Logo Evolution of Famous Brands
A logo serves as the visual representation of a brand’s identity. As a business grows and its brand evolves, it’s important for the logo to evolve too. Logos are updated to connect with contemporary audiences, keep up with new design trends and reflect an evolution in brand identity. These changes are typically focused on modernising elements, such as colour, typography and overall design to create a cleaner, more streamlined look.
Over the years, many iconic brands, such as Apple or Google, have recognised the need to adapt their logo to stay competitive and resonate with a new audience. Discover below some of the famous examples of how different brands have refined their logo to retain their core values while communicating a shift in their identity.
The Importance of Having a Logo
Logos play a crucial role as part of a brand identity. They represent more than just a simple design, acting as the face of a brand. A well-designed logo can communicate your personality and convey a sense of professionalism, reliability, and quality, which establishes your credibility in a competitive market.
Whether it’s on a website, social media or outer packaging, a memorable logo can make a brand appear professional and cohesive, making it easier for customers to remember the brand and keep coming back.
For example, within the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) space, a strong logo is especially important in helping customers quickly identify and align different product lines under one brand. In crowded retail environments, a clear and cohesive logo enables faster purchasing decisions while reinforcing trust and familiarity.
Why Logo Evolution Matters
Logo evolution is important for a variety of reasons, from signalling changes in brand values to pursuing new design trends and trying to modernise your look. The following is why evolving your logo matters:
Changes in brand values
It’s natural for businesses to change or grow over time, as their focuses shift and their brand identity changes. It’s important that your logo reflects this shift and communicates these developments within its design so your customers know that you are evolving.
Design trends
Keeping your pulse on current design trends and making subtle changes can help your brand remain relevant and connected to your audience, particularly younger demographics. Especially as brands adapt to smaller screens and social media, a sharp, clean logo that reflects some of the recent design shifts can help you scale seamlessly across platforms.
Increasing brand recognition
A well-designed logo that’s simple and easy to recognise can help you appeal to new customers, especially when it’s used consistently across your brand channels. If your logo is outdated or hard to distinguish, it may be a sign that it’s time for a refresh.
The Evolution of 10 Famous Logos
Let’s take a look at ten examples of logo evolutions from well-known brands and how they successfully executed their redesigns:
Apple
The Apple logo is one of the most iconic logos in the world and has remained relatively consistent since 1977. Their brand realised their first attempt at a logo in 1976, featuring Isaac Newton under an apple tree, was far too complex and impractical. Since then, Apple has made subtle changes to Rob Janoff’s original 1977 logo.
They have experimented with different colour combinations and finishes, but have left the iconic silhouette unchained. Apple’s logo design philosophy works because of the simple changes that subtly reflect different trends over time, from the zany, bright colours of the 1980s to the single-coloured minimalism of today
Starbucks
Since 1971, Starbucks have simplified their logo without losing its original symbol. When they first began, Starbucks was just a local coffee shop in Seattle, with a traditional, black-and-white design that suited the early 1970s. In order to continue expanding as a global brand, Starbucks had to evolve, beginning in 1987 when it introduced the now iconic green.
Starbucks subsequent design changes focused on making its logo cleaner and simpler. In 2011, they dropped the circular badge and text, symbolising their growth to becoming the most popular coffee supplier in the world, with a modern, minimalist design that’s elegant and eye-catching.
Although they’ve changed their logo quite dramatically, they haven’t lost the original symbol from 1971, pointing to how brands can make substantial alterations without straying from their initial identity.
Nike
What was originally called Blue Ribbon Sports became the Nike we know today in 1971, when Carolyn Davidson created the iconic swoosh logo for just $35.
In 1978, the logo was redesigned, with the Nike name presented in a bold, italicised font, with the swoosh underneath. However, by 1995, Nike and the swoosh were so iconic that they dropped the name from their logo entirely. This decision was a testament to their confidence in Nike’s global reach and the power of simple iconography.
From their initial logo in 1971 to today, Nike has built an iconic symbol that’s instantly recognisable on a shoe and around the world as an emblem of sport and fashion.
AFL
An iconic sports league within Australia, the AFL (Australian Football League) has made four major changes to its logo. The very first badge was created in 1972 to reflect the old VFL (Victorian Football League), and was a simple, yet traditional oval, with the “VFL” letters in a medium-thick black font.
While it worked for the time, it was quickly refreshed in 1976 with a design that remained simple but added a much-needed modern, stylish touch through a solid navy crest featuring a bold “V”. When the AFL launched in 1990, a rebrand was needed with a new logo. Their first attempt preserved the same shield shape of the old VFL logo, with the letter “V” replaced with a colourful red and white “A.”
The AFL settled on their current logo in 2000, with its new redesign adopting a modern, contemporary feel with the abbreviated “AFL” against a red background. The white lettering with a blue outline creates a 3D effect for the logo.
The logo also smartly connects itself to aspects of the sport, with the oval shape representing both the playing field and a football, with the four vertical lines in white at the top representing goal posts.
Adidas
Since launching in 1924, Adidas has invested in several new logo designs throughout its history. Although they are happy to experiment with different styles, Adidas has always focused on maintaining a three-stripe combination, with a striking black and white colour palette.
For example, in 1971, they introduced a trefoil logo with their three stripes running horizontally. Since then, they have experimented with a three-level adidas mountain, a round emblem in 2002, and an adidas wordmark in 2005 that emphasises the three-stripes.
Adidas have shown that by preserving the same font and colour style, you can still make fun, new changes to your logo.
Instagram have made some gradual changes since 2010 to modernise itself. Their initial logo depicted an analog camera with a colourful ribbon running through it, and the word “Instagram” written in an illegible font.
Instagram then made steps to refine this initial logo, with a simpler approach in 2011, which took out most of the camera and broke it down to just the lens and viewfinder.
While this worked for the early 2010s, Instagram made its biggest change yet in 2016, doubling down on minimalism with a bold graphic representing a camera. This was covered with a vivid colour palette that blends multiple tones to create an eye-catching background.
This design change also reflects Instagram’s evolving brand identity, shifting from a simple photo-sharing app to a fully fledged social media platform that represents far more to modern users than simply taking photos.
Smiths
Since 1931, the Smith’s Chips logo has transformed over time to create a dynamic and contemporary feel. Within its initial logo, the brand was still called Smiths Crisps, reflecting its UK heritage, with a logo that seems dated now, with a blue background, and outdated typography. Their next iteration made several important changes, introducing the bright yellow background and the beginnings of the red banner that would remain to this day.
When Smiths Crisps were rebranded as Smiths Chips in 2003, another rebrand followed. This time, the Smiths typography took centre stage, with the iconic red banner stretched out and emphasised by a bright yellow background. In 2016, Smiths again unveiled a new design, giving the red banner a three-dimensional look that wrapped around the entire logo, paired with more dynamic typography and even brighter colours.
Shell
The core “shell” symbol has remained consistent across its evolution since the early 20th century. Back in 1904, Shell’s logo took on a realistic look, with a black and white design that was functional in its day.
When they evolved from the black and white look to the iconic red and yellow, Shell had found a logo that could be applied easily to the front of a petrol station and shop signs across the world.
By 1999, Shell, like many other well-known brands, had evolved to the point where the logo alone was enough, without any accompanying words. Shell’s evolution highlights a shift from the literal depiction of a shell to a simplified logo that’s bold and attention-grabbing.
Google’s evolution presents a fascinating time capsule for how logos have improved. Their first attempt at a logo in 1998 is not too dissimilar from their modern design, with the word “Google” written in simple, coloured font. The primary colours of blue, red, green and yellow were the ones chosen because they reflected a playfulness and approachability.
Since 1998, Google’s logo has had very minor alterations, with a sans-serif font redesign in 1999, and a brighter colour shade in 2015.
Google’s evolution is proof that you don’t need to make radical changes; often, subtle improvements can be the most effective.
Amazon
Amazon is now one of the most iconic brands in the world, but for much of the late 1990s, it struggled to develop a cohesive design and identity. Over the course of three years, Amazon trialled several different designs, beginning with a simple logo featuring the company name in black with a stylised river running through it.
They introduced a splash of orange in 1998, which was quickly altered to a lowercase type font, with the orange moved underneath the company name. They eventually landed on the Amazon logo we know today in 2000, where they introduced the curvy orange line, which remains a core part of their brand identity.
Although it took multiple iterations over a short space of time, the Amazon logo has remained relatively unchanged through this century and for good reason, it’s simple, clever and easily recognisable.
Evolution in logo design is a core part of running a successful brand. As shown by some of the most successful examples, a logo redesign can keep your brand relevant to modern customers and help your business stand out from the crowd. If you’re looking for ways to update your logo, please reach out to the experts at Brandwell to remain successful in today’s market.