For designers wondering what counts as iconic, it’s hard to beat the famous Twitter logo. The free-spirited bird with adorable wings lifted in praise just makes you want to venture out of the nest and, well, tweet. Let’s look at how this logo has morphed from an unimaginative type logo to one of the great icons of the social media age.

Twitter Logo Design Elements

What often shocks designers wracking their brains to copy the cuteness is that Twitter’s logo didn’t start out so cute. No, it still wasn’t all that snazzy even after it boasted flocks of tweeters. The evolution of the brand’s logo took every bit as long as it took for some of us to figure out #hashtags.

From those early days of sans serif lowercase dullness, a transformation has transpired to remind us all that perfection is a process. Today’s logo is a simple blue bird looking up with mouth open merrily and wings raised in celebration. There are no words, for no words are necessary. Like a proper tweet, the Twitter logo is a study in cute conciseness. The picture is worth a thousand words – or, in this case, 140 characters.

Twitter Logo History: Changes and Evolution

 1. Shape

So how has the Twitter logo design changed? Well, back in the dusty antiquity of 2006, the original Twitter logo was a simple typed “twitter.” Rounded sans-serif with “un-glyphed” characters, it was nothing to write home about.

The 2010 updated logo was unchanged in shape except for the addition of a small bird following the “r.” With a saucy crest and a swooping tail, he could have been mistaken as a brush stroke for the unimaginative.

In 2012, Twitter’s designers wisely capitalized on the bird, dropping the superfluous “twitter.” The cutesy creature was tweaked to be facing upward; he lost his crest atop his crown, and his profile became much sleeker. This present logo has become iconic for more than just Twitter. It represents how powerfully logo transformation can define a brand and focus it in a very short time.

 2. Color

The original logo was a light blue. The 2010 update changed the “twitter” type to black, adding the bird in a light blue flourish.

In the 2012 revision, the bird stayed blue but grew just a few shades darker. It would still be considered light blue, but closer to true blue than aquamarine.

 3. Font

The font of the early versions of Twitter is PICO Alphabet by Maniackers Design.

Influences/Inspiration

The Twitter logo began with a search for the perfect bird. In 2006, that bird was an elegant if not anorexic creature that looks nothing like a real Twitter bird, even if it does better resemble a real bird.

The 2010 bird draws inspiration from an iStock image. Unfortunately, companies are not permitted to incorporate iStock pictures in logos, so designers worked to craft a unique Twitter bird from that cartoony creature.

The present Twitter bird obviously adapted from the 2010 bird. More streamlined and eye-catching, she’s a lot like the Tweets of a long-time Tweeter: perfected by age. She is ten years old, after all.

Trivia

For designers interested in the durability of a logo, the Twitter logo history offers an intriguing glimpse into just how short-lived a logo can be. Rather than view the progressions of the Twitter logo as intrusive and distracting, most Twitter users have welcomed the changes just as much as they’ve embraced the rapid-fire changes on their Twitter feeds. For a company like Twitter, staying static just doesn’t fit.

Conclusion

Perhaps the best lesson a designer can learn from the Twitter logo history is to follow the company dynamic. If it’s a progressive company leaning toward constant change, be ready to change design regularly. For a company that  is based on decades or centuries of steady quality, think longevity. To everything there is a season. For the Twitter bird, the seasons move quickly.

The Comcast logo belongs to the mass media and global conglomerate with the largest revenue in the world. Comcast is the most successful cable TV and broadcasting company in the world. It is also the nation’s largest internet service provider and cable TV company. With its headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Comcast services forty states, as well as the District of Columbia.

Whether we’re talking about the Comcast Spotlight logo, about the Comcast Xfinity logo, or any of the others, the Comcast logo has a history almost as long as the company’s lifespan. Founded in 1963, American Cable Systems became Comcast in just under six years. And that is when the first Comcast logo came to be – in 1969.

However, unlike many companies with such a long history, the Comcast logo changed relatively few times. Today, we are going to talk about the historical logo. We are also going to talk about how the logo grew and evolved with the company. Were the changes successful? Or were they poorly inspired ideas? Let’s dig in and find out.

Changes and Evolution

Over the course of its existence, the Comcast logo has changed at least four times. That is without counting the company alternate logos. These are, of course, for brands such as NBC, Xfinity, Sportsnet, or Spectacor. However, while we will abstain from commenting on those logos, we will at least showcase some of them.

The first changes occurred in 1969, when the company changed its name from American Cable System to Comcast. This was technically the first Comcast logo, and it had a surprisingly good design for the time. Next, 1999 would bring a new Comcast logo, which would only slightly change in 2007, during the next redesign. Last, but certainly not least, the last Comcast logo design change came in 2012.

Most of the changes were very well received, with the exception of the most recent one. But first, let’s talk about each incarnation of the Comcast logo. The Comcast logos did change enough to warrant a discussion, after all.

First off, we had the 1968 Comcast logo. It features a simple, custom typeface next to a very well designed emblem. The logo consisted of two letters C, one inside of the other, inside a black rectangular-like shape. It was meant to represent a TV set, with the two letters on the screen.

Next, the logo lost the TV set. This was going on in 1999. Now, instead of a TV screen, the Comcast logo sported a red crescent. It frontlined the C, making it look like an extra letter. Plus, it worked very well with the font of logo. The next change would be minor – the smallest so far. It only consisted of a slightly updated font. The text became a bit more streamlined, fitting better the general look of the Comcast logo.

Finally, the worst received Comcast logo so far warrants its own description. So, we’ll leave that for the following section. It is worth mentioning, however, that the 2012 logo rubbed many users the wrong way. Let’s see why that is.

Comcast Logo Design Elements

Aside from each individual design element of a logo, there are three main self-referential, or meta-design elements. These refer to each of the logo’s elements – its shape, its color, and the font used for it. And today, we’re going to talk about how each of these affects the public’s opinion and image of the company.

From the borrowed Comcast NBC Universal logo to its regular variant, we are going to analyze the logo’s current incarnation. And hopefully, we are going to determine just how exactly the public sees the company based on its logo’s image.

Shape

First of all, we have the shape of the Comcast logo. And that is exactly what was so irking to the public – the shape of the 2012 redesign. The problem was that they borrowed the old, beloved NBC logo. Additionally, the public already had a low opinion of the company because of their poor customer service skills. So, when they were forced to associate the unpleasant service with an image they liked, clients didn’t appreciate it.

But the general public having a poor opinion of the business isn’t a reason for a logo to flop. Another element which determined how the 2012 Comcast logo would be received was the poor idea behind the design. Until 2012, Comcast had been the corporate giant to which people gave money in order to get cable and internet.

Once the mass media conglomerate decided to sport the logo of the NBC channel, one of their most watched channels, people stated having a target towards which to direct their frustrations. So, the logo wasn’t just poorly received. It generated a drop in revenue and plenty of criticisms at the address of Comcast and the Comcast logo.

Color and Font

We can’t really talk about the color scheme of the Comcast logo without mentioning NBC. That is because nowadays, they are almost interchangeable. The new Comcast logo, developed in 2012, simply took the NBC peacock logo and added their name underneath. This gave birth to what is often referred to as the Comcast NBC logo.

Featuring the rainbow colors of NBC, the new Comcast logo was meant to show the public the company’s relation to the television network. However, it simply came off as a poor marketing attempt to get people to sympathize with the conglomerate. Normally, we would talk more about the color of the logo we are discussing. However, we will be talking about that when we’ll review the NBC logo.

As for the font, the new Comcast logo features a strange custom typeface. It is a combination of a serif and a non-serif font. The letters come off as asymmetrical because of a strange design choice. Some letter edges are straight, while others have curved portions. This makes the new Comcast logo look somewhat unprofessional, despite the design clearly being a conscious choice.

Inspiration and Trivia

Back in 1963, Ralph J. Roberts, Julian A. Brodsky, and Daniel Aaron bought a company. It cost them $500,000, as it was but a spin-off of their parent company, Jerrold Electronics. Going by American Cable Systems, the company did so well that it ended up purchasing two more companies by 1969.

This would eventually grow into and be renamed The Comcast Corporation. Of course, the name was a portmanteau between “communication” and “broadcast”. Over the years, the company grew. It grew so much, in fact, that it became the broadcasting and cable television network with the world’s highest revenue.

Featuring multiple spin-offs and associated networks and companies, Comcast sports a wide array of logos. From Time Warner Cable to Spectacor, including Xfinity and NBCUniversal, there are plenty of Comcast logos. However, the main one is currently one of the most disliked in media history.

The Comcast logo and brand may be some of the most successful in the world, but they lack one thing. And that thing is public support. Once the public starts disliking a company, it’s only a matter of time before they starting disliking its logo. So, you can learn something from Comcast’s mistakes. Never associate a beloved image with something the public doesn’t like – it can only end badly.

Image sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

The International Business Machines Corporation, most frequently referred to as IBM, is one of the world’s leading IT companies. Founded by Charles Ranlett Flint over a century ago, the IBM logo and brand are known for their spotless services in the fields of IT consulting, computer service, software, and hardware. They currently offer these services successfully in more than 160 countries.

Whether we’re talking about IBM AIX, WebSphere, Cognos Analytics, IBM DB2, Tivoli, or Maximo, we know that the company is offering some of the best services in the field. Offering consulting, infrastructure, and hosting services for areas ranging from nanotechnology to mainframe computers, the IBM logo and brand are considered by some to be the future of technology.

And while IBM, as a company, is one of the most progressive and technologically advanced firms in the world, the IBM logo is also one of the most impressive examples of graphic design to ever hit the public eye. But that’s to be expected, seeing as the one who designed the IBM logo was Paul Rand – one of the most widely beloved and appreciated graphic designers of the last century.

IBM Logo Design Elements

As with most logos which have an actual design process and which are meant to serve a major company for a long while, the IBM logo has three main design elements which work very well with one another to transmit certain feelings and sentiments to the public. But of course, seeing as IBM, and the IBM logo and brand have such a long history, they have changed quite a bit over the years.

The three main design are the shape of the logo, the color in which it is depicted officially, and the font of the logo. While all three have their own meaning, when looked at together they combine to form the brand’s identity as seen by the millions of users it successfully serviced. But before we start analyzing each element of the logo, let’s first time about the IBM logos and how they changed over the years.

Changes and Evolution

Since the company went by other names until around 1924, that’s when the first official IBM logo came around. It consisted of the words International Business Machines stylized to look like a globe, with International hovering between Business and Machines, somewhat similar to the Daily Planet logo.

After that, the IBM logo went through a couple of stages, getting closer to the one we know and love today, until finally being redesigned by the internationally famous graphic designer, Paul Rand. Interestingly, the redesign was warranted by the inability of the photocopiers of that time to properly render large colored areas.

The IBM logo history is a perfect representation of the evolution of minimalism and simplicity done the right way. From the gravely unsuccessful globe IBM old logo, the subsequent IBM logos became simpler and simpler, eventually giving way to the masterpiece designed by its famous creator. Now, let’s start analyzing the elements of the IBM logo.

Shape

We aren’t going to focus on the other, older IBM logos, since they weren’t designed by someone with the legendary talent of Paul Rand. We aren’t going to talk about variants like the IBM Power, IBM Rational, or the IBM Watson logo, as they weren’t designed by Paul Rand either. So, let’s just focus on the main IBM logo and on the one Paul Rand used for inspiration.

From 1967 to 1972, the IBM logo was extremely similar to the one we know and love today. The biggest difference was that instead of being made out of eight stripes, it was made out of thirteen. This had begun to be a serious problem, as photocopiers back then couldn’t really reproduce it properly.

After Paul Rand had offered to help with the IBM logo repeatedly in the past, the company finally decided that they’ve received one too many faxes with dripping colors and hired him to give their logo a new, better look. Rand, however, liked the logo so much, that he decided to keep as much of it as possible.

He went from the 13 lines of the old IBM logo to the current 8, in a very successful effort to inspire speed and dynamism. Plus, seeing as the letter formatting was just becoming trendy for the time period, it was the perfect time to correct and give a few finishing touches to the logo that would become so famous.

Color

Often associated with stability and depth, as well as with loyalty, trust, intelligence, confidence, and truth, blue is frequently used to produce a calming effect in people. Even more importantly, blue is often used in company logos, such as in the IBM logo, to convey a sense of dominance, strength, and professionalism.

Interestingly, the combination between the blue of the logo and the striped design work together to transmit feelings of speed and dynamism. It gives a distinctive quality to the IBM logo, one missing from most current-day logos, but present in many of the old-school companies.

Font

Consisting of a very simple, yet unforgettable custom typeface, the IBM logo font is a very simple, stylish, bolded, and serif font meant to depict the customer-oriented and innovative nature of the company and their products.

The fact that the IBM logo font has changed so little after the company parted with the globe IBM logo goes to show exactly how close the company was to developing the perfect emblem. The only thing that got in their way was a little extra bit of ambition, which drove them to make the logo just a tiny bit more complex than they should have.

Inspiration and Trivia

One of the most interesting things about the company actually doesn’t even involve the main IBM logo. Ever since the company launched their certification program, more and more people have been looking for SVG, EPS, PNG, and other high-quality image vector files in order to fake the papers and appear to be certified. Despite some preventive measures from the company, smarter, more skilled forgers can still occasionally pull it off.

An Indian subsidiary of IBM, with facilities in several important cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore, is said to hire close to a third of IBM’s total number of employees. By all accounts, the numbers are right, with the IBM India Private Limited subsidiary hiring more employees than any other country; however, the company is very secretive about its affairs and refuses to disclose any numbers.

IBM’s slogan, coined by Thomas J. Watson in December of 1911, is simply THINK. It is also what named the new, highly successful ThinkPad. The series of laptops and tablets started being produced by Lenovo, only to continue as IBM merchandise. The ThinkPad series is supposed to offer smarter, premier devices, and can be found in any representative or IBM partner store.

Belonging to one of the most internationally famous IT brands in the world, the IBM logo and brand are some of the most beloved properties on the face of the planet. Most people look at the brand with hopes for the future glimmering in their eyes, as the company is among the world leaders in computer research, development, and funding. Plus, IBM logo merchandise is among the best-selling tech in the world.

Image Source: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6