When it comes to logo for your brand its incredibly important when you start your business as well. It has to stand out, as well as stand the test of time. The Nike Swoosh and the Rolling Stones’ tongue logos are both shining examples of outstanding branding.
How companies come up with these logos for their brands is often times a mystery. We have solved a few for you below.
Apple
Looking back, most would assume that it’s about Isaac Newton, but it actual is in memory and respect for Alan Turing, the inventor of the Turing Method. IF you’ve ever studied this man or watched The Imitation Game you know his story, but for those who don’t we’ll give you the cliff notes.
Alan Turing was a computer scientist and mathematician who is considered the father theoretical computer science. His advancements in the field would lead to cracking Nazi Germany’s encrypted messages, and helping to win World War II.
Turing was killed in 1954 by cyanide poisoning because of his sexuality with a poison laced apple, hence the bitten apple as the logo for Apple. The logo also used to be a rainbow, alluding to his homosexuality.
Ferrari
The iconic horse logo of Ferrari didn’t actually start on the car. It was on an Italian fighter jet during World War I. The plane ended up being shot down, killing the pilot, but the plane wasn’t completely destroyed.
After the pilot’s death, the mother of the deceased hero asked Enzo Ferrari to honor her boy by using the horse as his logo. All these years later he’s still being honored by one of the most successful brands in automobiles.
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is the most popular soft drink in the world, and because of that it’s also one of the most recognizable and iconic logos in history. Many attribute the name to cocaine, as it was used in the drinks origins for medicinal use, but it’s based off the coca plant. Yes, the coca plant is used to make cocaine, but the plant is still used for the drink without the drug.
The cola part of the name and logo is normally attributed to it being the flavor of cola, but it’s actually the other way around. Cola flavor is actually based off of the soft drink. Meaning the rest truly are just imitators.
Amazon
First thing first, the logo. The arrow under the name points from the A to the Z to show that they offer everything under the sun. Anyone who has used their services knows that they pretty much do at this point.
Secondly, the founder of the company was trying to come up with a name, and because many search engines listed alphabetically when the company started he wanted something that would show up early. Smart play.
He went with Amazon because he aspired to have his company become the biggest on the planet and, you guessed it, the Amazon River is the largest in the world. His ambition is nearly complete with this company becoming nearly what he envisioned!
Virgin
Virgin CEO Richard Branson may be the coolest boss in the world. He does thing a little different than most CEOs. He hosts meetings on beaches, acts as a flight attendant on his airlines, and parties like a rock star.
The name of his company, and logo for that matter, is exactly what it sounds like. When he started this company, he was a virgin… In business, that didn’t stop his from becoming a true mogul in every sense of the word.
Gillette
The razor blade company isn’t only the most recognizable brand for shaving in the world, they’re also the biggest. They account for 70% of all razor blades produced. That’s good business!
The logo is very clever. If you look closely at the G and the I on it you’ll notice they’ve been cut to mimic what the blades actually look like. This is a great lesson for anyone starting a brand, sublty goes a long way.
BMW
This brand just screams luxury to many people, and for good reason. They not only have nice cars, but they put a lot of effort into pushing boundaries with their vehicles both with looks and with performance.
BMW actually started by making planes though, and would put the B,M, and W on the propellers. That’s where the logo comes from. Look at it again, and now you’ll notice it’s actually plane propellers with the name on top!
IKEA
Small name, small products, and both of them are easy to put together. None of this is by accident, and no… IKEA is not a Swedish word.
The first to letters are from the founders first and last name, Ingvar Kamprad. The last two letter are for the farm where he grew up, Elmtaryd, and his hometown of Agunnaryd in Sweden.
MGM
The name is extremely simple. It’s just an abbreviated version of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. The roaring lion in the logo is a different story.
Many people imagine this to be computer generated, but it isn’t. The original logo was created in 1919, and the original lion was extremely tame and was filmed live. This has been continued with newer versions using upwards of four different lions.
Mercedes-Benz
While on vacation, the wife of one of the founders (Gottlieb Daimler) sent him a postcard with the three-point-star on it. Daimler would fall in love with the image and told her he wanted the three points to represent his company’s triumph over land, sea, and air.
