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The Hidden Meanings Behind 15 Famous Logos

The Hidden Meanings Behind 15 Famous Logos

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A logo is meant to do so much more than tell you a company’s name. Through little tweaks in the font size, colors, and direction of the logo a company can convey its past, its future, its ideals and more. Here are the hidden meanings behind 15 famous logos.

Pixabay.com
Pixabay.com

1. Amazon Smile and Amazon’s smile

Amazon’s expanded ordering services through Amazon Smile means each of your purchases results in a donation to a charity. The little yellow arrow under “Ama” forms a smile, with the first and second “a” forming two eyes. But notice how the arrow points up to the “z” so it begins at “a” and goes to “z,” representing the diversity of products the company offers.

Source: Famouslogos.us

Flickr
Flickr

2. The “Ex” in FedEx

If you look at the FedEx logo, you’ll notice it seems like there is movement in it — almost as if it is rushing off the package it’s printed on. That’s because the letter formatting designed specifically for this logo creates an arrow going from the “E” to the “x” at the end. It’s not completely noticeable, but customers register it on a subconscious level and associate the company with speed.

Source: Fastcodedesign.com

Pixabay.com
Pixabay.com

3. Google’s rebel L

Google wanted a logo that was playful and also gave the idea that the company doesn’t follow conventions. Their simple logo of the word “Google” uses all primary colors except for the L, which is green. That green is the rebel letter that breaks up the pattern of primary colors.

Source: Sourcedigit.com

http://www.fastcompany.com/1160304/pepsi-logo-design-brief-branding-lunacy-max
http://www.fastcompany.com/1160304/pepsi-logo-design-brief-branding-lunacy-max

4. Pepsi’s plural meanings

Some people say the Pepsi logo matched up with several emoticons, and how you can almost see those emotions portrayed in the logo. But on top of supposedly conveying several human experiences, the logo was also pitched by designers to the company as containing “the golden ratio, the Mona Lisa, the Parthenon, the Gutenberg Bible, the Earth and its magnetic fields, and the solar system/universe.”

“This pitch worked! Pepsi bought it — reportedly for several hundred million dollars — and now we have ‘the emoticon of a new generation,” FastCompany reported.

Source: Fastcompany.com

Wikipedia.org
Wikipedia.org

5. NBC really is “peacocking”

You may have heard the term “peacocking” regarding men attracting women — it means wearing loud, bold or bright clothing and styles to attract a woman. When NBC first created its peacock-shaped logo, color TVs were just coming on the market, and the electronics company that owned NBC wanted owners of black and white TVs to upgrade. They chose a logo that could only be fully appreciated in color to make those with black and white TVs feel they were missing out each time they saw it.

Source: Big13.net 

Wikimedia.org
Wikimedia.org

6. Adidas or Adonis?

The Adidas logo has changed several times over the years, but somewhere in it has always been the three slanted stripes. Consumers supposedly subconsciously register these stripes as a small mountain, which Adidas means as a metaphor for obstacles and challenges.

Source: Logoblog.com 

Flickr.com
Flickr.com

7. The big double Ms in McDonald’s 

McDonald’s consulted a psychologist when it considered changing some aspects of the store appearances, including the large M on the facades and standing on tall stilts. The psychologist told the company to keep the M because people associate these with the nourishing breasts of their mother, which makes them hungry.

Source: Thedailymeal.com

Wikimedia.org
Wikimedia.org

8. Animal Planet’s animalistic logo

In 2008 Animal Planet began to shift from documentary-style pieces to faster-paced shows meant to tap into our primal instincts. Some believe the different sizes of the new logo are meant to represent the difference sizes of animals in the animal kingdom. The new logo is meant to be sort of wild, like animals, and when it appears on TV the “M” is often replaced with the face of an animal who is doing something considered human such as cuddling another animal. The logo aims to show that humans and animals are not so different.

Source: Creativebloq.com

Wikipedia.org
Wikipedia.org

10. The Museum of London’s logo

The Museum of London designed its current logo with bold colors in hopes of appealing to a younger crowd. But, it still maintains a sense of history in the logo as well. Colored layers map the shape of London over time.

Source: Underconsideration.com

Flickr.com
Flickr.com

11. Mitsubishi’s diamonds of solidarity

Mitsubishi’s three-diamond crest is actually a combination of the two crests belonging to the two companies that merged to form Mitsubishi — Tsukumo Shokai and the Tosa Clan. Shokai’s icon was a triangular water chestnut and the Tosa Clan’s family crest was a three-leaved oak. Combining the crests was a way to signify integrity, and the icon is usually red to denote confidence.

Source: Mitsubishielectric.com 

Flickr.com
Flickr.com

12. Toyota’s ticking hearts

The Toyota logo is meant to signify the hearts of the company’s customers, plus the heart of the company, overlapping. The background space is supposed to represent the company’s limitless space for improvement and advancement.

Source: Toyota.com

Wikipedia.org
Wikipedia.org

13. BMW’s Bavarian past

BMW began as an aviation company, and many believe the blue and white sections inside the logo are meant to look like a propeller spinning against a blue spy. But in fact, BMW is a Bavarian brand and the blue and white are the colors of the Bavarian Free State.

Source: Dw.de

Flickr.com
Flickr.com

14. Apple’s forbidden fruit

There is a charming legend behind the meaning of the Apple logo that says the bite taken out of it is in honor of a company founder who died without recognition. Researchers say that story didn’t originate through the actual brand, and that the apple represents the one that fell from the tree of knowledge in the Bible, or the falling fruit that helped Sir Isaac Newton come up with the concept of gravity.

Source: Cnn.com

Flickr.com
Flickr.com

15. Mercedes-Benz’s lucky star

One of the Mercedes founders had an affinity for stars, and said he hoped one would hang over his factory one day to symbolize prosperity. The star apparently also represents the company’s “ambition of universal motorization,” representing the three forms of transportation: on land, on water and in the air.

Source: Daimler.com

Flickr.com
Flickr.com

16. IBM stands for equality

The technology and consulting corporation’s simple logo is meant to have an authoritative, solid look through the block letters. The lines running through the letters indicate speed, but they also represent equal signs.

Source: Logoblog.org