The most recognisable and famous logos in the world are some of the most well-known organisations and brands. These may not appear the most complex in design, but they often boast hidden meaning, memorability and impact.
Let’s take a look at some of our favourites below:
1. Starbucks
The inspiration behind the “Starbucks Siren” emblem logo design is very much based in epics and myth-making; the founders chose the name Starbucks based on Moby Dick’s most sensible character, Starbuck.
Fun fact: With the logo’s redesign in 2011, a slight change was made to the siren’s nose to make her face asymmetrical. The design company in charge of the redo, Lippincott, did this to give her face a more “human” appearance.
2. LEGO
The current LEGO logo has been around since 1998. Its most notable features are its bright red background and the bubbly “LEGO font”.
The background and the shape are a nod to the plastic blocks which are the company’s main product; the rounded letters with the black and yellow borders are all very toy-like, squishy and fun. For a somewhat serious and thoughtful toy, the logo is bright and bubbly.
Fun fact: Lego’s name is derived from an abbreviation of the Danish words “leg godt,” meaning “play well.” Even as kids, logo associations begin to form in our tiny little brains.
3. Nike
Nike’s swoosh, was designed by Carolyn Davidson and is one of the most iconic logos in the world.
The swoosh imitates the wings of Nike, the goddess of victory in Greek mythology and the company’s namesake. It also looks like a checkmark and signifies getting things done or in other words, “Just do it.” With a fluid silhouette evoking motion and speed you can see how such a simple concept can instil brand values into an abstract, minimal design.
Fun fact: When the Nike branding team original chose the swoosh, Knight said he “didn’t love it, but it will grow on me.”
4. Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola has always had one component of its logo that has always stayed pretty much the same—a flowing, cursive and italicised word mark with a wave or ribbon-like tail underlining the first ‘C’. The key here is that the famous logo’s font feels retro, but not dated. They’ve also recently brought back the “red disc” logo design, to unite the various alternate Coca Cola products—and logos.
Fun Fact: Invented by pharmacist John Pemberton in 1886, Coca-Cola was originally advertised as a brain tonic to relieve headaches and exhaustion. It contained ingredients from the kola nut, including caffeine, and also cocaine – but not as much as people think. There was only 9 milligrams per glass and it was removed in 1903.
5. Barbie
The Barbie logo design came from its founders. Back in 1959, the eye-catching bright pink and the fun sans-serif typeface written in cursive style was something the toy doll industry hadn’t seen. It was meant to communicate directly with children, fun, whimsy and ready to play. Over the years, the logo was redesigned many times but the company eventually returned to the original logo with the retro look. The logo became a big part of the iconic Barbie aesthetic, toys that are adventurous and modern trendsetters. The memorable logo was timeless enough to carry the Barbie doll through the changing times, from beachgoers to astronauts. It shows that a logo that is distinctly style (and vibe) driven is necessary for a company with frequent and changing product releases.
Fun Fact: Co-founder Ruth Handler opted to design the doll after watching her daughter enjoy playing with paper dolls. Her daughter was in fact called Barbara and her son Kenneth.
6. Instagram
The Instagram logo is also its app icon and always was. This doesn’t sound that special since Instagram is and always was an app but the fact that this little symbol of a camera has represented the company through its massive growth is quite significant.
The camera symbol was initially modelled after a Polaroid camera, because the app allowed you to take and share photographs instantly. The logo doesn’t look like it initially did but it still has the shape of a polaroid camera, it’s just a bit more symbolic and a bit less literal. The lesson here, once again, is that a great logo can represent the company’s goal and purpose in one small symbol.
Fun fact: The original logo was designed by Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom himself.
7. FedEx
Fun Fact: Fedex is actually an abbreviation of Federal Express, which was used from 1973 until 2000. They were also the first firm to invent tracking numbers.
8. MTV
MTV’s now-iconic logo was designed in 1981 by Manhattan Design (a collective formed by Frank Olinsky, Pat Gorman and Patty Rogoff) under the guidance of original creative director Fred Seibert. Unlike most television networks at that time, MTV’s logo was constantly branded with different colours, patterns and images on a variety of station IDs.
Fun Fact: Before MTV’s official launch, Warner Cable (under its two-way interactive cable television system QUBE) launched a specialised channel called Sight on Sound in 1977, which would later evolve into MTV.
9. Apple
As their first logo was uncharacteristically outdated, Jobs brought in Janoff to give the brand a fresh redesign one year later. Janoff sat in front of a bowl of apples for weeks, attempting to reduce the image to its simplest form. With great success, he presented the first multi-coloured coloured apple, with a signature “byte” taken out of it. Today, the logo is colourless, sleek and flat – and is one of the most famous logos in the world.
Fun fact: The symbol we know today was the only option produced by Janoff. Since Apple was a small startup at the time, there was no design brief – and no time or money for an alternative.
10. Google
Google’s logo is surprisingly simple considering it’s one of the most recognised brands in the world. It’s so well known that its name has become synonymous with the verb “search.” Designer Ruth Kedar originally made the word mark using a Baskerville Bold font, but it has since been refashioned into a flatter design, using a sans serif typeface created in-house.
Since it’s a logo that lives and breathes innovation and information, the Google logo is every now and then transformed into a Google Doodle to commemorate holidays, notable events and figures, and more.
The word mark design originally used Baskerville Bold font, but has since evolved into a flatter design with a sans serif typeface created in-house.
Fun fact: The logo’s colour palette – primary colour with a rogue green “L” – was chosen with founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who wanted to express a message that their company doesn’t play by the rules, but prefers to break them.
11. Mcdonalds
McDonald’s “golden arches” is a logo that works so well, it’s matured into a cultural icon of its own.
McDonald’s logo has actually gone through several revamps, its most recent by Heye & Partner in 2003. Today, the modern logo is simple, yellow (with the occasional accompaniment of bright red), and often paired with the slogan, “I’m lovin’ it.”
The McDonald’s logo is recognised across the globe, and has become a symbol of fast food dining. What started out as a small burger joint in San Bernardino, California has accomplished one of the greatest feats of logo design and branding.
Fun fact: Where do those arches come from? The first McDonald’s restaurant was opened by Richard and Maurice McDonald in 1937. But it was only in 1952 that the arches were first introduced to the brand. With the opening if it’s first franchised store, the new building included stylised half circles by sign-maker George Dexter. The arches were added to the structure to form the letter “M,” and Ray Kroc incorporated them into the restaurant’s new corporate logo when he bought McDonald’s in 1961.
12. Mercedes
Best known as the “Mercedes star”, the shape has been a consistent part of the Mercedes emblem for several years, although initially, the Mercedes Benz logo featured only the name of the company and nothing else. The “new” Mercedes logo as it stands today is a simple three-point star designed in slick metallic chrome.
Fun Fact: The Mercedes-Benz star’s 3 points represent the company’s drive for universal motorisation — but each point also has its individual meaning. The points represent land, sea, and air — environments the company believed they would one day dominate with Mercedes-Benz engines.
13. Disney
Fun fact: Is it Disney’s very own signature? Not exactly. Although this “handwriting” is a stylised version of the founder’s, Disney changed his signature so often that it was impossible to pin-down by designers.
In the words of Walt Disney collectibles expert Phil Sears, “Walt consciously re-designed his signature over the years, in much the same way he changed the appearance of Mickey Mouse over time. Walt’s signature will look different for every decade, and then there are differences within each decade.”
14. Chanel
The Chanel logo might be simple, but it’s also very impactful. It’s easy to see why the company has not rebranded over the years. Though the Chanel logo design has now been around for more than 100 years, it remains as iconic and memorable today. The Chanel logo is a celebration of the unique style and vision of the designer behind it. The Chanel logo has never deviated from the core principles of the fashion house, even as owners of the brand have changed over the years. The symbol is simple and powerful, conveying a sense of practicality, innovation, attractiveness, and quality.
Fun Fact: The history of the Chanel logo design has a few controversies surrounding it. Unlike lots of other brands, there aren’t multiple Chanel logos to track over the years. Rather, the history of the Chanel logo involves a direct focus on a single, long-standing image. However, some people argue Coco Chanel wasn’t the first to use the interlocking C’s as her symbol. Apparently, Queen Claud of France also used a similar symbol when at the Chateau de Blois, and Catherine De Medici had a similar emblem after marrying into the French family.
While it’s difficult to know exactly where the image began, it’s safe to say Coco Chanel definitely made the interlocking C’s famous.
15. Amazon
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has been involved with each variation of the brand’s famous logo design, turning to designer Turner Duckworth to get the job done. Today’s versatile Amazon logo was introduced in the year 2000. It features a word mark of the brand’s name with one simple, yet distinguished, design element: a smile made out of an orange arrow.
Fun Fact The smile has two clever meanings. First, the line starts at the letter “A” and ends at the letter ”Z” to represent the fact that Amazon will deliver anything from point A to point Z. The smile illustration was used to evoke the smiling face of customers when they receive an Amazon package at their doorstep.
16. Rolex
Fun Fact: The chosen colours were meant to symbolise the brand’s excellence in watchmaking (gold) and prosperity (green).
17. Mastercard
The symbol of MasterCard is a bright geometric composition, formed by two solid circles in orange and red, overlapping each other. The circles symbolise cooperation and unity, with the colour palette of the symbol standing for growth, energy, and motion.
Fun Fact: In January 2019, Mastercard dropped the “mastercard” name from their iconic brand mark for many uses. The interlocking red and yellow circles, known as the Mastercard Symbol, now stands on its own.
18. Ebay
eBay’s logo was replaced in 2012 and conveys a lot of energy through the use of lively colours and design elements like zigzag letters (known as baseline shift in the designer’s jargon). Their initial logo was created in 1997, when the company changed their name from ‘Auction Web’ to eBay.
Fun Fact: When the eBay Company was first established, the team didn’t think much about the logo. The first design for the official eBay word mark was just the name in a black serif font. The font is actually Times New Roman – the most common font in the world today.
19. Unilever
The brand’s logo, which is a ‘U’ shape was designed to be symbolic of its “vitality mission”. If you zoom into the logo and look closely, you will see the ‘U’ is made up of 25 distinct symbols, each representing Unilever’s sub-brands or corporate values.
Fun Fact : Unilever changed its logo design in 2004, after continuing with the 1970 logo for more than three decades. Wolff Olins – a brand consultancy agency – was tasked with creating a new brand image for the consumer goods company. They designed the Unilever logo as we see it now.
20. Cisco
Cisco’s original logo began without the name written at all. In fact its first logo was just an impression of the iconic Golden Gate Bridge however over the years the bridge became more abstract.
Cisco’s logo now, which may initially appear to be just a series of vertical lines, still represents the Golden Gate Bridge, with the two taller lines signifying the towers.
In 2013 the logo colours changed to a light blue to represent, loyalty and reliability along with its technological and innovative industry segment and values of safety and satisfaction of its customers.
Fun Fact: “Cisco” is short for San Francisco, the city where Stanford computer scientists Leonard Bosack and Sandy Lerner founded the company in 1984. That’s why in Cisco’s early days, Bosack and Lerner insisted on branding its products with the lowercase “cisco”.
