The evolution of corporate logos is one of the most fascinating topics in modern culture. Some logos remain relatively unchanged for decades while other logos get regular updates. In this article, we’ll examine the Target logo.

Consciously or not, our interaction with corporate logos makes up the background tapestry of our whole lives. Almost invariably, significant life experiences happen in the presence of some corporate logo, and seeing that logo years later can bring back memories that may have been dormant for many years. 

About Target

Everyone is familiar with the iconic red and white Target logo of the popular discount store. Most large and medium-sized cities have a Target either on the outskirts of town or nestled in a corner of a busy city center.

People even define themselves as “Target shoppers” and proudly carry their Target logo-emblazoned bags home after successful shopping trips. But as familiar as you are with the brand, how much do you really know about the history of this discount shopping icon?

History

Founded in Roseville, Minnesota on May 1st, 1962, Target has grown to become the 8th-largest department store retailer in the United States. Modern stores are roughly 135,000 square feet and offer everything from clothing to electronics.

The first Super Target opened in 1995 in Omaha, Nebraska. A Super Target is roughly 50% larger than standard Targets and features a full grocery store.

Target Brands

There are many brands promoted under the Target logo and are featured at the retail locations. These brands include the following:

• Archer Farms
• Circo
• PillowFort
• Merona
• Embark

Company Outlook

Over the years, the Target logo has become one of the retail cornerstones of the US retail economy. Target has evolved as American society has changed, and the company ranks on the Fortune magazine list of the “World’s Most Admired Companies”.

The business community respects Target for its sound business principals, fair treatment of workers, and philanthropic efforts.

Target Logo Design

The Target logo is a red and white bulls-eye recognized by 96% of American consumers. The Target logo features a red dot at the center surrounded by a concentric white ring, with a second concentric red ring, followed by another concentric red ring.

The logo is symmetrical and pleasing to the eye. Variations include adding the Target name in black or red in Helvetica Neue Bold font. The Target name may appear to the right or below the bulls-eye logo.

What Makes the Target Logo So Perfect?

Iconic examples of graphic design are always simple, convey a thought, and are memorable. For example, the “I love New York” T-shirt with its black letters on a white background and a red heart has become almost a required purchase for all visitors to the Big Apple. The Target logo features design elements featured in many iconic logos.

Iconic Design Elements

• Simplicity
• Symmetry
• The color red

How Do These Elements Work Together?

A simple design is easy to recognize even at a great distance or when viewed only for an instant. Logos must alert drivers traveling at highway speeds they are nearing a store location.

The Target logo, the bulls-eye, represents both a destination and a positive achievement. The symmetry of the logo pleases the eye and is easy to remember. The Target logo is an extra large bulls-eye, which creates the sub-conscious expectation that success will be easier.

The red and white color scheme stands out against a blue sky background.The Target logo had a large advantage over other logos because of the historical significance of the target symbol.

However, the Target logo is a union of a historical symbol with modern corporate marketing. The Target logo is different enough from marksman targets that the corporate logo will never be mistaken for anything other than the brand identity. 

Target did an excellent job of crafting their version of a corporate symbol. Like many corporate logos, the Target logo evolved throughout the years.

Target Logo History & Evolution

With a relatively simple design, the Target logo has only undergone subtle changes throughout the years. However, subtle changes can be the difference between an effective logo and a failure.

Few companies have a name that so readily lends itself to symbolic representation as Target. But even with that advantage, it took Target several tries before they arrived at the iconic logo they have today.

The 1962 Logo

The original logo released in 1962 was a red and white bulls-eye logo with the “Target” name written in black scripted lettering across the front. The main difference of the original logo was that the central dot was white instead of red and there were three concentric red circles.

Although this logo is very similar to today’s logo, there are many design pros and cons:

The Overall Effect

The 1962 logo is much less effective than today’s logo. The overlapping design elements and the multiple concentric circles make the logo too busy. The result is that the eye has too much to take in and interpret and as a result, the brain is not likely to associate this logo with the retail store.

Also, the target element is too similar to a marksman target which dilutes the capacity for this logo to achieve brand recognition.

The 1969 Logo

Beginning in 1969, Target experimented with incorporating their logo in advertising in unexpected ways. By then, they had reduced their logo to a central dot with two concentric circles to simplify it.

However, in 1969 they used a black and white color scheme which does not catch the eye like the final red and white design.

The 1975 Logo

The 1975 logo is the first iteration of the iconic Target logo we know today. However, in 1975, the bulls-eye was just a small feature of the logo. The logo featured the bulls-eye followed by “Target” written in large, black, block letters.

The 1975 bulls-eye was the modern version with the red center and the single red concentric circle. Unfortunately, the text lettering overshadowed the iconic bulls-eye in this logo.

The 1989 Logo

In 1975, Target had come close to a perfect logo. However, before adopting the modern logo the company first had to create a marketing disaster. The 1989 logo abandoned the target symbol entirely.

Instead, they used a script version of the word “Target” written in red with a white shadow. This logo version featured none of the graphic design advantages of previous logos. Target retired the script logo after only 12 months.

The 2006 Logo

It wasn’t until 2006 that Target uncoupled the target symbol from the text lettering of the store name. The result was a simple symbol and easy to recognize at a distance with a vibrant color scheme.

The 2006 logo is instantly recognizable as the symbol of the Target retail store and is versatile enough to place on an advertisement with no textual reference to the retail store and still evokes customer recognition.

The 2006 iteration of the Target logo is a textbook logo representing a high-water mark all corporate advertising departments should strive for.

Conclusion

Corporate logos have long served as a backdrop to American life. As individuals travel through cities or airports, they do so in front of a tapestry of color made up of corporate logos.

Although we are not always consciously aware of corporate logos, they constantly flash into our field of vision and our minds subconsciously note the shapes, colors, and symbols.

These symbols surround us daily, and they become intertwined with the memories of all our life experience.The modern Target logo is one of the most recognizable corporate symbols at work in US retail today. As simple as the logo is, the modern version did not come into existence until 44 years after the first Target logo.

Earlier designs contained elements of the final version. However, the earlier designs featured components that obscured the best features of the final product. Only by whittling down the original logo was Target able to reveal the iconic one they have today.

The bulls-eye has always been a symbol of a victory or a destination, and Target was smart to incorporate this symbol into their identity.

However, the early Target logos overly resembled marksman bulls-eyes, so over time, Target learned how to differentiate their logo from a sportsman symbol to a symbol of corporate identity.

The color scheme, symmetry, and simplicity of the Target logo make it an iconic design and one of the most effective corporate logos at work in the landscape of American retail stores.

Iconic organizations seem to have an easily identifiable logo. A great logo is an important, if subtle, ingredient to becoming an iconic organization. The Walt Disney Company is no different. Today, Disney is easily one of the most recognizable companies in the world and the Disney logo is an undeniable part of its success. Of course, it helps when your founder and original logo creator is one of the best illustrators of all time.

Though the company dates back to the 1920s, it may surprise people that many of the current elements of the logo have much more recent origins. Even the famous Walt Disney “signature” has a past that’s somewhat shrouded in mystery. Like any nearly 100-year-old company, Disney has tweaked a few things over the years to stay on top, and their logo has seen a few changes.

Let’s a take a look.

Walt Disney, the Man

Walter Elias “Walt” Disney was born on December 5, 1901, in Hermosa, Illinois. He founded Walt Disney Productions along with his brother Roy. The successful animator won 22 Academy Awards during his lifetime and founded the famous theme parks, Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

One of five children, he worked hard from a young age to help support his family. Never a good student in the traditional sense, Walt grew up daydreamer, getting his early inspirations from Mark Twain and Charles Dickens.

As a teenager, he began to draw and sold his work in his local neighborhood. He also joined the Red Cross and drove an ambulance for a year in Paris during World War I.

In 1919, he had a short stint as a newspaper artist before embarking on his well-known career as an animator, entrepreneur, and successful businessman.

At the end of 1937, Disney’s first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, had its premiere. It made a staggering $1.5 million during the Great Depression and won eight Oscars.

Over the next few years, Walt Disney Studios made a series of animated films including Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi,resulting in enormous business success.

In the mid-1950s, Disneyland was opened in California. It was both an entertainment and financial success for Walt and the Disney company. Plans were made to outdo Disneyland by creating an even larger spectacle.

Walt was involved in the planning and property purchase for what would become Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida when he passed away of lung cancer at the end of 1966. He was 65 years old.

About the Walt Disney Brand

Founded in 1923, Disney is now a household name. It took a few early failures for Walt Disney to find his niche in the motion picture business, but a now-famous mouse launched him and his company on the path to success and worldwide recognition. From humble beginnings to today’s multi-billion dollar enterprise, Disney, as well as today’s company executives, grew and evolved their brand and logo in an effort to deliver on Walt’s original idea.

From the beginnings of the company, Walt’s desire was to bring happiness to people through magical experiences, “to make magical experiences come alive.” Today, remaining relevant to its guests by providing a consistent brand experience is what drives the company.

Developing the Disney logo and keeping it fresh over the years has always been part of the equation. Obviously, it knows what it’s doing since Disney has recently been named by Brand Finance as the world’s most powerful brand.

With successful movie and television ventures that generate billions of dollars in advertising and merchandise revenue, not to mention wildly popular theme parks, Disney’s future looks as magical as its past.

Famous Walt Disney Quotes

It’s not surprising that some things that Walt Disney said over the course of his life have become memorable quotes that still resonate with everyone from young children to budding entrepreneurs.

Here are some great advice from the quintessential showman and successful businessman:

• “If you can dream it, you can do it.”
• “I believe in being an innovator.”
• “You’re dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway.”
• “We allow no geniuses around our studio.”
• “We believed in our idea, a family park where parents and children could have fun together.”
• “I never called my work an ‘art’. It’s part of show business, the business of building entertainment.”

History of the Disney Logo

Making his public debut in the cartoon short, “Steamboat Willie,” Mickey Mouse was the central character that set Walt Disney on the path to success.

Not surprisingly, he played a key role in early Disney logos that featured his image along with an early version of Walt’s famous signature and the phrase “animation studios”. This logo and versions of it were used in cartoon shorts after Mickey gained popularity.

When the company began to make feature-length movies, the original Disney logo included a profile of Mickey Mouse that was animated – changing colors and revolving on screen.

It was a way of showing off the technological advancements Walt and company were making at that time. As time went on, full-length movies and television ventures featured similar logos to the early versions with tweaks made depending on the medium.

Though Mickey Mouse remained a central figure in the company’s success, perhaps surprisingly, he began to disappear from the Disney logo and Cinderella’s castle began to make its iconic appearance.

The castle and shooting star was a regular staple of Disney television specials loved by children and adults.

Evolution of the Disney Logo

With the release of 1985’s, The Black Cauldron, the “modern” logo many identify with made its initial appearance. It included a silhouette of Cinderella’s castle (based on the Disneyland version) along with the script in various shades of blue and white.​

It would remain the logo for all Disney movies made, with little change, for the next 10 years.

Beginning with 1995’s Toy Story, the 1985 logo was swapped out for one that was more dynamic and befitting to the film it introduced. This new logo featured a computer-animated castle and colors other than the traditional light blue and white combination.

Other Disney movies got their own unique logo animation, with the original lined castle and “Walt Disney Pictures” line being used on all movies for standardization.

With the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest in 2006, a new “modern” logo appeared. Lasting a full 25 seconds, it was a computer-generated animation in which the camera pans backward over a dynamic kingdom-scape culminating in a “fly-over” of Cinderella’s castle. It ends by revealing the latest version of the iconic logo.

Since 2006, all movie intros have been a version of this logo-revealing sequence. The only one major change came in 2011 with the decision to drop “Walt” and “Pictures” from the title, which simply left the title, “Disney”.

The current logo has intricate detail, things like balconies, windows and a moat that captivates the movie-goer from the moment the movie reel is set in motion. True to the original logo and Walt Disney’s intention, it’s an example of the technological capabilities of the Disney company.

What Makes the Disney Logo Effective

It’s unquestioned that the Disney logo is incredibly effective. Instantly recognizable the world over, it is one of the key elements that has helped to make Disney an enormously successful company.

One of the most important elements that make the logo work is the fact that it changes along with its ever-changing audience. When the current generation seems to demand a new logo, the team at Disney can be counted on to come through for them.

It’s a good reminder that logos can be worth the time and effort it takes to create them. A company’s brand and values become instantly identified with an effective logo.

Make sure your logo is well thought-out to set your business apart. The difference between a great logo and a bad one will be measured in dollars and cents.

Elements of a Good Logo

• It should be unique
• It should be easy to understand
• It should look good
• It should be easy to remember
• It should be relevant to your business

Conclusion

The Disney logo is one of the most iconic and recognizable logos in the history of business. You would expect that from a company whose success has been long-standing with a history rich in artistic heritage.

A multi-billion dollar business should have a logo befitting its stature within its industry. But to know the story of Disney is to know of its humble beginnings.

Like most companies, it began modestly and not without setbacks. Through talent, perseverance, and hard work, the company is a world-renowned giant in the entertainment industry. Much of its success can be attributed to the decisions made by its founder and current company executives.

Creating and updating an effective logo cannot be understated as a key element to Disney’s initial and continued success. An effective logo will help any company achieve its goals.