Distinctive & appropriate: Logos

The FedEx logo is one of the most well-known logos with a hidden symbol/meaning. The arrow subliminally, allows the FedEx company to convey to its customers that it is a speedy, reliable and forward thinking company.

Clever logos are nice but it's not simply about trying to be the most clever designer. You can't simply make a logo clever by using abstract shapes and symbols.

A company’s logo is a visual representation of their company and it is the image that their customers associate with their business over time. A logo can represent personality, belief, and value. It's the symbol that is used across all platforms of communication, in print and digital.

I don't necessarily have a favourite logo, I usually align the appeal of a great logo with its function and is it designed to serve that purpose well. Designed by Lindon Leader in 1994, the Fedex logo has won over 40 awards worldwide, ranked by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the 8 best logos of the past thirty-five years.

Clever logos usually have deep meanings poured into them, whether it's type based, image-based or a combination of the two. the hidden symbology that exists in some of the worlds largest brands have nothing to do with design, they simply used design to represent something meaningful to the company.

These hidden symbols are what make logos distinctive and appropriate, but designed to be simple as they have a function to perform. For example:

Apple's logo is not merely an apple there two components: Rob Janoff created the apple logo back in 1977. Janoff bought a bag of apples and spent the week sketching them, trying to represent the perfect angle where the fruit couldn′t be mistaken for a cherry. Component 2, he added a bite mark and stumbled across the similarity between Bite and Byte, naturally Steve Jobs approved.

The first two letters in the computer company's name Vaio, symbolize a waveform and the io is designed to look like a 1 and a 0, representing binary. The two components represent the harmony of analog and digital. The best part is the extension of the digital and binary mix has tangibility in sound, the startup melody actually derives from the dial-tone sounds on a telephone keypad, try typing V-A-I-O.

Amazon is pretty obvious I think, but the brand is always aiming to please, their logo has a smile represented by an arrow, projecting a sense of satisfaction. However, the arrow starts at ′a′ and ends at 'z' implying that the company stocks everything.

Hyundai is a bit more ambiguous, the H logo is simply the first letter of the car manufacturer Hyundai. It actually represents two figures: the happy client shaking hands with the Hyundai salesman, a successful car purchase.

Toblerone is made in Bern, Switzerland, naturally, it's no surprise a Swiss alp in its logo. But it there's a bear hidden in the mountain, Bern is known as the city of bears.

BMW is not plane propellers...The German motor company started out making airplanes in 1916 but the checkered pattern is just the design of the Bavarian flag, the origin of the German the company.

Tom Monaghan borrowed $900 to buy a tiny pizza placed called Dominic's and acquired two more locations five years later. The former owner did not want Tom to use his name in the franchise, Domino's was born. The dice in the logo represent the first restaurant that he bought, followed by the next two, and he had planned on adding numbers on every new opening. Obviously, practicality outweighed that idea as it's now one of the largest Pizza Franchise out there, imagine that logo for a few minutes.

If you were a huge corporation which owns over 400 famous brands, what do you do? You could go with a simple mark but simple, must be interesting, the actual Unilever logo is made up of 25 smaller logos, each with a rich meaning. Each symbol represents various brands and other bits.

The Toyota logo is as ambiguous as it gets and I absolutely love it. T-o-y-o-t-a, can all be found within the logo. The symbol itself actually represents a needle and thread, the Japanese car manufacturer actually began making weaving machines and still uses the logo to this day.

"It reminds me of the Georgia chain gang," quipped the IBM executive, when he first eyed the striped logo. When the Westinghouse insignia (1960) was first seen, it was greeted similarly with such gibes as "this looks like a pawnbroker's sign." How many exemplary works have gone down the drain, because of such pedestrian fault-finding? Bad design is frequently the consequence of mindless dabbling, and the difficulty is not confined merely to the design of logos. This lack of understanding pervades all visual design.

- Logos, Flags, and Escutcheons by Paul Rand

The information here may be familiar to the design community but I'm sure others enjoy secrets and clever logos. There are several articles and videos of these logos and their hidden symbologies, this is just my contribution, not necessarily new information. However, I would like to paraphrase Paul Rand and Marc Posch as an end note.

Remember this fact, a logo is only as strong as the thing it symbolizes - Paraphrasing Paul Rand. When we rebrand a company, there must be a justifiable reason to change its logo, "it's a symbol of change" not merely changing a symbol - Paraphrasing Marc Posch.