Google logo that we find today.

In the early years, Brad made custom logos for the brand as it became more famous. Walter Mack, thenCEO of Pepsi, came up with the idea of a new bottle design, with a crown having the Pepsi logo. The'Pepsi Globe' emerged when USA was in WWII to support the country's war efforts. Pepsi had a blue,red and white logo at that time. During the 1960s, the script was changed from the curly red and themain attraction was on the bottle cap in the logo. We see the first appearance of the Pepsi Globe insteadof the bottle cap in 1973. The globe now had 3D graphic and larger than earlier versions.The globecame on top of the script in 2003.


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The company has tried out various colours and variation of the word Walmart over the years. In 1962,when Sam Walton started, the company logo had simply the word spelled in a very basic design. Thelogo was changed in 1964, when a hyphen was added and the color was also changed from blue toblack. The font of the current logo differs a little from the original and become more stylish, but the'Walmart' word without a break appears for the first time after 1962. They keep the star from 1992.

Caroline Davidson designed the Nike logo for just $35 in 1971. The main part of the logo didn't changeover a time. As the brand gained recognition, the company name was dropped from the logo. Thecompany has different variations of this logo for its various departments.


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The Microsoft story began in 1975, when Bill Gatesand his friend Paul Allen coded the first computerlanguage for a PC and named it BASIC. Soon theynamed their partnership as Micro-Soft which explainsthe first logo of the company. They changed the logo

in that year itself and dropped the hyphen too. For thenext 12 years, the logo had a distinctive O.

A new logo came on in 1987.The new logo designedby Scott Baker, came to be known as 'the Pacman logo'because of the distinctive cut in the O. In 1994, theyintegrated their tagline 'Where do you want to gotoday?' within the logo. The new 2008 logo has all thetext in Italics but the look of the logo has remainedpretty much the same.

The Xerox Company was known as the HaloidCompany almost 100 years ago. Chester Carlsoninvented xerography in 1938. Haloid Company decidedto go with Ch ester and made the first photocopyingmachine named Haloid Xerox 14. The original Haloidword which was prominent in the company's logobefore 1961 was completely replaced by Xerox.Theyretained almost the same logo from 1961 to 2004. Thecompany changed its logo in 2008 to get away from thisstereotyped image, by changing the font of the word.They also added a ball which has a stylish X.

When shell was started in 1900, the logo was a realisticand simple shell which lies flat on the ground.Theevolution of the logo began after 1915. When thecompany started a project in California, it added the redand yellow colors to the symbol. Today the company hasa logo which is bold, colourful and much simpler.


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Bangalore; When we think about Apple company, the very first image that comes into our mind isApple logo . It's always the logos which we remember for a long time . They have strange potential toattract customers and stay in their mind forever. They promote instant public recognitions and conveyseveral things. They resemble brand of the company and also reflect the innovative strength of thecompany. Business leaders always make sure that their logos stand for what they are. In a way logos

are synonym to trademark or brand henceforth companies put lot of effort in bringing them. There willbe lot of transformations in any company's history interestingly image of the logos also keep changingover a time. Then, you must be excited to know the evolution of logos of popular companies.

Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne had together setup Apple in 1976, to sell their hand-built computer Apple I. When Apple was started, the logo was a complicated picture of Isaac Newtonsitting under a tree. After hiring Rob Janoff, he created the 'Rainbow Apple' which was the logo forcompany till 1998. When Apple launched the new iMac in 1998, they changed their logo to amonochromatic apple logo. Now, the Apple logo comes with gradient chrome silver design.

Note: This was first published in SilicionIndia.

history behind the logos of top companies

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