Have you ever gone on a road trip in the United States? If so, you’ve definitely driven by a Holiday Inn. One of the United States’ largest hotel chains, there are Holiday Inns all over the country. Easily identified by their bright green signage, the logo has grown to be an important part of the journey for many travelers. Over the years, though, that dependable Holiday Inn logo has changed. Taking a look at the changing logo can tell you a bit more about how the hotel chain has been perceived.
Holiday Inn Logo Design Elements
The current Holiday Inn logo consists of a few basic shapes. The biggest element is a large green square, which definitely shares a history with the company’s trademark color scheme. With the square is a large H, which stands for the company. It’s a change to a simplified format, one that plays very well as an icon for the company’s online app. The final element is the name of the company, which anchors the design and helps give users all the information they need.
The color scheme is incredibly important here. Holiday Inn has used green as a signature color for years, so it makes sense that this would be the primary color used for the logo. The company also uses white for their lettering, which stands out well against the green and is easy to read. The font chosen is easy to read and fun, giving viewers a sense of relaxation after a long day on the road. Everything about the Holiday Inn logo screams comfort.
Changes and Evolution
1. Shape
The original log for Holiday Inn by the Falls shares few elements with today’s design. It’s very much a 1950s logo, with a fun design and only a few basic elements. By 1983, the name had dropped the ‘by the Falls’, but the logo was largely the same – except for the addition of a flower-like icon above the wording. 2003 took that logo and put it on a sign even in the badging, bringing the logo in line with many other hotel logos. It wouldn’t be until 2007 that the Holiday Inn logo would finally a sleeker, more internet-friendly shape.
2. Color
Holiday Inn has always favored green. The earliest versions of the Holiday Inn logo used a very dark green, which looked great on signs but doesn’t work so well on screens. The more familiar shade would come in 1983, during which time the company heavily expanded and needed to print the logo on signs around the country. The color lightened up in 2003 and again in 2007, helping to make it even more friendly first to computer and then eventually phone screens. It’s a great example of how technology can prompt changes to logo colors.
3. Font
Holiday Inn has played around with fonts a bit. The original font was a fun cursive font, a bit kitschy and definitely in line with the signage of the times. That font would continue to be used all the way through the turn of the millennium as an important part of the company’s heritage and image. The 2003 logo switched to a more corporate image that was easier to reproduce on a computer screen, and the modern version stuck to a version that was even more in line with the times.
Influences/ Inspiration
Holiday Inn’s current logo is definitely more influenced by phone apps and highway signage than anything else. It’s small but it’s easy to manipulate in terms of size, so it can be stretched and shrunk as necessary. The main part of the logo looks a lot like many of the other travel apps that you’d see on your phone, which makes it easy to slide into a more modern setting.
The logo definitely helped to force other hotel brands to jump into the future. Going back to simple elements seems to be the goal of the day, and Holiday Inn managed to do it before most. If you’re looking at a modern hotel logo design, there’s a good chance that Holiday Inn was at least a partial inspiration.
Trivia
- Holiday Inn was founded in Memphis, TN but is headquartered in the UK.
- Holiday Inn was designed to be a family-friendly hotel chain.
- Holiday Inn has had a computerized reservation system since the late 1960s.
Conclusion
The Holiday Inn logo is simple, but it’s still fun. It’s a logo of the smartphone era, one that works as well as an app as it works on a sign. It’s a good example of how to modernize a logo without losing its charm, helping to keep a brand alive even as it stays true to what made it work in the past.