When I look at this Apple logo on one of my six Apple products that I use everyday, I would never have noticed how much it has changed throughout the past decade. However, after reading “Apple Logo Evolution Story” by Think Marketing, I realized that the Apple logo has changed drastically throughout my lifetime.
I particularly find Apple’s first logo featuring Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree most surprising as a starting logo. In Graphic Design for Everyone, Cath Caldwell says when designing a logo, the aim is to create a memorable visual symbol for your business and recommends simple graphics to achieve this (Caldwell, 35). Apple’s first logo was extremely complex, is very hard discern what the image is, and would probably not transfer well to many mediums.
One could argue that Rob Janoff, who created apple’s iconic bitten apple saved the brand and greatly contributed to its growing popularity when created in 1976. I believe Think Marketing’s article is a great example of how a simple logo can create such a memorable association and how it can evolve over time and grow with a brand.
The story behind the image
Another important factor to consider when creating a logo is how it communicates a brand’s story and meaning. Another example if an iconic and very simple logo is the Ikea logo. It’s bold colors not only create a bold and iconic symbol from afar, but the colors also represent the Swedish flag. (Caldwell, 45). This logo has also evolved with the brand as the colors weren’t added until almost 30 years after the company was started.
The Future of Your Brand
Caldwell states, “thinking about how your brand could cope with expansion might save you a lot of time and money in the future” (Caldwell, 38). Apple and Ikea’s changing brands and logos are excellent examples of how a brand can grow and change. Thinking about how your brand might expand to new audiences, new partnerships, and new products is important at the start to create a scalable brand. Creating consistent values and logos can help make brand expansion easier when your new business starts growing. However, planning ahead and remaining consistent will always lead you to the most successful path for the future.
Although creating an iconic logo is extremely important when starting a business to develop a successful brand, many famous companies go through many versions of a logo before finding the most successful one. Even though you can plan out the verbal brand, visual brand, and brand emotion when a company starts, there is no way to predict how that brand will exist in the market. Therefore, while a company finds its way in the market, it is very common for logos to evolve and grow along with the company to ultimately find its successful image in the market.
Citations:
Caldwell, C. (2019). Graphic design for everyone. Dorling Kindersley Limited.
Think Marketing. (2020, January 29). Apple Logo Evolution Story. https://thinkmarketingmagazine.com/apple-logo-evolution-story/
Brand Example
In an effort to apply the logo creation skills and brand evolution knowledge, I created a brand plan for a local business where my family lives. The Bavarian Chocolate Haus is a local business located in North Conway, New Hampshire. This are is a popular ski town located in the White Mountains that attracts many tourists and vacationers year round. I noticed that this local chocolate store’s logo and online presence was very outdated and their products are extremely high end. Therefore, I chose this business to create an updated logo and brand plan because I believe they could be targeting a higher end customer base and gaining more revenue with some marketing pivots.
I have used Canva before and found the logo creation and customization very smooth. The most challenging part was thinking of creative logo ideas but all of the Canva templates helped provide great ideas when I started customizing the logos. I found that I went through two or three rounds of revisions before finalizing all logos and had to cut down my options because I had so many different ideas. Learning about the importance of the simplicity of logos and how many logos are created helped kickstart my creative process.
Finally, it took me a few rounds of drafts to come up with consistent ideas that worked for the brand when creating the brand plan. Researching the brand’s audience and visually summarizing the data was a great learning process on how to clearly present the data. It also took me a while to brainstorm ideas on brand expansion so that I could formulate creative ideas on how to elevate the brand and increase awareness. Overall, I had a really great time creating all of the presentation materials on Canva. I found the program very user friendly and the templates are plentiful for all creative endeavors.
Becca Gottlieb Creative 
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