Filtered-Ink

Communication An awesome T-shirt design of my own doing.

The first Apple Computer Company logo pictured an illustration of Issac Newton sitting under a tree right.  Legend has it that an apple falling on his head inspired him to discover the laws of gravity and the basic laws of physics.  Much of Apple's business plan involves "enlightenment" and "style," a trend that Apple has retained for as long as Steve Job's control. Because the Newton Logo doesn't reinforce the idea of personal computers, and it was costly to print, the technicolour apple logo was instated and kept.  Also, the coloured apple logo follows design trends of the late 80's. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1998 the first thing to change was the logo.  The current logo was created to look slick and futuristic.  It is also easy to recolour for personalization and identification of OSX versions.

When the idea for Master Card was formed, it was owned by a company named Interbank, hence the original logo.  When credit became more common, the Interbank logo was shrunk and shoved into the corner of the new ven-digram Master Charge logo.  In 1979 the circles were retained but the name was changed to the now familiar MasterCard.  In 1990 the colours were made bolder and the "fast transaction" horizontal lines.  Par usual, the lines represent speed but they are also used to show the interlocking way interbank does business (giving money to get back some more).  In 1996 the MasterCard logo had a new bolder and easier to read font. http://www.instantshift.com/2009/01/29/20-corporate-brand-logo-evolution/

LG, a merger of Lucky (a chemical cosmetic company) and Goldstar (a radio manufacturer), has a current button logo of a abstracted face hiding in the LG circle.  It's the same logo they had since 1995 when the "Lucky Goldstar" was changed to "LG Electronics."  They added the tag line of "Life is Good" as a replacement for the former meaning of "Lucky Goldstar."  The word "electronics" doesn't appear in the logo because it is a South Korean conglomerate with several different, specific sub companies.

Volkswagen directly translates to "people's car."  In the late 30's, before the war, the German company had a very centric, moving logo that looked almost like a rotating wheel.  As the war effort started to grow in preparation for the war, the logo was changed to look more industrial.  This is because the Nazi party was pushing for the creation of vehicles for war.  When the war ended and the British took control of the company (creating the beetle), the logo was changed to something kinder and more market friendly.  Currently the British design still resides but it looks more like a 3d button with welcoming blues. http://www.instantshift.com/2009/01/29/20-corporate-brand-logo-evolution/

The first "super hero's" crest was designed in a shield shape to display protection and used primary colours due to the limited allowed pallet for comic book printing.  As time went on, the shield became more abstracted with a focus on the famous "S" in the center.  This increased recognizability of the logo while still keeping with the traditional style.  In 1948 the logo first began to exhibit the modern shape and design and the colour choices were officially errated to tie into Superman's back story as the "Last son of Krypton."  The yellow and red was said to be for the sun god of Krypton. In June 1940 the superman logo became the five sided pentagon because it was easier to draw and read.

The BMW logo has been very constant and consistent over the years.  The largest change was the font from serif to sans-serif in the 50's.  The BMW checkered pattern is thought to be representational of spinning propeller blades from when they built those. the blue and white is also symbolic of the Bavarian flag, the origin of the company.  In the 70's and 80's the motor sport logo had a lot more blue to represent water with the red ring that appears to be a boat bottom. In 2000 BMW logo changed from the 1954 flat logo to a more beveled 3 dimensional logo to make it look more dynamic. http://www.logoblog.org/bmw_logo.php