Tate & Lyle’s Dead Lion to Salvador Dali Designs Chupa Chups Brand, The Stories Behind the World’s Most Famous Logos
TATE & LYLE this week scrapped its 140-year-old golden syrup logo after customers branded it ‘stark’.
The statue, made in 1881, showed a dead lion being swarmed by bees and was inspired by a Biblical story in which Samson killed one of the beasts.
27
27
The new version has a lion’s head and a single bee.
Mike Ridley looks at the stories of some of the world’s most famous logos. .
27
27
FAMOUS for its triangular shape, the Swiss chocolate features a logo with a mountain theme and the summit of the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps.
But if you look closely, you’ll also see that the design features the shape of a bear, a symbol of the city of Bern, where it was first produced.
27
27
NOW just a single letter “F”, the social media giant’s logo is kept simple on a blue background.
This is probably explained by the founder Mark Zuckerberg are red-green color blind and find blue the easiest color to see.
27
27
THE burger chain’s first restaurant was opened in 1937 by Richard and Maurice McDonald.
In 1952, when the company’s very first franchise restaurant opened, the design included two enormous golden arches outside to attract customers.
Nine years later, these yellow arches were adopted as the hamburger joint’s logo.
27
27
THE original emblem of the coffee chain, which was founded in 1971, was a topless, two-tailed fantasy creature called a melusine.
But in 1987, the designer changed the color to green and the image to a more modest goddess.
27
27
It’s a myth that Apple boss Steve Jobs chose an apple with a bite as a tribute to computer inventor Alan Turing, who committed suicide with a cyanide-soaked apple.
Jobs was on a fruit-only diet when he invented it.
The reason for the bite was so that people wouldn’t confuse it with a cherry.
It is also a play on the word “byte”.
ROLLS ROYCE
27
It is claimed that when Lord Montague placed a statue of a woman on his Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost in 1911 as a scandalous memento of an affair with his secretary, other owners copied him.
Legend has it that the luxury car company had a statue of a woman with outstretched arms and flowing clothing placed on each Roller.
The Spirit of Ecstasy mascot, which is still used today, was born.
27
27
THE legendary rockers were among the first bands in the world to have a logo.
The symbol, nicknamed “Hot Lips,” came into use in 1970, when the Stones started their own company to release their music.
New designer graduate John Pasche was paid just £50 for his work, but the logo launched his career.
CHUPA CHUPS
27
27
While some logos are created by unknown students or the company owner, this logo for the Spanish lollipop brand has a famous designer.
The colorful daisy-style logo, which is still used on the sweets to this day, was designed in 1969 by the surrealist artist Salvador Dali better known for his “melting bells”.
SUBWAY
27
Up there with McDonald’s as the world’s largest restaurant chain, Subway was founded in 1965 by 17-year-old Fred DeLuca to serve healthy food to athletes.
To save money, he drew the logo himself.
The arrows at either end of the word symbolize food on the go.
The logo is now on 44,000 points of sale in 112 countries.
BASS
27
27
THE Bass Brewery was founded in 1777 in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffs.
And the red triangle it used on its ales became the first registered trademark ever issued by the British government in 1876.
FERRARI
27
27
THE prancing black horse of Enzo Ferrari’s company was first used on its cars in 1947.
It’s actually a tribute to World War I pilot Francesco Baracca, who had a similar horse painted on his plane.
Enzo visited Francesco’s father, who suggested he put it on his car.
COCA COLA
27
IT may be the most famous logo in the world, but the white words on a red background were not created by a designer.
It was the company’s accountant, Frank Robinson, who came up with the name Coca-Cola and suggested that two capital letters would look good in advertising.
The font he chose was a popular style from the 1880s, when the drink was invented.
NIKE
27
27
STUDENT Carolyn Davidson earned less than £30 in 1971 for designing the famous swoosh, which Nike boss Paul Knight initially disliked.
Twelve years later, after Nike’s logo became one of the most famous in the world, Carolyn was given shares in the company that would now be worth more than £1 million.
LACOSTE
27
27
THE crocodile logo comes from the nickname of company founder and French tennis great Rene Lacoste.
He got the name after his team captain said he would buy him a crocodile skin suitcase if he won his next match.
He lost.