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YMCA Logo - Design and History


 YMCA Logo - Design and History

The Young Men's Christian Association (commonly known as "YMCA" or in the USA "the Y") is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs. The YMCA was founded on June 6, 1844 in London, England by Sir George Williams, the goal of the organization was putting Christian principles into practice, achieved by developing "a healthy spirit, mind, and body."

In 2011, the YMCA introduced a brand and logo change going from the "YMCA" to just the "Y". The YMCA unveiled a new, more forward-looking logo that reflects the vibrancy and diversity of the organization, and a framework that focuses resources on three core areas: youth development, healthy living and social responsibility.

The new logo, which uses a stylized delta or arrowhead shape plus a triangle to form the letter Y. The new "Y" logo is very contemporary and modern and probably a good choice. The chose is undergoing a change after 43 years and the change is quite major. The old logos have had the triangle theme and the little delta on the top continues that tradition. While the triangle is not so prominent, its still there.

The new Y logo comes in a rainbow of five different color combinations, from teal green and blue to red and gold, purple and red and gold and green.

Read more: YMCA Logo - Design and History

Zee TV Logo - Design and History



Zee TV Logo - Design and History
 

Zee TV is an India-based satellite television channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, which broadcasts various programmes in Hindi and other regional languages of India. Broadcasting is also present in various nations of South Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, East Asia, Australasia and North America. It is a part of the Essel Group.

In June 2011, Zee TV unvelied a more stylish and contemporary logo shown above. The new logo of Zee TV is designed in an aqua blue color, featuring a stylish font. The design of the new logo of Zee with its upward flourish represents the upward movement of desires and wishes. The aqua blue color of the Zee TV new logo bring in modernity and freshness to the brand. The new logo of Zee tv has been developed by the Zee in-house team.

According to MD & CEO Punit Goenka, "The unshackling of the 'Z' from the box symbolizes the modern woman's zest for life and the confidence she possesses to step out into the world, beyond her home. The overall design has a progressive feel and reflects the idea of looking into the future with hope, depicting a more dynamic and spirited outlook. The rainbow of hope is an important element of the new packaging. It is colorful, ethereal and symbolically emphasizes the promise of 'Umeed Se Saje Zindagi'" said ZEEL managing director and chief executive officer Punit Goenka.


 
The historical evolution of the Zee TV logo is show below.  The logos have changed 5 times from the original logo in 1992 to the latest logo in 2011. The 2011 logo appears to be the biggest departure from the previous logos.
 
 

Read more: Zee TV Logo - Design and History

Yonex Logo Design


Yonex Logo Design


Yonex Co., Ltd. is a Japanese manufacturer of sporting equipment for badminton, golf and tennis, producing racquets, clubs, shoes, shuttlecocks, and other equipment for those sports.The company was founded in 1946 by Minoru Yoneyama as a producer of wooden floats for fishing nets.  The company was later forced out of this market because of the invention of plastic floats. In 1957, Yoneyama began to make badminton racquets for other brands. Over the years, the company has grown to be world's biggest badminton company. Despite it's shrinking market share in badminton, Yonex remains the biggest badminton company in the world. Yonex provides clothing for numerous national badminton associations around the world, such as the Malaysian Badminton Association, Badminton Scotland, Badminton England, Badminton Ireland and Badminton Wales.

The Yonex logo has always intrigued me in the simplicity of its design. The logo effectively uses the triangle and the circle shapes to create a YY for Yonex (or perhaps Yoneyama). The triangle with the circle at the bottom could also be thought of as the shuttle used in the game of badminton, but maybe that's my imagination. The standard logo is set on a blue and green background with white text but I have also seen a black and white logo as well. The YY logo is also very distinct on the badminton & tennis racquets as well.

Growing up, it was a dream to own a Yonex badminton racquet. I still love the logo after all these years.

Read more: Yonex Logo Design

VMWare Logo - Design


 
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VMware, Inc. is a US-based company specializing in virtualization software. The company was founded in 1998 and is based in Palo Alto, California. The Company is majority owned by EMC Corporation. The name "VMware" comes from the acronym "VM", meaning "virtual machine", combined with "ware" from the second part of "software". In 2011, VMWare modified their logo a bit and removed the 3 squares that accompanied the log before. The old logo and the reason for the 3 squares is described below.

VMWare Old Logo

VMware's desktop software runs on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. VMware's enterprise software, VMware ESX Server, runs directly on server hardware without requiring an additional underlying operating system.

The three rounded squares in the logo represent the three different types of virtual machines that VMware can run simultaneously

  • MS Windows
  • Mac OS X
  • Linux 

Read more: VMWare Logo - Design

SuperBowl XLV 2011 Logo Design


SuperBowl XLV 2011 Logo Design
Super Bowl XLV will be the 45th annual edition of the Super Bowl in American football, and the 41st annual championship game of the modern-era National Football League (NFL). The game, to be played on February 6, 2011, will pit the champions of the AFC and the NFC and will be held at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. This will be the first time that the Super Bowl will be held in the Dallas Fort Worth area (my home town and host to many more Super Bowls we hope) and the fifth time the same city hosting the Super Bowl also hosted a World Series game the preceding autumn.

The Super Bowl logos underwent a major change this year and some new rules were introduced to standardize the Super Bowl logos. Starting with the 2011 Super Bowl, the theme of the logo will basically remain the same. The only differences from year to year are the stadium backdrop and the Roman numerals for the game. For this Superbowl, it means the logo displays the Cowboys Stadium in the background with the Vince Lombardi Trophy sitting on top of the Roman numerals for the game. The Super Bowl XLV logo was unveiled for the 2011 game at Cowboys Stadium in Feb 2010. NFL officials looked at eight designs before recently finalizing their choice.


I am personally not thrilled with this decision by the NFL. If you look at the Super Bowl logos from the past you can see they each had a unique style that represented various aspects of the region, the country, the game etc. Some logos were really well designed and some were cheesy, but that was the fun of it. Going forward, all the logos are going to the equally standardized (read Boring!!!)


See all the SuperBowl Logos here.

See the SuperBowl XLII Logo and the SuperBowl XLI Logo.

Read more: SuperBowl XLV 2011 Logo Design

Starbucks Logo - Design and History


 Starbucks Logo - Design and History

Starbucks Corporation is a coffeehouse chain based in the United States. Named after a character in the novel Moby Dick, it is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with over 7500 self-operated and 5500 licensed stores in 39 countries. The current company logo, modeled after a 15th century Norse woodcut, is a mixoparthenos, or "twin-tailed mermaid, or siren as she's known in Greek mythology. The company and the logo have an interesting history.

In Jan 2011, Starbucks released a new version of the logo with a couple of big changes and some subtle changes as well. The two major changes made to the logo are

  • They removed the name of the company "Starbucks Coffee". Their intention behind this maybe to expand the brand to beyond coffee. They have been talking about expanding into breakfast and there was also talk of a Bar/Lounge concept. This makes sense if they want to expand but maybe they should have kept the name "Starbucks" and removed "Coffee".
  • They also removed the circle around the Siren and the logo now features just the Siren.
The logo has some subtle changes including smoothing her hair, refining her facial features, weighting the scales on her tail to bring the focus to her face. The logo refinements were done by Lippincott.



Read more: Starbucks Logo - Design and History

Cricket is a popular sport in the Commonwealth countries and fans in countries like India are very passionate about the sport. This section of the website will attempt to document and describe the design and origins of cricket logos. If you have any additional information about cricket logos,  please send me the information.


The end of the last century resulted in a lot of Internet companies (also called dot-com companies) coming up in the limelight and today are very serious business. Companies such as Amazon.com, Buy.com and EBay come to mind. This section highlights the discusses the origins of these logos. If you have any information about the history of some these logos, please contact me.



The Open Source movement has really moved along in the last decade and a lot of products, software etc are now part of our everyday life. I think there is hardly a day when I don't find myself Wikipedia. This section discusses the origin of logos of some of the Open Source tools and technologies. If you have a recommendation for a logo, please send me a note. 



This category of the website contains the design and history of Major League Baseball (MLB) logos. MLB is the biggest baseball league in the United States.  If you have any information about the history of some these logos, please contact me.


This category of the site discusses the design and origins of some of the famous logos. Some of the logos are discussed in specialized categories on this site. If you have any information about the history of some these logos, please contact me.


Political Parties have very interesting logos and backgrounds behind them. This category of the History of Logos section discusses the history, design and origins of political logos. If you have any information about the history of some these logos, please contact me.





The Olympics are considered to be the greatest sports show on earth held once every 4 years. This section of the website uncovers the design and history of some of Olympic logos.







This category contains information about the design and history of large corporations around the globe. Most of the large corporations will typically be Fortune 500 companies and whose logos did not fit into any one of the other categories defined on this site.





Companies, brand and logos are born everyday but every so often, very famous logos and brands die for various reasons. In 2008 and 2009, with the global economic turmoil, many long standing companies met their end and with them died their logos. Many times, companies change their logos to re-brand their product. This category lists some of the popular logos that met their end.






Technology is at the heart of everything we do. In today's environment, some of the emerging technologies have their own logo which typically has a deeper history and meaning behind it. This section of the website tries to discover the meaning behind these logos. If you have any information about the history of some airline logos, please contact me.



NFL is arguably the most popular sport in the United States. Each team has a rich history behind its logo especially some of the old teams. This section of the site tries to document the origins of the logos such as the Chicago Bears Logo, the Pittsburgh Steelers Logo and the SuperBowl Logos etc. I hope you find this category of the site useful. If you have any information about the history of some these logos, please contact me.




 

Companies come up with great logos, but there is always someone out there who can make fun of it. While I love figuring out the history of these logos, I also love the logo parodies. This section of the website looks at some parodies of famous company logos.

A lot of creative people have come up with parodies of some of the famous companies and this category of the site is a collection of those parody logos. I don't claim ownership of creating these logos. I just collected these from the Net and hopefully you will find this collection useful.

Please let me know if you have any more such parodies and I will add them to the collection.  If you think that this is your copyright, I will gladly remove it from my site or provide a reference. Enjoy!


What makes a brand great? There is no easy answer for it. However, companies around the world spend millions and millions of dollars every year trying to get to the top or retain their position in the branding race. Although, I do not work in advertising and marketing, I have been very fascinated by the design of corporate logos and while some are just plain and boring, some have a very long history behind the logo. This section of the website attempts to document the history of some of the world's most recognized brands.  You can select from one of the categories below.

Airline Logos Beer Logos Car Logos Clothing Logos
Comic Book Logos Football Logos Hotel Logos IT Logos
Logo Parodies Miscellaneous Logos MLB Logos Monument Logos
Movie Studio Logos NBA Logos NFL Logos Non Profit Organization Logos
Open Source Logos Political Logos Restaurant Logos Rock Band Logos
Sports Logos Technology Logos World Famous Logos

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According a 2007 Business Week survey, the top 10 brands are listed below

1. Coca-Cola
2. Microsoft
3. IBM
4. General Electric (GE)
5. Nokia
6. Toyota
7. Intel
8. McDonalds
9. Disney
10. Mercedes-Benz

Please visit the main History of Logos page to see the history of over 150 logos.

 

The logos listed here are ones that I have been unable to categorize but found them to be interesting nonetheless. Eventually these logos will get a category. If you have any information about the history of some these logos, please contact me.



I am big sports fan. Its not like I remember every sports stat or remember every game, but I do like to watch sports on the TV and the NBA is one of my favourite league to watch. This section of the website contains the design and history of the NBA teams such as the Lakers, Spurs, Pistons and all the NBA teams. 

The fabled Jerry West, otherwise known as "Mr.Clutch," is the player in profile on the official NBA logo. As his biography on NBA.com points out, "West is widely regarded as one of the greatest guards in the history of the game. Not especially gifted by height or athleticism, he was a notoriously driven player who broke his nose nine times and often had to be carried off the court. "

I hope you find this section of the site entertaining.  If you have some information about NBA logos you would like to share, please send the information. Some of the information and logos were used from Chris Cramer's Sport Logo  page.




Bere is argaubly one of teh msot poupular alocoholic bevreages on the palnet. All aruond teh wolrd, teh bgi and smlal bere manuafcturers aer competing to build the brands in the market place. This section of the website aims to describe the history and meaning behind some of the most popular beer logos in the world. I may not have the history and meaning behind all the logos, but I will be attempting to researching and adding that information in on a regular basis.



People love to eat out these days. Have you ever looked at a restaurant logo and wondered about that logos origins. If you have not, maybe its time you did. This category contains the design and history of restaurant logos. If you would like me to include a logo, please send me a note.  






Clothing brands are a status symbol today. Most clothing companies such as Gap, Calvin Klein etc make the most of putting their logos on any clothing item that they make. Think of all the free advertising you are doing for them. This section describes the origins of some of the popular clothing logos. If you have any information about the history of some these logos, please contact me.






Football is by far the most popular sport in the world, except in the United States where they refer to football as Soccer. People around the world are passionate not only about their own countries, they are at times more passionate about their local clubs. Some football clubs such as Manchester United, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Arsenal and their players are household names around the world. This category of the website lists the logos of some of the popular Football logos from various leagues around the world including the American version of Football, the NFL.  If you have any information about the history of some these logos, please contact me.

Major League Soccer - MLS
National Football League - NFL


A lot of the non-profit organizations have some very interesting logos. This category of the website will examine the history, orgins and design of some of the famous non-profit organizations such as Green Peace, Austism Speaks etc. If you have any information about the history of some these logos, please contact me.



I work as a Software Engineer and so obviously IT logos are part of my everyday job. The history behind some of the logos is very rich and interesting like the IBM logo which has gone through changes over the years before settling down on the current logo. The design of the Sun Microsystems logo is something I find very simple, yet brilliant. This section of the websites covers the design and history of some of the most recognized logos in the IT industry. I hope you find this section useful.


This section contains details of the design and history of some of the popular hotel logos.  If you have any information about the history of some these logos, please contact me.


More and more airports around the world are rebranding and positioning themselves as businesses or corporations. This section contains details of the design and history of some of the popular airport logos. If you have any information about the history of some these logos, please contact me.




Most people are fascinated by fast moving cars and want to own these cars. This section of the website covers the design and history of some of the most famous car logos such as the Ferrari Logo, the Lamborghini logo and the common logos such as  the Toyota Logo and the Ford logo.  I hope you find this section of the website informative. If you have a recommendation for a logo, please send me a note. 

 

There are over 1500 airlines in the world today and while its hard to list the history of each airlines, I will attempt to uncover the history and meaning of some of the most well known airlines in the world in this section of the history of logos.  I do not wish to make this section into a laundry list of logos with no information. I hope to have articles here that have some real content. If you have any information about the history of some airline logos, please contact me.

 

 

A lot of monuments and other tourist attractions have become mini corporations and have their own logos. This category on my site aims to discuss the design of these logos. If you have any information about the history of some these logos, please contact me.