2. • The $35 billion company originally started
in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant, owned
and operated by Richard and Maurice
McDonald.
• The iconic golden arches were born from
arch-shaped signs on the sides of a
franchised "walk-up hamburger stand" in
the early 1960s.
• When viewed from a certain angle, the
arches formed the letter M, making it
perfect for the new logo
• Over the years the logo has gone through
several small redesigns, all using some
variation of the big yellow M.
• The current version has been in use since
2003 and incorporates the grammatically
incorrect "i'm lovin' it" slogan.
McDonald
3. • While some might think that Starbucks
sprung up in Seattle around the same time
as grunge music in the 1990s, the coffee
giant has actually been around since the
70s. Back then, the Starbucks logo was a
brown print of a woodcut illustration of a
topless siren from Greek mythology.
• The company has gone through a few
more conservative and modern
interpretations since the late 80s, finally
shedding the company name on the logo
all together on the simpler green and
white version that's been in use since
2011.
Starbucks
4. • Apple's original logo was designed by co-
founder Ronald Wayne and didn't even
last a year. Steve Jobs demanded a
redesign because he felt the drawing of
Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree
was too intellectual and intricate to be
stamped on computers.
• The now iconic image of an apple with
bite taken out of it has been with the
company since 1976, but the tech giant
ditched the rainbow colors for the current
slick chrome shade in 1998.
Apple
5. • The tech giant has had several logo
makeovers since its inception in 1975. But
most of the variations on font of the
modest black-and-white company name
took place during the 80s. The same logo
had been in use since 1987, until it
received a buzzed-about redesign last
year.
• The new logo, called "Segoe,"
incorporated the symbol of the four
colored squares, similar to the logo used
on its Windows operating system
Microsoft
6. • One of the most recognizable names in
camera equipment originally had a name
that likely didn't trip from Western
tongues. Founded in Toyko in 1937, the
company was known as Kwanon, named
after a Buddhist figure.
• The short-lived first logo reflected these
cultural origins with an ornate logo
bearing the company's name and a
depiction of the Buddhist Goddess of
Mercy. But as the company's international
presence grew Kwanon evolved into
Canon, the typeface became bolder and
easier to read and ever since the 50s, an
eye-catching red.
Canon
7. • The popular Firefox browser we know
today was first born as part of the Mozilla
Application Suite in 2002 as Phoenix --
thus the drawing of the red bird with
flames.
• In 2003 it was renamed Firebird, which
then became Firefox in early 2004. Since
then the logo has had minor tweaks, with
the final revamp in June highlighting the
flames in the fox's tail a little more.
Firefox
8. • The National Broadcasting Company's logo
has gone through many incarnations over
its long history. The recognizable peacock
logo has been linked with NBC since
1956, falling in and out of use over the
decades. It was originally created for the
network's color broadcasts, and has
undergone several redesigns.
• By 1986 color broadcasts were no longer a
selling point, but the peacock had strong
brand association, with NBC sometimes
referred to as the "Peacock Network." The
simpler rainbow bird with bold lettered
typeface had staying power and was in
use until 2011, when a slightly stylized
version of the peacock was rolled out
NBC
9. • The fast food franchise is one of the few
businesses where both founder Dave
Thomas and his daughter are household
names. The logo has included a drawing of
an 8-year-old Wendy Thomas since its
founding in 1969.
• Earlier this year the company dropped the
dated fonts and the "Old Fashioned
Hamburgers" text for a simpler and more
modern portrait of famous redhead with
the company's name.
Wendy
