There are certain brands that feel too big to have ever not existed, or to have ever looked differently than we know them today. However, all companies, even the most famous and well known, go through pretty big rebrands in order to transform into the recognizable icons we know by heart. Recently, the sleek car company Jaguar rebrand was perceived as an obvious wrong turn. So how do these companies decide on their logos, and why does it matter?
FORD
As the most well-known American car company, it was founded by Henry Ford, the father of the automobile, and inventor of the industrial assembly line. The original logo from 1903 was typical of early 18th century branding with filigree outlines, and over time the logo has become simplified to its classic blue oval with “Ford” in cursive. In 1966, Ford hired Paul Rand, one of the most famous logo designers of all time, to give a rebrand a go. His design was rejected.
As a man of both business and art, functionality and beauty, Rand was the perfect fit to redesign for Ford. He is known as the father of graphic design, as Ford is known as the father of auto design. Rand has created many logos for brands we are so familiar with in American culture. These include IBM, ABC, UPS, Enron, Westinghouse, Yale University, and so many more. He was also the art director of Esquire, taught at Yale, Pratt, and Cooper Union, and even created a few children’s books with his wife. In his vast experience, Rand believed that the old Ford logo was incongruous to the times that the company was entering. So why would his utilitarian and modern image be scrapped? Most likely, Rand’s design was too modern, and Ford was afraid that it would be a radical change in the world of marketing. The company stuck with the long-standing design of Henry Ford’s signature encased in a blue oval.
Richard Baird has an even deeper dive on this story on his Substack. Thanks to Smith of Smithographics for his deep dive and vectorization of the logo as well.
MAZDA
Another trusted and long-standing car company, Mazda has of course experimented with its own logos as the brand has evolved. Beginning as, of all things, a cork-making factory in Hiroshima in 1920, called Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd. Over time, the company began creating three-wheeled service vehicles and was the first to implement rotary engines. However, they became stuck with this image until they decided to rebrand in 1971, hiring the design studio PAOS to come up with a logo for the new identity of progressiveness, empathy, and quality. The name was officially changed to Mazda at this point, the branding streamlined and clarified. Many great logo designs were submitted for consideration, but Rei Yoshimura’s won. It is both readable and interesting, formal yet with a bit of character. This new logo gave Mazda as a whole a new clear path of growth.
PLAYSTATION
Most of us have used a PlayStation at least once in our lives, being the top competitor with Nintendo and Xbox systems. The logo is immediately recognizable, even as it has changed from colorful to monochrome. The original design was created by Manabu Sakamoto in 1994 with the first console’s release, where he created a set of potential logos to choose from.
The rejected designs all included some version of a P and S overlaid or intertwined in a combination of blue, yellow, black, and/or red. Sakamoto used design principles to convey a sense of depth to illustrate the PlayStation’s first-of-its-kind 3D capabilities. Hence, the still-standing P shadowed with S, an indication of the visual depth that the company wanted to capture. It is a clear and creative design, with originally nostalgic and playful yet balanced colors. Ultimately, the basic design we still see imprinted on every PS product today was chosen. Only minor changes such as the colors have changed.
SONY
The parent company of PlayStation, Sony, has also seen its share of branding decisions. The company has built its reputation over almost 80 years, with a standard and professional logo. The 1955 original is the only time the logo has looked starkly different than the basic design they have held since 1957. Tech companies especially have trouble choosing timeless yet modern branding. For the company’s 35th anniversary and just after the release of the first Walkman, they held an international competition to find a new logo, from which three designs were seriously considered. However, none of the potential entries beat the pre-existing logo, though the prize money was divided between the finalists in gratitude from Sony.
About a year ago, one Reddit user had a fun time redesigning the famous logo, taking out the classic Serif font and going for a look akin to the three almost-logos from the competition in 1981. Though at this point, it is not likely that Sony will take the risk of ever straying from their timeless branding.
NINTENDO DOLPHIN – ER, GAMECUBE
At the beginning of the new millennium, we were almost presented with the Nintendo Dolphin. Nintendo at the time was coming up with a new gaming system to succeed the Nintendo 64, working with ArtX on different iterations of the 6th generation console. In 1999, “Dolphin” was the publicly announced name with a logo and all, featuring a cartoon dolphin jumping behind the classic Nintendo logo. Howard Lincoln, then Chairman of Nintendo of America, clearly stated that Dolphin was “not the name of the product” at the time, it’s unclear if that’s due to initial reactions to the name or if it was always to be considered a codename. The name changed many times prior but officially landed on what we know today as the GameCube in 2001 after ArtX was acquired by ATI. The long-standing logo of GameCube is starkly different from the soft original image of the Dolphin, staying more on-par with the other branding of console releases of that generation, lending to the ability for Nintendo to compete in 6th generation console sales.
MTV
Ah, MTV. Today, it is a running joke that MTV is no longer about its namesake, music. Now it is filled with reality shows, though they still host the Video Music Awards. In this same vein, the logo has changed continuously to adapt to the fickle culture of youth.
The classic MTV logo was almost created by a color-blind designer named Herb Lubalin. He was known for his new style of “graphic expressionism” which was quite different from the Swiss style of other influential designers of his time like Rand. He designed for PBS, NBC, Sprite, the World Trade Center, Eros, Avant Garde, Fact, and much more. The year before his death, Lubalin was asked to mock up a design for the new broadcasting company MTV. He attempted multiple versions of interlocking the letters, but ultimately his style was not cartoonish enough for the company.
Lubalin’s other rejections include US Virgin Islands, CBS, Diners Club, New York City, Spectrum Cosmetics, Newsweek Magazine, and more. Though rejected, they are all quite beautiful.
STAR WARS
We all know and love the Star Wars logo. It has an equal sense of both nostalgia and modernity, perfectly branded with the theme of the movies themselves. However, this evolved from several versions. Originally more of a poster-style image, a colorful scene of a character with both a saber and a blaster, in front of a planet with a shining star, set inside of a triangle with “The Star Wars” beneath, the first iteration is nothing like we see today. This was drafted by Ralph McQuarrie. The next version removed “the” and reduced the size of the character, placing it into the upper lefthand corner, making the now stacked title front and center.
By 1977 the first movie was released, and Lucas had partially decided on a simple stacked design of only the words, with a similar effect to the opening crawl, receding as if into the galaxy far, far away, created by Dan Perri. But what we know as the logo today was created by Suzy Race, art director and screenwriter, when Lucas asked her to try her hand at creating something “very fascist”. She chose a font and style that was reminiscent of Nazi-era Germany, an obvious inspiration for the entire Evil Empire. Though other versions have been created for various purposes, it is Race’s design that has stuck as the official basis for the Star Wars logo.
CONCLUSION:
The logos we see tell the story of the company behind it. It is the most basic representation of overall identity. Rebranding can affect the public’s perception and recognizability of a business, even its trustworthiness. The decision to choose one design over another might seem insignificant, but it could affect the future outcome of an entire company’s success. Want to see more interesting logo revisions, rebrands, and refreshes? The awesome Facebook group Anatomy of Logos always has some neat ones.
