When anything becomes as popular as the Monster Energy Drink logo and brand, controversies and scandals are bound to pop up. Whether they are in regards to the Monster Energy Drink logo, to the company’s business practices, or to the safety of their products, scandals will inevitably break out.

If such a thing as for a beverage to start a whole cultural movement is possible, then, Monster Energy Drink has certainly done just that. The North American caffeinated beverage has spawned an entire subculture, with groups and groups of people who are taking the Monster tenets by heart and living that particular lifestyle.

That alone makes it obvious that the company behind it must be doing something right. So, let’s take a look at the incredibly popular brand and finally determine the answer to the question that has been gnawing at both its fans and opponents – What is the meaning of the Monster Energy Drink logo?

Changes and Evolution

Introduced only 14 years ago, in 2002, the Monster Energy Drink logo hasn’t actually gone through any sort of changes. Created by McLean Design, one of the best and most appreciated logo design companies in not only North America but in the whole world, the logo was a huge success as soon as it came out.

It never actually warranted a change, as that usually only comes into the picture when profits start dropping. And in its nearly fourteen years of existence, Monster Energy Drink has never actually had any seriously declining sales. Plus, with the Monster Energy Drink logo being one of the most recognizable in the world, it’s unlikely that it’s going to change anytime soon.

Monster Energy Drink Logo Design Elements

Since we are going to analyze the Monster Energy Drink logo, we are going to have to look at each one of the main design elements individually and see how they build to the overall image of the world-famous brand. It is going to be an interesting and fascinating journey into the principles of graphic design.

Most highly renowned and acclaimed logos are constituted of elements which work very individually, but when become something even better when taken together. And of course, McLean Design did an amazing job in designing the logo for Monster Energy Drink. All of the logo’s elements work together to create a whole new image.

Shape

This is perhaps the part of the article most of you wanted to read about. And, let’s be fair – as far as conspiracy theories go, this one sounds pretty legit. With the amount of people and work that went into designing the Monster Energy Drink logo, it seems pretty unlikely that none of them caught onto the logo’s similarities to the Hebrew characters for 666.

Plus, with the energy drink’s trademark slogan being “Unleash the Beast”, it seems even more unlikely that the coincidences would run this far – or does it? Yes, it does seem unlikely, but unlikely things happen all the time.

You have to keep in mind that a design team working on making logos doesn’t always have the necessary background to pick up on the fact that the three claw marks on the logo they’re designing somewhat resemble the Hebrew symbol for Vav, or six. The same applies to the “Unleash the Beast” slogan. It is a pretty common saying, and Beasts are mentioned throughout numerous myths.

No, the Monster Energy Drink logo is just what it looks like – a very neatly designed emblem, meant to inspire both feelings of nostalgia, with its ‘90s look, and to draw in new caffeine enthusiasts with its creative and unique design.

Regardless of what you think the Monster Energy Drink 666 logo stands for, the beast in possession of the claws that made their mark on the can has yet to capture its last victim. And, sure – the claw marks might stand for 666, but it’s far more likely that they stand for M, the energy drink’s initial.

Color

The main colors of the Monster Energy Drink logo are green and black. The green, neon claw marks on the black background work together in a very dynamic and highly complex relation. While each of the colors stands for something else individually, the Monster Energy Drink logo blends them together, evoking notions of energy, excitement, health, youth, elegance, and vitality.

Each one of the 34 different Monster Energy Drinks variants present throughout North America has its own color scheme. And each one of those color schemes is representative of what that particular energy drink stands for – from Assault to Khaos, and even to Rehab and Unleaded, the colors of the cans tell you exactly what to expect.

Font

Featuring a very modernistic, yet nostalgic powerful custom typeface, images of Monster Energy Drink logo are fairly unique among the sea of simplistic designs we have been seeing today. What the logo does best is to proclaim proudly that it knows exactly how eye-drawing it is and that it takes pride in it.

While many may describe it as tacky, over-the-top, or simply as trying too hard, the truth is that the Monster Energy Drink logo is just as popular as the drink – a unique logo for a uniquely popular beverage. If executed differently, the design might have seemed too much, but as it is, it’s one of the most popular fonts of all time.

Inspiration and Trivia

Like most, if not all, energy drink companies tend to be, the Monster Energy Drink logo and brand are often associated with sporting events of all types. The more extreme the sport, the better, as Monster is associated with competitions such as BMX, snowboarding, Formula 1, as well as a great number of E-sports events.

Monster has been the subject of many scandals over the years due to the company’s overly enthusiastic legal team. Suing every company, regardless of their size, which happens to have “monster”, “beast”, or any other whiff of copyright in their name, Monster’s legal procedures have become the target of many jokes and much ridicule in both pop culture and sporting events.

Speaking of pop culture, the Monster Energy Drink logo and brand have inspired the creation of one of the best villains in recent TV history, iZombie’s Vaughn Du Clark. He is the head of Max Rager, an energy drink company which is an obvious fictional representation of Monster. In the show’s mythos, a cocktail of Monster Max Rager and a synthetic drug could turn you into a brain-craving zombie.

The plot was most likely inspired by a number of cases in which people with pre-existing heart conditions drinking an excessive amount of the energy drink ended up dying. Since a causal link between drinking the energy drink and the fatalities was never proven, conspiracy theorists started proclaiming that the company is falsifying records.

One last famous scandal involving the Monster Energy Drink logo and brand took place back in 2012, when the Beastie Boys sued the energy drink company for using one of their songs illegally in an online campaign. Monster Beverage Corp. lost and had to pay the Beastie Boys $1.7. However, the company is still continuing its suing spree, the latest victim being a small root brewery named Thunder Beast.

One of the most instantly recognizable and appreciated energy drinks in the world, Monster has been through its fair share of controversies. However, regardless of its faults, the company made the Monster Energy Drink logo into an example of perfecting marketing strategies. Creative and unique, Monster has gathered its own following through the help of a combination of quality products and brilliant publicity.

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

Founded in 1983, Papa John’s Pizza has become the third largest pizza delivery and take-out restaurant chain in the world back in 2015. Debatably one of the best pizzerias in America, Papa John’s has a long tradition of using better ingredients to make better pizza. So, let’s take a quick look at the Papa Johns logo and see what got the company so far.

Starting out in a broom closet in the back of Mick’s Lounge, his father’s tavern, “Papa” John Schnatter eventually became one of the most renowned food industry CEOs in history. Even though the company hasn’t been around for as long as other fast food establishments, Papa John’s and the Papa Johns logo have already made their mark on history.

With more than 4,700 locations opened worldwide and a revenue reported at $1.439 billion in 2013, Papa John’s came a long way from consisting of a broom closet and used pizza equipment worth less than $1,600. But there’s time for more backstory later on. For now, let’s see where the Papa Johns logo and image came from.

Papa Johns Logo Design Elements

The elements featured in the Papa Johns logo are unmistakable. The ribbon, marquee, and text featured in the logo are joined by the registered trademark symbol. The simplistic, yet appealing logo is memorable, evoking ideas and sentiments of nostalgia, traditionalism, and quality.

While it is, objectively, by any standards or postulates of graphic design, a somewhat poorly thought out logo, the Papa Johns logo still is one of the staple logos in the American restaurant industry. Plus, despite the fact that the flaws within the logo are glaring, it has, in fact, received very little criticism whatsoever.

Changes and Evolution

In its 31 years of existence, the Papa Johns logo has never changed once. It has become a symbol, as it is one of the very few successful restaurant chains to manage to go this long without a major rebranding or major logo redesign. We will talk about how the Papa Johns logo first saw the light of day later on but for now, we will focus on the logo and what it is meant to evoke in people.

Of course, the fact that the logo never changed after all these years is meant to stir up ideas of stability, traditionalism, and loyalty. The most likely situation is that the PR firm hired by the company had to deal with John Schnatter’s refusal to change the logo for which he already had a soft spot, so they decided to make it into a well-established, staple symbol of the Papa Johns image and brand.

Shape

The marquee-like shape around the Papa John’s text is topped by a ribbon of a strange shade of green, not all that uncommon  for delivery services with light-colored backgrounds. Despite having mostly rounded corners, the Papa Johns logo doesn’t shy away from a bunch of sharp ones, either.

It’s pretty clear from the start that the logo was designed with functionality in mind, so that it can easily be applied on both storefronts and merchandise, as well as on company inventory. Still, it doesn’t look as rushed as it could have looked under the circumstance, and it did make some creative choices.

For example, the rounded corners surrounding the big Papa John’s text give the logo a mild, non-threatening nature and look. Meanwhile, the sharp corners present just above it, in the ribbon shape, draw the eyes to it, strongly hinting at the premiere, award-deserving quality of the pizzas behind the Papa Johns logo.

Color

The main color of the Papa Johns logo is, of course, the red. A very common color for restaurant or food brand logos, red is associated with energy, determination, passion, love, and desire. It is a very intense color, increasing the blood pressure and respiration rate, and enhancing our metabolism. Other food companies using red in their logo are Kellogg’s, Coca-Cola, KFC, McDonald’s, etc.

Meanwhile, the green is yet again used in a very creative way in the frame of the Papa Johns logo. The color is generally used in association with feelings and meanings of freshness, harmony, and growth. In this context, however, green was put to great use, made to suggest that the better, fresher ingredients suggested by the Papa John’s slogan actually do make for a better pizza.

Last, but not least, the white present in the Papa Johns logo is meant to suggest benevolence and purity, as well as to draw in hesitant customers to the safety and comfort of the pizzeria. It is also very likely that white was also to symbolize a successful beginning back in 1983, when the first restaurant opened.

Font

By far the worst part of the Papa Johns logo, there are two big problems that plague the ingenuity of the logo’s creator – namely, two extra fonts. Yes, we had to get into this issue. The Papa Johns pizza logo features three distinct fonts, all three trying to draw the customers’ attention to what they have to say.

This, sadly, makes the so-far highly creative and visually pleasing Papa Johns logo into something quite tiring for the eyes. Despite the fact that all three fonts use serif, there isn’t much in common between the three. And the fact that they are so strikingly different, with all three even having different colors, greatly diminishes the effects described so far.

First of all, the white font present in the ribbon is meant to draw attention to the premium quality of the product. Next, the big, red, arching Papa John’s font draws attention to the restaurant’s name, and it is also meant to get people hungry. Last of all, the font present in the slogan part of the Papa Johns logo, while in the same color scheme as the rest of the design, simply feels out of place.

Inspiration

At the start of this year, John Schnatter came out with a very cute and fun story about how the Papa Johns logo first came to be. Having had pizza on his mind since high school, Papa John even considered dropping out of college at some point, so as to pursue his dream career. His parents, however, were adamant against the idea.

During his college dorm days, Schnatter lived six doors down from a marketing major. Both of them sleeping in the LaFollette dorm at Ball State, the future restaurant owner went up to the marketing major and asked him for a name and a logo for his concept. Three days later, the logo was complete, and only minor changes were made to it ever since.

After being so pleased with the results, Schnatter promised the marketing major one free pizza a day for the rest of his life. Of course, since they were still a few years away from the inception of Papa John’s, the two lost track of each other. Now it’s almost 35 years later, and Schnatter is still wondering what the man to whom he owes so much pizza is doing.

Trivia

Since we are still on the subject of how Papa John’s and the Papa Johns logo first came to be, let’s talk about it. Always having loved pizza, John Schnatter opened the first Papa John’s restaurant in a broom closet at the back of his father’s tavern. However, the place became so popular, that in less than a year, Schnatter afforded to move into the space next door.

Despite their traditional values and usually conservative marketing strategies, Papa John’s had to apologize to LeBron James back in 2008, after a D.C. franchise distributed offensive T-shirts of LeBron James. Everything was settled with 172,000 single-topping pizzas sold at 23 cents apiece.

Papa John’s also got in trouble back in 1997, as Pizza Hut filed a lawsuit against the Papa Johns logo and brand for making false advertising. The claims involved the inaccuracy of the pizzeria’s slogan, which suggested that fresher ingredients automatically made for better pizza. While it was initially decided in the favor of Pizza Hut, an appeal determined that the misdirection in no way impacted the customer’s decisions.

The third-most successful pizzeria in the world, Papa John’s has had a long, successful history of respecting tradition and delivering the best products they could make. The Papa Johns logo and brand have definitely made a lasting mark on the American fast food industry, showing that taking care and pride in your products does indeed pay off.

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