Corporate Logos and Their Change in Design over the Years - Research Paper Example

QuakerQuaker became the first registered American breakfast cereal in 1877 (Schneider, 2008). It was founded and owned by Henry Seymour and William Heston who named the company after the Quakers, also known as The Religious Society of Friends, who were popular for honest and quality value (Porterfield, 2007). The original logo bears the brand name and Quaker Man, a fictitious character dressed in traditional Quaker clothes, who was holding a scroll with the word “Pure” written in it. Quaker Man symbolizes the true and ideal meaning of a high quality of life made from an honestly made product.

During the early times, the logo can be seen in full illustration in front of the package (Doobybrain, 2010).Jim Nash made a black and white headshot of Quaker Man in 1946. This eliminated the other constituents of Quaker Man’s body which symbolized a more focus in providing higher quality of products, matched with a smiling facial expression that conveyed a more positive outlook towards the consumers. In 1957, Haddon Sundblom painted a colored version of Quaker Man’s headshot which was used up until the recent times.

In 1972, the company logo produced a radically redesigned monochromatic logo by Saul Bass. This signified a unified company, which embodies one single goal patterned after the honest and true values of the owners. However, as the company approached the contemporary era, the logo was shifted back to Sundblom’s original version, with a bigger Quaker word and an embossed gold boarder surrounding the headshot of Quaker Man (Idsgn, 2010).Recently, Quaker introduced a new logo set in Archer typeface, which is popularized by Hoefler and Frere-Jones.

The typical all caps company name was replaced by a new font style that shows a simple and friendly ambiance. The Quaker Man was moved from the center portion of the logo to the inner portion of the letter Q. This was made after Quaker introduced a new line of tasty delights as they continue to venture in the global market (Hoover, 2001). The logo produced a rather interesting message that is both eye catching and message instilling.VisaThe Visa logo was typically shown in a flag design with the colors blue, white and gold (Worldsbestlogos, 2007).

The blue and gold colors were associated to the blue skies and the golden hills of California, where the BankAmericard originated. At the company’s early times, Visa was originally a lending instrument that provided aid for people who are in need of financial assistance. A unifying logo and brand name was not identified until the company reached the growth years of the 70’s where it started to become an international company (Evans and Schmalensee, 2005).Dee Hock was the person responsible for coining the term VISA, although the exact word did not come from his own intelligence but through his team of workers, who brainstormed to come up with an internationally unifying identity (Constantine, 2009).

It was also created intentionally to showcase the expanding services of the company from the typical lending instrument to a paying institution. From then on, the word Visa was used in a flag-like presentation with the colors white, blue and gold. The company retained the colors to convey the same appreciation on where the company started.In the 21st century, particularly in 2006, the company introduced a new logo, which adopted a more contemporary logo typeface, with the same font style and color scheme.

The flag-like presentation was changed to the company’s name against a white background. The gold color was stripped off from the back of the Visa word to the top left edge of the letter V. This new logo showed two important qualities: flexibility and unifying. The new logo was created to show flexibility that matches with the diverse environment as the company moves to an even broader scope of services and unifying the world-wide services into one existing company (Chutkow, 2001).The new logo provides more opportunity for the bank card issuers to maximize their design and save space, which was absent in their previous logo design.

ReferencesChutkow, P. (2001). Visa: the Power of an Idea. San Diego, CA: Harcourt PublishersConstantine, L. (2009). Priceless: The Case that Brought Down the Visa/MasterCard Bank Cartel. New York, NY: Kaplan PublishingDoobybrain (2010). Quaker. [online]. Available at: http://www.doobybrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/evolution-of-the-quaker-oats-logo.jpg. Accessed on 24 Nov 2010Evans, D.S & Schmalensee, R. (2005). Paying with Plastic: the Digital Revolution in Buying and Borrowing. Cambridge, MA: MIT PressHover, G. (2001). Hoover’s Handbook of American Business.

Hoover’s Business PressIdsgn (2010). Quaker loves life with Archer. [Online] Available at: http://www.idsgn.org/posts/quaker-loves-life-with-archer/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+idsgn+(idsgn+(a+design+blog)). Accessed on 24 Nov 2010Porterfield, A. (2007). Modern Christianity in 1900. Minneapolis, MA: Fortress Press.Schneider, G. P. (2008). Electronic Commerce. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.Worldsbestlogos (2007). Visa Logo - Refreshing the Visa brand. [Online]. Available at: http://worldsbestlogos.blogspot.com/2007/11/visa-logo.

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