One of the fascinating things about designing a logo is you never know the company you are creating the logo for could one day become a house-wide name, and your logo will be at the forefront for that company.
Just think about this the company you are currently working for blows up and becomes a giant like Nike or Apple. Your logo will be displayed whenever anything is related to that company because your logo will be the visual representation of that company.
Today, I will tell you about some people who were just like you and me, but they created logos for companies that blew up and became a giant in their field. So, welcome to famous logo designers where I mention the name and the creation that made them famous.
1. Ruth Kedar: Designer of Google Logo
How many logo designers can say that their design is seen by millions of people daily? Not many, I believe. For starters, Ruth Kedar is not your average logo designer as she created the logo for one of the world’s biggest companies, Google.
I believe Google is among the world’s top 3 most valued companies. Can you imagine a world without Google nowadays? I definitely can not. Google has twined into our lives like brushing our hair or taking a shower.
If we need to know something, we simply Google it. If we need to see the price of something, we just Google it. Suppose we are unsure about something and need to be sure and need a second opinion. In that case, we use Google to find the correct information.
See the importance of Google in our lives? Well, when you first go ahead and Google something, the first thing you see when you are typing in the search bar is the logo. Millions of people see the logo when searching or browsing for something on Google.
Millions of people see the famous logo with blue, red, yellow, and green colors when they use Google’s services. The designer behind this renowned logo is the one and only Ruth Kedar.
Ruth Kedar was born in Brazil, got her architecture degree in Israel, and earned her master’s degree in Graphics design from Standford University. Google still uses her work for one of the most well-known logos.
With this design, Ruth Kedar has forever engraved her name on the list of history of graphic design, and she is one of the most well-known graphic designers that graphic designers look up to.
2. Carolyn Davidson: Designer of Nike Logo
How many companies can you tell that are known more by the outlook of their logo than the product they sell? Only a handful of companies can say that, and Nike is one of them.
The ingenious mind behind that famous Nike logo is Carolyn Davidson. She came up with the idea of designing the Nike swoosh logo. She created this swoosh logo in 1971 while getting her degree in graphic design from Portland State University, which is situated in Portland, Oregon.
The fascinating thing about Davidson is that she started as a Journalism Major but later switched to graphic designing (talking about luck, huh!). Well, changing to graphic designing served her well, I believe.
One of Nike’s co-founders, Phil Knight, was teaching an accounting class at the university from which Carolyn was getting her graphics designing degree. Phil overheard Davidson talking about how she could not buy stationeries for her designing classes.
So, Phil decided to offer Davidson a job. The job was to create charts and graphs that Phil would use for his meetings with the Japanese executives. The company was known as Blue Ribbon Sports Inc. at that time.
Impressed by her work Phil offered her more jobs, such as creating posters, ads, and flyers for his company. Then in 1971, Phil and his co-founder needed a logo for one of the new lines of running shoes they were getting ready to introduce to the market.
Davidson designed five drafts for this project, and then Phil went with Swoosh one. Carolyn Davidson charged the company $35 for the logo, and if you adjust it for inflation, it will come to around $220.
You may think it was pretty cheap for this awesome logo. Still, at that time, the company was known as Blue Ribbon Sports, and no one knew it would become a Fortune 500 company. If Davidson knew how famous this logo would become, she would have charged them more.
Knight gave her an envelope filled with 500 shares now worth around 1 million dollars, but it was a nice gesture of Phil Knight. It shows that he cares about people’s contribution to the company, which is one of the reasons Nike is so successful now.
3. Rob Janoff: Designer of Apple Logo
If today you decide to make a list of one of the most iconic logos of all time, the logo from the tech giant company Apple will probably be on top of it. Not only is this logo the representation of a first trillion dollar company, but it is also a status symbol.
The designer who came up with this brilliant idea for the Apple logo is mastermind Rob Janoff, who created a logo that nowadays symbolizes the class and elegance of every device Apple launches.
Rob Janoff decided to use the symbolism of the tempting apple of Eden in the Apple logo. Also, it has a bite taken to signify a “byte” of information as their products are used to convey information.
Rob Janoff also worked for tech giants such as Intel and IBM. But his work for Apple will be his most remembered work.
4. Alan Fletcher: Designer of Reuters Logo
Mr. Fletcher was a British graphics designer who took inspiration and elements from both European and American design styles to create a design of his own.
Throughout his illustrious career, Fletcher was different from other graphic designers because he used unique elements and design styles to create beautiful and astounding logos.
Alan Fletcher’s most well-known work is the logo he created for Reuters. For this logo, he used typography that was simply looking but demanded attention from the viewer.
Alan Fletcher also wrote a book called “The Art of Looking Sideways,” which is a must-read for any graphic designer.
5. Walter Landor: Designer of Levis Logo
One of the most famous clothing logos is the LEVIS logo, one of the world’s largest companies in the clothing industry. Walter Landor was working as a designer, and he noticed a change in the marketing style of products.
The time of store clerks recommending products to consumers was nearing an end. So, he decided that the following marketing phase would depend highly on the company’s logo. He then designed a Levis logo in warm red color.
At the time, people prefer to use cooler color tones for their brands, similar to the swiss-modernism style. Mr. Landor is mainly recognized for his work on Levi’s and Alitalia. Because he started the trend for warmer colored logos, many other companies also started using it.
To Sum Up: Famous Logo Designers
Just like any other field, some pioneers pave the way for others. The 5 famous logo designers I mentioned in this article have made this beautiful job easy for us. Graphic designing and particular logo designing, is a trendy and evergreen field, and logo designers are partly responsible for every global company known today’s success.
