What makes a logo great? Is it the colors? Maybe the shapes used? Or maybe it's something that works on a whole different level, hidden from plain sight? We're talking here about the logos you've seen so many times, you probably stopped paying attention to what they actually mean.
Check out these 15 famous brand logos which, despite being well known, still manage to hold a secret or two within.
Which one surprises you the most? Let us know in the comments!
(h/t: demilked)
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Toyota
This one is extra cool because the logo actually includes every letter used in the company’s name.
I've often wondered about this logo.... and now I know. How creative!
Toblerone
"Toblerone" chocolates come from Switzerland and they really make it show not only by having Bern (city where Toblerone is made) in the name, but also a bear's silhouette placed inside the mountain logo.
When Mr. Tobler invented it, he knew that the swiss market would be too small and he designed the brand name for export: tobler One, the number one chocolate. (that's what they told us at the history museum in Bern during a special exhibition on bernese inventions.)
Fedex
"FedEx" hid a small arrow between letters E and x, which represents the forward momentum and efficiency.
Tour De France
Beats
Letter B in the red circle shows a person wearing Beats headphones.
I think they should have left at least the little eye on the logo... it is cute though.
Amazon
The obvious bit is the arrow connecting a to z, but what’s usually missed is that the logo is smiling.
I actually always thought it was just a smile! Never saw the arrow, so never made the "a to z" connection.
Baskin Robbins
Ice cream maker is famous for producing 31 different flavors of their product. They even put that number in their logo.
Quiksilver
It’s actually a stylized version of famous woodblock print The Great Wave off Kanagawa.
The letter P is actually a pin.
Hyundai
Car manufacturer’s logo stands for the first letter of their name, right? Not only so, it also represents a successful deal between a car dealer and a customer.
Levi's Jeans
Yep, that's your bottom right there.
London Symphony Orchestra
The letters make the shape of a conductor of the orchestra.
Unilever
Unilever’s logo is actually made up of icons representing different aspects of sustainable living.
Alfa Romeo
Italian car manufacturer's logo is jam-packed with stuff, the key feature being a serpent eating a man.
What the author DIDN'T explain is this: The red cross is typical Christian symbol of medieval heraldry and used extensively throughout the crusaides. Back then, it didn’t mean “medic”, it meant: Run for your life. The man in the serpents mouth is a bit more controversial. It’s a symbol called a biscione, and the man in the image is alternatively described as a child (the modern interpretation) or a Saracen or Moor (aka: a Muslim). So the whole serpent motif is all about the Christians Crusaders’ defeat of the infidels. Hey - I didn't make it, I'm only trying to explain it. lol
Northwest Airlines
Clever use of typography merges both letters, N and W, into one.
Galeries Lafayette
Double T in the title creates The Eiffel Tower.
Some of these are extremely creative, some I knew, but ALWAYS I marvel at the most creative ones I see during everyday life. Advertising is interesting, the obvious and the subliminal.
I think a number of these are pretty far fetched, like BERN in Toblerone being intentional.
Some of these are extremely creative, some I knew, but ALWAYS I marvel at the most creative ones I see during everyday life. Advertising is interesting, the obvious and the subliminal.
I think a number of these are pretty far fetched, like BERN in Toblerone being intentional.