Trademark Design
Anyone who’s ever been involved in the development of a new trademark or logo will tell you it’s a challenging task. At the outset, the development of a new logo frequently seems like it will be clean, clear path from concept to production. The optimism that the logo will ever appear as hundreds—perhaps thousands— of variations evolve can be difficult to maintain.
As part of the design brief for the project, the designer will have a set of keywords, statistics, emotions, or principals that the trademark should represent. Armed with this information the designer sets out to capture a companies essence through a stylized reduction of form and composition.
One of the most famous trademarks of our time is the Nike swoosh. Nike has written a brief history of how this mark got its start. One of my favorite quotes from the article is from Nike founder, Phil Knight. When presented with a number of ideas, he selected the now famous swoosh and said: “I don’t love it, but it will grow on me.” Something clicked and he selected the mark that would become the foundation of a $15 billion company.
Read the swoosh history at Nike.
UPDATE: 01 MAY 2008
Nike has reworked their website(s) quite a bit since this article was first posted. The story of the Swoosh can now be found on three places at nikebiz.com(1), nikebiz.com(2) and swoosh.custhelp.com
Nike Timeline Flash Overview
Swoosh History, 1970′s
Swoosh History FAQ
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