logo design history

_Famous Brands Glossary

Camel logo design

This logo has changed significantly several times since its inception in 1913, when the tobacco company was first opened and operated by Richard Joshua Reynold. Reynold had previous experience in the industry as he had worked for some years on a tobacco farm owned by his father in Virginia between 1874 and 1895. As a lover and smoker of tobacco, and owner of the business, Reynold transported goods between two local towns, one of which regularly hosted a roaming circus Barum & Bailey. Hence the Camel logo was born, from Reynolds’ love of the circus in the nearby town.

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Carlsberg Company Logo

Carlsberg was established in 1847 by J. C. Jacobsen, a philanthropist and avid art collector. Jacobsen’s brewery pioneered refrigeration techniques, steam brewing and the propagation of one single yeast strain. Carlsberg’s original logos include the swastika and an elephant. Use of the former ceased in the 1930s because of being associated with German political parties. The world famous Carlsberg logo was introduced by Thorvald Bindesbøll in the year 1904, for the launch of Carlsberg pilsner. The crown on the logo stands for the company’s association with the Royal Danish Court. Thorvald Bindesbøll (1846-1908) used to be Carlsberg’s favorite designer at the time. Known as Denmark’s first industrial designer, Thorvald was involved in the design of anniversary books, exhibition catalogs and beer labels for New and Old Carlsberg. At the time, the company spent 500 kroner on designing the logo but the investment proved to be worthful. Since then, the hand-drawn logo remained mostly unchanged and continued to represent Carlsberg’s distinctive emblem. Today, just over 100 years since its launching, back in 1904, the Carlsberg logo landed a design prize offered by the Danish Design Center. It’s for the first time in history that a classic graphic design receives a prize.

AEG logo design

This logo has changed significantly several times since its inception in 1913, when the tobacco company was first opened and operated by Richard Reynold. Reynold had previous experience in the industry as he had on a tobacco farm owned by his father in Virginia between 1874 and 1895. and smoker of tobacco, and owner of the business, Reynold transported between two local towns, one of which regularly hosted a roaming circus Bailey. Hence the Camel logo was born, from Reynolds’ love of the circus nearby town.free logo download eps

he Columbia Broadcasting system of New York City moved to the forefront of corporate identity design as a result of two vital assets: CBS president Frank Stanton, who understood art and design and their potential in corporate affairs, and William Golden (1911-1959). As CBS art director for almost two decades, Golden brought uncompromising visual standards and keen insight into the communications process. He designed one of the most successful trademarks of the twentieth century for CBS. When the pictographic CBS eye first appeared as an on-air logo on 16 November 1951, it was superimposed over a cloud-filled sky and projected an almost surreal sense of an eye in the sky. The efectiveness of the CBS logo design demonstrated to the larger management community that a contemporary graphic mark could compete successfully with traditional illustrative or alphabetic trademarks.

Intel uses the split design logo to show the convergence between information and technology. The two wings the designer used suggest a link between technology and lifestyle and the progression toward the future. The designer’s use of the color Magenta for the lower of the two wings balances the out against the bright contrast of the contemporary Intel blue, offering high energy visual stimulation for the viewer. In this logo you can also see Intel’s use of the “hanging e,” which was used in the original iteration of their logo and is carried over today as an embodiment of their overall commitment to their original corporate philosophies.

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chanel_logo

The house of Chanel was founded by Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel in 1910. Coco Chanel was one of the most significant fashion designers of all times. She revolutionizes women’s wear and set new standards for the contemporary style. Coco got into fashion opening up a small shop which first sold ladies hats. Soon Coco and her house conquered not only Paris but the rest of the fashion world. The corporate name Chanel became an icon of elegance and from then on, the Chanel logo became synonymous to elegance, wealth, and elitism as well as a standard for international fashion. The Chanel logo design was designed in 1925 by Coco Chanel herself and remained unchanged ever since. It turned out to be one of the most recognizable symbols in the fashion world with its overlapping double ‘C’ – one facing forward and the other facing backward. Chanel’s logo is frequently seen in perfumes, purses, shoes, and jewelry.

Chermayeff & Geismar Associates moved to the forefronts of the corporate identification movement in 1960 with a comprehensive visual image program for The Chase Manhattan Bank of New York. Chase Manhattan’s new logo design was composed of four geometric wedges rotating around a central square to form an external octagon. It was an abstract form unto itself, free from alphabetic, pictographic or figurative connotations. Although it does have general overtones of security or protection because the four elements confine the square, this trademark demonstrated that a completely abstract form could successfully function as a visual identifier for a large organization. A distinctive sans serif typefacewas designed for use with the logo design. The selection of an expanded letter grew out of Chermayeff & Geismar’s study of the client’s design and communication needs. Urban signage, for instance, is often seen by pedestrians at extreme angles, but an extended letterform retains its character recognition even when viewed under these conditions. The uncommon presence of the expanded sans serif form in the Chase Manhattan corporate design system launched a fashion for this kind of letterform during the first half of the 1960s. Consistency and uniformity in the application of both logo and letterform enabled redundancy, in a sense, to become a third identifying element. The Chase Manhattan corporate identification system became a prototype for the genre. It led many corporate managers to seriously evaluate their corporate image and the need for an effective and unique visual identifier. The rapid recognition value gained by the Chase Manhattan mark indicated that a successfull logo could, in effect, become an additional character in the inventory of symbolic forms that every person carries mentally. Tom Geismar observed that a symbol must be memorable and have ”some barb to it that will make it stick in your mind.” At the same time, it must be ”attractive, pleasant and appropriate. The challenge is to combine all those things into something simple”.

Chevron logo

The logo of this iconic American company shows us two downward angles in a clipped and parallel manner. They originate directly from the name of the company Chevron, which means “angles” in terms of rank and badge rank, as one of the interpretations.

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Chiquita logo

The Chiquita Banana Company, also sometimes referred to colloquially as the “banana republic,” dates back to the year 1870, when Captain Lorenzo Dow Baker transported a historically large batch of bananas from Jamaica to Massachusetts on his sailing boat. When those bananas arrived, they were spoilt and inedible, and he then committed to send another batch but this time of green bananas, so that by the time they arrived they would be suitable and perfect for eating. In 1885, in partnership with the then undertaker Andrew Woodbury, Preston set up the Boston Fruits company and then 1899 the United Fruits Company. This current day logo resurfaced in 1963 from the talents of a commercial artist. Initially it was derived from sketches of a half woman, half banana and was referred to as a Chiquita meaning “tiny or small girl” in Spanish.

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Chupa Chups Company Logo

Chupa Chups was the first candy designed with children in mind. Back in 1958 Enric Bernat Fontlladosa launched the Chupa Chups hoping to create a more practical lollipop for kids. After the end of the Francisco Franco dictatorship the company’s founder managed to make his sweets known worldwide. An innovative company as Chupa Chups needed an effective logo to represent it. Most people are quite surprised to find out that the Chupa Chups distinctive daisy logo was designed in 1969 by the famous surrealist Salvador Dali . It’s all 100% fact. After Bernat introduced his idea of a more universal logo, Dali needed an hour only to draft on a newspaper what would become the basis for today’s Chupa Chups logo. It actually makes sense. Salvador Dali throughout his later life-time would lend his image to a variety of commercial interests, using himself as a brand. He was the ultimate self publicist, trait which led Breton to nickname him “Avida Dollars” when talking about Dali’s later output. The Chupa Chups logo can currently be found on all kinds of lollipops and related items , and the company maintains its focus on creating new, exciting products

The logo of the specialised chemistry section of Ciba depicts a pixilated and multicolored butterfly. This butterfly was used as a symbol for Ciba’s transformation into the future of growth and expansion. The multiple colors used in the depiction of the butterfly are used to represent the many divisions that make up the company.

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In 1984 Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner, two computer science professionals based out of Stanford University, created the Cisco corporation. Cisco is currently ranked in the top few of the specialist routing and switching companies in the world and they have permeated technology sales across the globe. The Cisco logo is in keeping with the companies original formation, San Francisco – and close the Golden gate Bridge, which is also known as the “gate to the Pacific,” in hope that this springs success eternal.

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Established in the year 1812 as the City Bank of New York, Citibank is known today as the corporate banking branch of financial services colossus Citigroup, one of the largest companies in the world. Paula Scher – the designer behind the recently re-branded Citibank logo, is a member of the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame and the first Pentagram partner to receive the Type Directors Club Medal. Paula has developed environmental graphics, identity and branding systems,publication designs, packaging and promotional materials for a wide range of clients. Unveiled on February 13, 2007, the new logo is – as Paula has stated – a marriage of the the word Citi and the old Traveler’s insurance umbrella to create an umbrella in the middle of the word. The change took place mainly due to the transformation of Citibank from “Citigroup” to “Citi”. Scher cleverly used the “t” in Citi as the handle for the Traveler’s umbrella making the resulting giant far more approachable. There were voices claiming that the previous emblem featuring a compass rose along the “Citibank” word mark is felt to be more confident in depicting stature and visual presence. However, the company’s cards divisions and consumer banking operations responded to the new Citi logo with enthusiasm, and relaunched its consumer banking operations around the world.

The company logo of the 1919-initiated company, by founder Andre Citroen, the French automaker, depicts two gear wheels as herring-bone teeth.

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Not a very romantic start but who says that a soft drink maker needs a dash of romance to be successful? In fact the beginnings of Coca Cola were far from romantic because it was meant to be a patent medicine invented by John Pemberton who was a pharmacist. Pemberton took his medicine to Jacob’s Pharmacy and the taster at the pharmacy judged it as “excellent”. Asa Chandler, a local businessman, eventually bought the formula from Pemberton. As for the Coca Cola logo and how it started, accounts say that it was Pemberton’s bookkeeper, Frank Mason Robinson, who designed it in 1885. Cursive script is what describes the logo but more specifically, the letters are of the Spencerian typeface, said to be the predominant form of writing adopted by American bookkeepers during that era. Robinson’s script has survived to this day, earning recognition as one of the more famous scripted logos in the world. He believed that the two Cs in the name would generate distinction for the company’s products. Fact is, the Coca Cola logo has been hailed as one of the world’s most successful brands. It is now 120 years old, and if someone was interested in acquiring the rights to it, the brand alone would cost something like over $67 billion. What makes the Coca Cola logo an icon? According to Michael Burns who quoted James Wheatley, the following elements contribute to this iconic quality: the white lettering against a bright red background, the curvy letters, roll-of-the-tongue name and of course the ever sexy bottle (described by some as the hobble skirt bottle). The logo’s impact cannot be under-estimated. Wheatley said, “A flash of red and a curved white line proved enough to get people thinking about their favourite fizzy pop.” To summarize the elemental aspects of the Coke logo: colors are red and white, letters are cursive script (Spencerian), the 2 Cs stand out, shape of the logo is either rectangular or circular. As if the logo and brand weren’t enough, there is now what people call “Cokelore” to prove that a string of urban legends came up as a result of Coca Cola fame. For example, that Coca Cola invented Santa Claus is highly plausible. That Coca Cola was once accused of being anti-Semitic may have also been true because it refused to do business in Israel once upon a time. And that it used to contain cocaine is not such a far-fetched idea because Pemberton did say his patent invention was meant to be a medicine.

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Container Corporation became an early advocate of systematic corporate identity in the 1960s. A new corporate logo had been developed by the design staff under design director Ralph Eckerstrom. A flat image becomes an isometrical optical illusion, signifying packaging while provoking visual interest.The corporate initials were packaged in a rectangle with two corners shaved at a forty-five -degree angle to imply an isometric box. Eckerstrom stated the requirements of a corporate identification program:”As a function of management, design must be an integrated part of overall company operation and directly related to the company’s business and sales activities. It must have continuity as a creative force. It must reflect total corporate character. Unless it meets these requirements, the company image it seeks to create will never coalesce into a unified whole, but will remain a mosaic of unrelated fragments”. John Massey (b.1931 who joined Container Corporation in 1957, became the director of design in 1964. Under his direction, corporate design and the International Typographic Style merged. Visual identification and systems design in general – and design in Chicago in particular-were broadly influenced. Massey adopted Helvetica as the corporate typeface, and developed standardized grids for all signage and publications. A strong advocate of design consistency and unity, Massey used thematic and visual continuity in such diverse communications materials as the anual report to stockholders and trade advertising as early as 1961. In 1965, Container Corporation established the Center for Advanced Research in Design, an independent design studio that worked on advanced and experimental projects and received commissions from other organizations.