Subway is one of America’s best-known sandwich restaurants. It has a relatively simple menu of sandwiches, all custom-assembled in front of customers. It has set the standard for how sub chains operate in the United States, taking the basic operations of the neighborhood deli and adapting them for chain stores. One thing that has always stood out about Subway is its logo. Though simple, it is very easy to identify. The purpose of this article is to take a look at the Subway logo desing elements and its history and determine how it’s aided in the company’s rise to prominence.

Subway Logo Design Elements

The current Subway logo is incredibly simple, but in that simplicity lies a fantastic marketing strategy. By leaving nothing to the casual observer but the name, Subway has been able to indelibly link a pair of major colors and a pair of arrows in the public eye.

The major shape of the logo is nothing more than the words SUBWAY with an arrow on the S and the Y. These arrows represent movement and speed, both elements that are meant to portray Subway as the restaurant of active patrons. Though never overt, the shape helps to subconsciously link the company with healthy activity.

The font and color are two consistent elements throughout the year. The simple, blocky letters make it very easy to identify as Subway from the road or mall walkway, helping to draw in customers. The colors, yellow and green, are indicative of health foods – something that works well with Subway’s major goal of positioning itself as a leader in the world of healthy eating.

Changes and Evolution

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Shape

The initial shape of the Pete’s Subway logo has little in common with the modern logo, save for the arrows on the word Subway. By 1968, though, the shape mostly solidifies with the word SUBWAY and the arrows as the major element. These elements consistently helped remind the public that Subway was a restaurant for those who were active and on the move, helping to reinforce how different it was from traditional fast food. The only major shape change since 1968 has been the dropping of the oval background, leaving the word SUBWAY alone in the logo.

Color

Subway initially used a dark yellow font, which was easily seen on its first storefront. By the time its second logo rolled around, the yellow would be brightened and paired with white and placed on a green background – all colors that represented health. These three colors would remain as the years went by, first by moving green to an outline and then to the secondary color of the logo. This kept Subway’s commitment to freshness and healthy ingredients in the public eye.

Font

The initial Subway logo featured a common 1960s font, featuring not only the Subway name but rather the full name of the restaurant – Pete’s Subway. In 1968, the logo’s font changed slightly, dropping ‘Pete’s’ but keeping the arrows on the letters. By 1982, the company dropped the background and italicized the font. By 2016, the italicization was dropped and simplified to a look reminiscent of the 1968 logo without the green background.

Influences/ Inspiration

Subway’s logo is, for the most part, a relic of the 1960s. The initial logo is similar to what you’ll still see in neighborhood delis, though the modern logo has changed enough that it’s more in line with clean-eating chain restaurants. In fact, the latest logo alteration is definitely an attempt to follow in the footsteps of other businesses that have radically simplified their logos in the latter half of the 21st Century.

Subway’s logo has, however, been copied by many other similar businesses. The old text-on-oval logo is still standard in the sub chain business, with companies like Lenny’s and Jersey Mike’s using variations on the same theme.

Trivia

• Subway is a shortened form of the company’s original name, Pete’s Super Submarines.
• Subway serves 7.6 million sandwiches per day
• Subway is the world’s largest fast food company
• Subway did not originally serve lettuce with its sandwiches, but now uses about sixteen acres of lettuce per year
• Subway uses more cookie dough per year than any other restaurant
• There are approximately 38 million different sandwich combinations at Subway
• Subway’s founder, Fred DeLuca, was 17 years old when he founded the company with a thousand dollar loan from a family friend.

Conclusion

The Subway logo is simple but effective. It has evolved significantly since its earliest days, but the evolution still clearly points back ot its origins. If nothing else, the logo proves that simpilcity is sometimes the best way to establish a brand. With only its name, Subway has managed to become the go-to for deli-style sub sandwiches in the United States.

Walmart was originally founded as a small chain of retailers in 1945, but its low prices quickly attracted customers. The company is now the largest supermarket company in the world, and they are known for selling furniture, clothes, tools, food, electronics, and almost everything else. Over the years, the Walmart logo has changed several times, to better represent their image. To find out the reasons behind Walmart’s current logo design, keep reading this article. We will share details about the interesting past of the Walmart logo.

Logo Design Elements

Walmart’s current logo features both a wordmark and an image. On the right side of the logo are six yellow dashes arranged in a circle. The narrower ends of the dashes point inwards, and the thicker end goes outwards. This creates an image similar to a flower, sun, or star, and Walmart calls it “the spark.” On the left side is the brand name, “Walmart,” in blue letters.

The font is similar to the classic Myriad Pro font. This is a sans-serif font that primarily uses even thicknesses, but the lines narrow slightly along the curves of the As, Ms, Rs, and Ts. The graphic designers responsible for the logo also made some changes to customize the font. Most of the tips of the letters end in a blunt, straight line, but the lower tips of the W and the A gently curve out into a point.

Changes and Evolution

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1. Shape

When the company was first founded, the original logo said “Wal-Mart,” and it did not have any accompanying image. This sort of logo was used from about 1964 to 1992, with only a few minor changes. Starting in the early 1990s, Walmart changed to a logo that used a star instead of a standard hyphen, to create a more exciting logo. This logo remained consistently in use until the spark logo was unveiled.

2. Color

Until 1981, Walmart did not have any specific color associated with their logo. They just used a basic black on white design. This changed when the company switched to a trendy brown color that made them look responsible and reliable. By the 1990s, brown looked bland and out of date, so the logo was changed to its classic blue color. Navy blue was a key color in Walmart branding for years, but this changed in 2008 when the blue of the logo was lightened slightly.

3. Font

Walmart’s first font had all-capital letters with exaggerated, arrowed serifs, and this was called “The Frontier Font.” The logo became simplified when it adopted the classic bold, sans-serif font in the 1980s. The same font showed up in both the brown and blue logos. It was eventually updated to a lower case font when the spark logo was created.

Influences/Inspiration

Walmart’s decision to change their logo so drastically in 2008 was part of a company-wide push to look friendlier and less corporate. The company was getting a bad reputation due to its unethical business practices, so they needed a logo that looked youthful, cheerful, and approachable.

Using lowercase lettering results in a more casual and less intimidating sign, while retaining the capitalized W and sedate blue color scheme helps ensure that the logo still looks reliable. The organic flower or sunburst shape that replaced the geometric star further increases the Walmart logo’s casual appearance.

Trivia

• The color for Walmart’s new logo is actually the color used in the old logo for Sam’s Club, which is a bulk retail store run by Walmart.
• Changing the logo on all stores is a massive and expensive undertaking. Almost a decade after the spark logo was created, rural Walmart storefronts still have the star logo.
• Most people know that Walmart’s name is a shortened form of founder Sam Walton’s name, but many are surprised to learn that Walmart was originally called Wal-Mart Discount City.

Conclusion

The versatile design of the Walmart logo makes it suitable for appearing on everything from giant billboards to small product labels. Its casual and friendly appearance may help customers forget that Walmart is a huge corporation, yet the logo still looks responsible and trustworthy enough to attract long-time shoppers. Walmart’s upgraded logo has done an excellent job of carrying out the company’s marketing goals.

Recommended Read: Baskin Robbins Logo Design History and Evolution

Nestlé got its start as a small Swiss company in 1866 that marketed milk-based baby food. Once they began focusing on making milk chocolate, their business quickly grew. In modern times, Nestlé is an international food and drink company that owns popular brands such as Stouffer’s, Maggi, Nesquik, and Kit Kat. All of the various Nestlé products can be identified by the Nestlé logo. Keep reading to learn more about the interesting history and design of the logo.

Nestlé Logo Design Elements

Nestlé’s logo is a simple black line drawing above black lettering that spells the brand name, and its background is transparent. The drawing at the top of the logo is a branch with three leaves that is holding a nest. A mother bird perches on the right of the nest, and she is bent down to feed the two baby birds that are sitting in the left side of the nest.

At the bottom of the logo is the word “Nestlé.” The N is capitalized, while the rest of the letters are lowercase. A line extends from the left top corner of the N over the first E and the S. This line briefly stops to make room for the T and the L, and then it continues over the last E. As the line ends on the last letter of the word, it thickens and angles upwards slightly.

Changes and Evolution

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1. Shape

Nestlé’s logo shape has undergone quite a few changes, even though it keeps the same overall theme. The first logo dates all the way back to 1868, and it was a detailed drawing of a mother bird feeding three babies in a nest. In 1938, the brand name, “Nestlé” was placed over the bird drawing. Over the next few decades, the line drawing was slightly simplified, while the brand name became bolder and larger.

Beginning in 1988, the company started simplifying their logo to make it easier to print. They moved their name underneath the bird drawing, and one of the baby birds was removed. The logo has received updates two more times since then, and each update further simplifies and clarifies the bird drawing.

2. Color

Nestlé’s logo has always officially been black and white. When the brand name was first moved underneath the image, the letters were white with a black outline, but this has since changed to a solid black color.

3. Font

Until 1988, Nestlé used a classic Roman font with thick slab serifs and a traditional accent mark over the E. When they moved the name to the bottom of the logo, they changed to a more modern font that looks like a modified Helvetica, and uses the slanted line over the E to signify an accent.

Influences/Inspiration

Much of the inspiration for the current company logo is actually from founder Henri Nestlé. When Nestlé began marketing his baby formula, he decided to create a logo that used his family crest, which showed a bird in a nest. This image was combined with the idea of a mother feeding her young to create the first Nestlé logo.

Nestlé’s current logo still uses the same basic image, because they want to remind customers of their proud past. The bird in a nest image is one of Nestlé’s most iconic images, so the company kept it, even though it is much busier than most modern logos. To update the logo for the digital age, Nestlé removed a lot of the shading and texturing. Nestlé made this decision because they wanted the logo to still look good on smartphones and other small screens.

Trivia

• Since “Nestlé” means “a small bird’s nest” in a high German dialect, the Nestlé logo does a great job of referencing the company’s German heritage.
• The three birds in the Nestlé logo represent Hans, Heinrich, and Samuel Nestlin, three brothers in the 1400s who founded the family.
• Due to the accent mark on the logo, the company ought to be pronounced “nes-lay,” but most Americans call it “nes-lee” due to their unfamiliarity with accented pronunciation.

Conclusion

The Nestlé logo has gone through some subtle changes to make it work in the digital age, yet it still retains the appearance of the original logo. This historical logo reminds people of Nestlé’s origins as a baby food company, while also being broad enough to work as labeling for other products. It has been around for over a century, and Nestlé will probably keep the nest logo for years to come.

Recommended Read: Starbucks Logo Design History and Evolution

Budweiser was founded over 140 years ago in St. Louis, Missouri in 1876. This brand of beer is known for its lager beers that have a light, neutral flavor and an affordable price. Each can and bottle of Bud contains the famous company logo. Despite many minor changes, Budweiser’s logo has remained very similar over the years. This creates a nostalgic effect that encourages consumers to remain loyal to their favorite brand of beer. In this article, we will take a look at how the Budweiser logo has changed to promote the brands beverages.

Budweiser Logo Design Elements

Budweiser employees often call their logo “the bowtie” due to its signature shape. A bowtie shape is achieved by creating a shape that looks like a slanted rectangle with a triangle removed from its top and bottom. The bowtie is a solid red hue that contains a white outline when it is placed on the red Budweiser bottles.

On top of the red bowtie shape is the word “Budweiser” which appears in bright white lettering. The wordmark for Budweiser is written with a curling script font that uses elaborate loops on the uppercase B. In areas where the white of the font overlaps or extends past the red bowtie, red shading is used to make the text stand out. Overall, the Budweiser logo is quite different from the logo of their most famous brand, the Bud Light logo.

Changes and Evolution

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1. Shape

For many years, Budweiser did not even have their own logo. At first, the company just used the Anheuser Busch logo that contained an eagle flying through an A. Eventually, the brand of lagers became famous enough to warrant their own logo. They started out with a red rectangle that said “Budweiser” in white script that had a gold crown over the top of the B. This was meant to signify that Budweiser was the “king of beers.” The crown theme was carried over to the next logo shape, that was the famous bowtie symbol. It had a gold crown above the bowtie, and the bowtie itself contained a subtle striped background. All of these superfluous elements were removed in the updated version.

2. Color

Most of Budweiser’s logos have used a combination of red, white, and gold. The red is bold and appetite-stimulating, while the white is crisp and refreshing. Gold was used on many past logos to add a luxurious touch, but it was removed when the crown emblem was removed.

3. Font

Budweiser’s logos all use classic script fonts with a lot of loops and curls. This font has been slightly modified over the years. It was originally more italicized, and slightly less round than the modern version.

Influences/Inspiration

Budweiser’s bright red logo color helps to distinguish the brand from other competitors like Heineken and Coors. The complex shape and curling script reference past logo shapes without looking too busy. Vice President Rob McCarthy says that the logo is meant to be “very bold but also not too bold. It says we are a confident brand but also not too in your face.”

The Budweiser logo Budweiser follows a recent marketing trend of simplifying past logos to create a cleaner look that still references traditional logos. This logo simplification helps to ensure that the logo still looks nice on tiny phone screens or in Instagram pictures. The decision to keep the traditional script and bowtie image ensures that it is still elaborate enough to decorate a beer can and appeal to traditional drinkers.

Trivia

• Budweiser means “of Budweis” because the company founder was inspired by a style of lager from the Budweis region of Bohemia.
• Despite extensive documentation on their marketing history, Budweiser has no record of why they first chose a bowtie shape for their logo.
• Due to copyright disputes, the logo just says “Bud” on all bottles of beer sold in European Union countries.
• The Budweiser logo appears on a rather unusual type of beer. Unlike most lagers, which are made with wheat or barley, Budweiser is made with a 30 percent rice recipe.

Conclusion

Budweiser’s most recent logo manages to combine modern graphic design trends with company tradition. The Budweiser logo is a clever design that makes the brand stand out from other popular beers. Its clean lines, bold colors, and distinctive shape allow the logo to look aesthetically pleasing on all types of drink containers and marketing campaigns.