Logo Design Trends for Big Companies

Logos are one of the most

important components of a brands identity
which promotes instant public recognition. 

Although logos are designed
to be instantly recognizable, they don't always 

remain the same.

Some modifications are minor; others can result

 in an almost entirely
different logo. In this article, we will look at

 some logos from well
known companies and see how they have 

changed throughout the history of
the company.

Google

Google’s first logo was designed by Sergey Brin 

using the free
graphic design application, GIMP. Later that same

 year Google added an
exclamation similar to that in use by Yahoo!

 Finally in 1999, Ruth
Kedar, a Consultant Art Professor from Stanford

 created the logo that is
still in use to this day.

Canon

Canon was originally known as Kwanon

 and the original logo used a
unique typeface never before seen in

 Europe or North America. The logo
then underwent a huge change before

 the rename in 1953. The current logo
styling is clearly rooted in this logo and

 although it has been through
more changes since then, it looks very similar.

Pepsi

Pepsi have made an unbelievable number of changes

 to their logo over
the years making it the perfect example to end on.

 The 1905 logo is a
little easier on the eyes than the 1898 version. 

The 1940 logo sports a
cleaner look. The 1950s logo introduces the 

well-known red, white, blue
colour scheme which hasn't changed since.

Pepsi have made many changes to their logo to

 keep it modern and not
all of them have been received well but it's

 almost guaranteed they will
continue to update the logo to meet

 future design standards.

Volkswagen

Volkswagen’s history dates back to 1930’s

 Nazi Germany. Volkswagen
translates to ‘people’s car’ which defines

 what the brand is all about; a
car manufacturer that designs cars with affordability

 in mind whilst
not compromising on quality. In the 1939 logo, 

the design somewhat
resembles a swastika.  Finally, the current logo

 follows the pattern of
most modern logos by adding a gradient effect etc.

BMW

BMW is a leading German car manufacturer

 which was originally founded
as an aircraft company. BMW supplied planes to

 the German army
throughout world war one before having to their

 change strategy at the
end of the war. They moved on to making railway

 brakes, motorcycles and
cars. The core design of the logo itself has remained

 more or less the
same with the current logo using a gradient to give

 a modern look; the
same technique used by the current apple logo.

The next revision uses bolder letters and circle

 outlines. BMW then
loses the gold in exchange for white. The weight

 of the text is reduced
and the size of the circles changed. The next logo 

uses the same font as
the logo in use today. As explained earlier, 

this is the ’54 logo
modernized.

Nike

Nike is a leader in sportswear fashion and has a

 logo that could be
recognized a mile away. Its simplistic design has 

allowed it to remain
modern over the years with very few changes. 

Caroline Davidson designed
Nike’s logo in 1971 for $35. The first change

 came in 1978 when the text
was lifted so that it didn’t overlap the swoosh. 

The 1978 is probably
the best known of the logos. The current logo

 removes the text leaving
only the famous Nike swoosh.

Microsoft

Paul Allen and Bill Gates founded Microsoft 

(Micro-Soft) in 1975…
within the year they lost the hyphen. 

The 1982 – 1987 logo featured the
oddly shaped ‘O’ which was known by 

employees as the ‘blibbet’.

Microsoft changed its logo in 1987 to a version 

that didn’t include
the ‘blibbet’. This sparked a former 

employee to campaign to ‘save the
blibbet’. Scott Baker created the newer logo 

with a slash in the O. This
became known as the ‘pac-man’ logo.

 Microsoft is another example of
logo’s changing with the times. It’s clear

 that the 80’s style logo
wouldn’t fit in today.

Apple

Apple is an iconic brand with an unmistakable logo

 but that wasn’t
the case in 1976. Apple’s first logo was a picture 

of Isaac Newton sat
under an apple tree. The logo was designed by 

Ronald Wayne who held a
10% stake in the company which he sold a mere 

two weeks later. In the
same year, Steve Jobs came to the conclusion 

that the logo was to blame
for slow sales and commissioned an agency to 

design a new logo. The
agency designed the striped apple logo which 

was in use until 1999.
Finally the current logo drops the stripes for a 

monochromatic modern
look.

Ford

Ford was founded in 1902 under the name Ford &

 Malcomson, Ltd. In
1903 it was renamed to Ford Motor Company which

 is shown in the first
logo. The 1909 logo has a font resembling the

 one that is currently in
use; both logos shown are simplistic in

 comparison to the 1912 revamped
version. In the same year the logo was replaced 

with a design incredibly
similar to the latest version.

15 years later, Ford changed its logo along with 

the launch of the
‘Model A’ car. Ford’s current logo is 

known as the ‘Centennial Blue
Oval’. Ford is the perfect example of the evolution

 of a logo as there
are many revisions made over a period of many

 years demonstrating how
logo’s need to change with the times.

The examples above show how company logos

 transform and adapt with
the times and will continue to do so in order to 

ensure the companies
continue to appear modern.