By Matthew Bander

Logos
By Matthew Bander
Thesis submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for a Degree in Writing
Business Writing
4/7/13
Thesis Advisor: Prof. Vastola
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Abstract
This thesis is a collection of essays about various topics relating to logos: their
history, evolution, implementation, psychology, and symbolism. Essays include such
topics as what came before logos, two histories on the evolution of a logo in two
particular companies, creating my own logo for a undesirable service, and an example of
racism in logos today.
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Table of Contents
Introduction
4
Apple Logo: A history
5
Starbucks Logo: A history
11
Creating a Logo for a Controversial Business
17
Racism in Logos: The Atlanta Braves
21
Symbolism and the History of Logos
25
Bibliography
34
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Introduction
From the simple shoemaker’s hanging sign, to Pepsi icon, logos have had a large
role in society. In the beginning, logos told passers by the services and products offered
by a store. Today, they do that as well, but are also used to represent entire organizations.
From companies, and businesses, to political parties and clubs, logos are everywhere, and
have evolved and changed with the changing times.
Some symbols have become so prolific, no words are needed. Whether the Nike
symbol or the peace symbol, one doesn’t need any words to know what they mean.
In my essays, I discuss a few companies and a sports team whose logos have
evolved as they did by morphing with different owners and for different, new
representations. I also discuss my own ability to create a logo for a company whose
service could be considered controversial. Finally, I look at and discuss the history of
symbols and logos themselves.
Past and present, logos have had a common theme. It is the face of what it
represents, and the mascot. It is an embodiment, and though style may alter, and form
may differ, this purpose will never change.
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Apple: A History
The Apple Corporation, while being relatively new, has become one of the most
influential computer corporations on the
planet, second only to Samsung. During its
rise to power, its logo has changed as the
brand did, eventually morphing into the
monochrome 2D apple we know today.
Image A here is their first logo and it
is vastly different from what we know Apple
as today. This logo was designed by Ronald
Wayne in 1967. As Owen Linzmayer says in
Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive
History of the World's Most Colorful
Company: “Because apple was far from a
sure thing, Wayne retained his day job at Atari and
Image A
worked nights writing documentation and designing a logo for the infant company."
Wayne’s history with Apple is short, but he wrote up Apple’s articles of incorporation
and even the original manual for the Apple I, the first computer Apple ever made. In
return for his work he was given a 10% stake in the company. Unfortunately, he sold it a
few weeks later it for $800. If he had kept it, it would have been worth $22 Billion today.
This first logo was called the Newton Crest, named so for featuring Isaac Newton
sitting beneath an apple tree in an old timey crest. On the outside border it says,
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“Newton… A Mind Forever Voyaging Through Strange Seas of Thought … Alone.” And
features the words Apple Computer Co in ribbon.
This archaic looking logo obviously calls back to the Eureka moment when
newton was hit on the head by an apple that fell from a tree. That plunk on the head
caused him to formulate a rough theory of gravity. Although, since the apple is in fact
still attached to the tree and not in flight or having already hit Newton, this logo may be
referencing the ability for great thought to come from this corporation as well, and not
just that it already has. Or it might be that having the apple on the tree was simply easier
to draw.
At the time, Steve Jobs and his co-founder Steve Wozniak had created a new
microprocessor and a video terminal in their garage from bought parts. Before they met,
it was a friend of Wozniak who introduced the two. In Steve Job’s official biography, it
says: “Fernandez [the friend] told Wozniak there was someone...he should meet 'His
name is Steve. He likes to do pranks like you do, and he's also into building electronics
like you are." The two it off and soon were inseparable. But it was Wozniak in particular
who was hit with the proverbial apple and became inspired by new personal
microcomputers, which were not yet popular at the time. So the logo of a strange, genius
idea fit the company well.
This logo features Newton and his genius moment, rather then focusing on the
object the company came to be known for, the apple. This logo also contains the words
Computer Co, indicating what Apple was known as at the time: Apple Computer Co. It
wasn’t until 2007 with the release of the IPod and various other consumer electronics,
that Apple dropped the Computer part from its name and became Apple.
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Interestingly enough the name Apple was chosen not because of Newton, but
because “Apple Computer” came before “Atari” in the phone book, and they were the
technological giant at the time to beat. Jobs was also quoted at one point saying he had
happy memories working on an apple farm one summer, though this being the reason for
the logo remains speculative.
This first logo only lasted a year before Jobs asked Rob Janoff to recreate the logo
and shit focus more on the Apple. Janoff was a graphic designer who was working for
Regis McKednna as an art director. Regis who owned a marketing firm that worked for a
few notable companies such as AOL, EA, Intel, and Microsoft.
This Image B is the logo Janoff created. It is a
2-dimensional rainbow colored apple with a bite
taken out of it. In an interview for creativebits.org,
Janoff claims the bite is there so the fruit isn’t
confused with a tomato. As for the stripes, Jobs says
it was a design choice of his own, as he thought the
colors would humanize the company. The colors are
Image B
in no particular order, with green being the first only because Janoff wanted the leaf to be
green.
Janoff also mentions in the interview that apple had the first color screen, so the
color on the logo represented that screen as being the first.
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Its relatively simple background hasn’t stopped others from looking into possible
symbolism. Jean-Louis Gassée, who was an executive of apple at the time, said on
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/brainiac/2011/01/steve_jobs_and.html:
"One of the deep mysteries to me is our logo, the symbol of lust and knowledge, bitten
into, all crossed with the colors of the rainbow in the wrong order. You couldn’t dream
a more appropriate logo: lust, knowledge, hope and anarchy." – Apple exec Jean Louis
Gassée on the naming of Apple.
It’s true that the apple with a bite out of it is also a biblical symbol. When Eve
took a bite from the forbidden fruit of knowledge, mankind lost its place in the Garden of
Eden. This is what Gassée was referring to when he claimed Apple’s logo as a symbol of
knowledge. Anarchy also sort of makes sense with the colors not following any particular
order. As for lust, that could be anyone’s guess. Does he mean the lust for knowledge?
Money? Power? When Apple started out it was a lust for something different, something
unusual. Perhaps that is what Gassée means when he mentioned lust; a longing for
something not done before.
Jobs eventually left Apple due to an internal power struggle in 1985. In 1996,
Apple purchased Steve Job’s new company NeXT,
which brought Jobs back into Apples management.
Jobs took control once again as interim CEO and
eventually became a permanent figurehead,
restructuring the company to account for significant
losses. One of his executive decisions was to once
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Image C
again change the logo to something more modern, pictured here as Image C, and to make
it larger and to put it where people would see it.
He was not only trying to save his company, he wanted to change it. With a new
company, comes a new logo. So he removed the colors.
The old rainbow logo represented the past to Jobs. It was working in garages and
fighting with Microsoft. When enlarged, the old logo looked comical on his new products
and would have been expensive to print, but with this new one he could make it fairly
large without compromising the product’s image.
Slowly Apple recovered from its losses, and soon began to dominate the
electronic consumer market. The new logo was tweaked a bit for different products, like
becoming a simple embossed apple with zero detail for MacBook’s, but with added flair
such as a backlight.
Apple commercials didn’t even need words anymore, they just had to show the
now famous apple at the end and people would get it. That’s how prevalent it became,
how ingrained the symbol has become in our minds, and how successful his marketing
was.
Eventually, to keep up with their new brand, the logo
altered slightly again to this, pictured as Image D, in 2007.
This logo takes heavily from the software version, though it
seems less like sheet metal. It keeps the polished look and
ads a line just off center. It’s supposed to have a glass look to
it and it illustrates Apple’s new approach to looking sleek
Image D
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and futuristic.
This was about the time when Apple dropped Computer Co from its name. They
began producing a style that became part of the culture. It wasn’t just about computers
anymore. Now it was about image, and look, and this translated to Apple’s customers.
Suddenly it was “cool” to have a Mac, and then it became standard. It soon was so
prevalent that even a counter-culture developed, vehemently opposed to anything Apple.
It’s been 46 years since Apple’s first logo, and through the original design was
dropped, and even though the color, dimensions, and the supposed material of their new
logo may have changed, the apple shape with the bite out of it never did. And in a way,
neither has the company changed. Sure it’s now a multibillion-dollar corporation, but it
still one of the leaders in new design and thought. Perhaps their logo will change again,
but somehow one feels the apple shape may never change.
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Starbucks: A History
The Starbucks Corporation, a relatively new company, has become an American
staple in not only America but also worldwide consumption of coffee and coffee
products. Began in 1971, their now famous logo, the two tailed mermaid, can be seen
around the world. But its original design is a bit different from what we know as
Starbucks logo today.
The company itself has small beginnings. The idea of selling roasted coffee beans
came about from three men: English
teacher Jerry Baldwin, History teacher
Zev Siegl, and writer Gordon Bowker.
They based their first store in the Pike
Place Market in Seattle in 1971, and
stayed there for 5 years. This was their
first logo, pictured in Image A. They
originally thought of calling the store
Pequod, after the whaling ship in Moby
Dick, but instead settled on the name of
Image A
the first mate of the same book- Starbuck.
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This first logo was brown and had the name of the company across the top, with
what they sold across the bottom. The interesting thing about it is the double tailed
mermaid in the center.
Terry Heckler was the man who is credited with coming up with the logo and in
the book Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time,
his process is explained.
“Terry poured over old marine books until he came up with a logo based on an
old sixteenth-century Norse woodcut: a two-tailed mermaid, or siren, encircled by the
store’s original name, Starbucks
Coffee, Tea, and Spice. That early
siren, bare-breasted and Rubenesque,
was supposed to be as seductive as
coffee itself.” (Heckler 33)
Here is the original image
Heckler used, pictured as Image B.
Notice he removed the bulging
stomach and belly button. He also
merged the tails, perhaps in an
Image B
attempt to conceal the original notions of Sirens or mermaids.
In mythology, Sirens were sea creatures that lured sailors to their death with sweet
songs promising love and sex. By merging the two tails, Heckler is removing the notion
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of sex, remaining with as he stated, simple seduction, in this case, of coffee. The logo
also added a smile to the Siren’s face, to remove the grim look the wood carving featured.
This logo lasted until 1987. By that time, Starbucks had already purchased Peets, a
popular coffee bar, but Baldwin and Bowker had made a decision to sell Starbucks and in
comes Howard Shultz to buy, who already had his own company.
That company was Il Giornale. Here is
there logo pictured in Image C. It was the source
of the green on today’s Starbucks logo. The Il
Gioranle logo featured the head of Mercury, the
Messenger god, on a green background. Notice
also the stars on the Giornale logo.
Now, Giornale was not a coffee bean
whole seller, but a coffee bar. Their Italian name
Image C
came from the fact that its owner, Howard Shultz, wanted to imitate the coffee bars of
Italy. This Italian influence was directly adapted into Starbucks, not only changing their
logo, but their menu items as well, with the
famous and sometimes infamous coffee
sizes.
This is what the new logo came out
as, pictured in Image D. You can see the
influence as previously mentioned, in the
white on green color scheme, and the two
stars. Shultz also used the sirens hair to
Image D
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cover her exposed breasts, and had the overall design changed to look more
contemporary. Shultz claimed the green from his previous company was more affirming
then the original brown, and so the logo became
green.
In 1992, Terry Heckler was asked to
redesign the logo once again and came up with
this, pictured as Image E. The logo remained the
same, but the image was blown up to focus on
the mermaids face. Everything below the hair end
was cut off including the navel and where the two tails meet the rest of the body. The
Image E
tails also changed, losing a fin each making them more fish-like, though without the
attachment to the body people became confused as to what they were. A writer named
Michael Krakovskiy at www.deadprogrammer.com, who was doing research on the logo
asked his friends and even Starbuck’s workers if they knew what the two things at the
sides of the mermaids head where and no one knew that they were tails.
Though confusing, the new logo does PG an already PG 13 image, and the design
stuck. This new logo lasted until 2011, when Starbucks took the route of well known
companies like Apple; they removed the words from their logo, and created this, pictured
in Image F.
They removed the entire border and the black
background. Sticking with green, they made it the image’s
only color and let the white spaces connect with outside the
image, giving the whole thing more of a decal look. They
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Image F
increased the size once again, making the interior image form the last logo the entire
thing. As Apple had, Starbucks felt it had become prolific enough to simply have an
image and people would know what it was, and indeed they do. This new logo was
introduced on their 40th anniversary. They also released a statement on the new logo’s
design on their website at Starbucks.com:
“From the start, we wanted to recognize and honor the important equities of the
iconic Starbucks logo. So we broke down the four main parts of the mark —
color, shape, typeface and the Siren. After hundreds of explorations, we found the
answer in simplicity. Removing the words from the mark, bringing in the green,
and taking the Siren out of her ring. For forty years she’s represented coffee, and
now she is the star.
The details came next. The 20-year old logo was built in the early days of
AutoTrace and it showed — points everywhere. We improved composition,
brought in more sophisticated stroke width and spacing and a smoother line flow.
When it came to her — the Siren — we enhanced her form in subtle ways,
smoothing her hair, refining her facial features, weighting the scales on her tail to
bring the focus to her face. We enlisted the branding firm of Lippincott to help
with these refinements, and give us a better global perspective on the entire
identity system.”
-Mike P., senior creative manager
So that’s the Starbucks logo. Coming from humble beginnings, as most
companies do, to the giant it is today, their logo changed as the company did. And though
15
the style of the mermaid inside their logo may have differed, it never became something
else. Throughout it all, the mermaid was the focus of the company, and as Mike P. said,
she became the star.
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Creating a Logo for a Controversial Business
If logos are the face of a business, I decided to give myself the task of creating a
logo for a controversial business. The controversial company I picked is called Hogan's
Dead Stock Service, which is an animal disposal service. Their job is to remove the dead
animals from zoos, farms, and stables in Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs. I
could not find a logo they already had, so I decided this would be the company I would
create a logo for. This is not an easy logo to design as the very nature of the company is
uncomfortable, and creating the sense of
what the company does only using images
is difficult.
First off since their job involves
moving large dead stock, I figured the logo
could start off with a truck of some kind. A
quick Google search turned up Image A.
The drawn look might ease the concept of
handling dead things.
I like the idea of making it
Image A (“Mechanik” at http://graphicriver.net)
cartoonish to create a sense of ease where one would normally be uncomfortable with the
thought of handling dead things. Though it stands to reason, being too cartoon-like will
have the opposite affect and would seem like it would be making light of the situation
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instead of trying to make it easier to handle. So a slight sleekness to the image is
necessary.
This next image is what would be considered “making light”. A cartoon garbage
truck, covered in grime, as pictured
in Image B. Though both 3Dimensional, the yellow truck has
far less definition, creating the over
the top look I would be trying to
avoid. The smudges on the truck also
would make the logo seem a bit
Image B
gruesome considering what the truck would be toting around. Then there’s the notion of
it being a garbage truck,
To illustrate the nature of their job I would have a deer head with Xs for eyes
emblazoned on the side of the truck. This would illustrate that the truck is carrying dead
livestock and other animals, and I feel a deer head would be more appropriate than say a
horse head as people care less about deer then horses. At first this may seem like a bad
idea, but when considering how to illustrate the nature of carrying dead animals without
actually using the words Dead Stock, this is the only picture that comes to mind.
A bad idea would be to attach a cartoon deer or cow leg sticking out the top or
side, as this idea is as gruesome as the smudges on the yellow truck. Such a company
would want to illustrate cleanliness and efficiency, and having limbs sticking out, though
illustrating the nature of the company would be unnecessary and a bit grim.
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Having the Xs for eyes is the best way I can think of to illustrate a dead animal.
Perhaps it would also be good if the cartoon deer head were smiling, but that may seem
over the top as well. The company would want to maintain a professional appearance and
a smiling dead deer head may impact that. The part of the neck where the head left its
body should also not be bloody or in other ways gory, and should simply be a cut off
image.
I also had a few ideas I rejected. One of these
was the image of a forklift carrying a limp deer, such
as in Image C. Again, a deer would be used because
deer are commonly killed in society either by accident
or hunting, and a dead deer is not necessarily as
unpleasant as a dead horse or other large animal. This
idea was rejected, not just for the unpleasant imagery,
but also because though a forklift is used in dead
Image C
stock disposal, the forklift itself is not as much of a symbol of disposal as a garbage truck
is. A forklift is more of a heavy moving
symbol, and though while used, it is not
Hogan's Dead Stock Moving Service.
Another Idea would be to have just the
deer head like this one in Image D, with Xs for
eyes to illustrate its dead nature, without the
truck. This idea was rejected because it was to
vague. All it says is a dead deer. It would say
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Image D
nothing of the service provided or rendered. It could also easily be mistaken for a hunting
company, or a store having to do with game, a term for hunted animals. Though I do like
Image D in that the head is not cut from the body in a grousome way. It is close to the
image I would have placed on the side of the garbage truck, though slightly more realistic
then I would like.
Image E here is a better representation of the deer head. It is drawn in a less
realistic way though maintaining the sense of
professionalism.
So all together, a clean, drawn truck with an
expressionless cartoon deer head with Xs for eyes would
make a good logo for Hogan's Dead Stock Service. The
slightly cartoonish nature would ease the idea of dead
stock disposal, while not being over the top cartoonish.
Such an image would give off a sense of making-light and
unprofessionalism. This logo would illustrate the nature
of the company well, while also using the sleekness of the
truck to maintain a sense of cleanliness necessary for
Image E
those who handle the dead.
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Racism in Logos: The Atlanta Braves
More than a few decades ago, racism was very casual in America and the logos of
various business and teams of the time reflected this in their various portrayals of racial
stereotypes. As America got closer to the 21st century, many businesses have strived to
strike racism from their logos to portray the growing sense of racial tolerance and
acceptance that was sweeping the nation, but a few organizations lagged behind the trend.
The Atlanta Braves were one of them.
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball team based in Atlanta, and are a
member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball’s National League. Their
name, the “Braves” is a term for a Native American warrior, and indeed, their logo used
to reflect this. It wasn’t until recently that he Braves changed their logo to something
slightly less racist.
This is what their logo used to look like in Image
A. It is referred to as the “screaming Indian head,” though
its official name is the “screaming savage.” It was
instated as the logo for the Braves in 1957. The logo
appears to me more smiling than it is screaming, but
Image A
regardless, the logo has received criticism all its term.
The Braves were not the first sporting team to use Indians as mascots. There are
the Redskins, a football team, whose name itself may be worse than this logo. The
Cleveland Indians name isn’t so bad, but their logo is horrendous. You may recognize it
as the “Smiling Indian.” Here, in Image B, is a cartoon illustrating the racist nature of the
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logo, by comparing it to stereotypes from other races.
Native Americans are not somehow less than other
races and the use of their stereotypical iconography in
sports is rampant. By comparing other races in such a
way, as in Image B, one really sees the impact of using
Image B
the Native American head as a logo.
Lalo Alcaraz also has made some great political cartoons on the subject. Here is
one of them, in Image C. As you can see, the sports fan
claims he is honoring the native’s heritage through the
use of his sparsely feathered headdress and painted on
war paint. The idea of honoring Natives by naming our
teams after their tribe names is one thing, but to break
down their customs such as ceremonial dress and use it
as a regular hat to cheer on your team does not honor
them, it’s mocking them, and it is perpetuating racial stereotypes.
Image C
Now, most of these icons and names stem back to the time when racism and
stereotyping was rampant and unchecked. Infact, Martin Luther King Jr. wouldn’t give
his famous speech for another few years when the Braves logo came out. But even
though minor changes to the logo were made, it wasn’t until the 1990s that the Braves
finally removed the “Screaming Savage”
from their logo.
This, Image D, is what they changed
it to, though this one has its problems too:
Image D
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there is a giant tomahawk on it. What would have been wrong with just putting “Braves”
as the logo, why add the tomahawk? This may not be a screaming Indian head, but the
tomahawk is the stereotypical weapon of the Native Americans. It’s almost as if they had
to have some racist thing in there, in place of the giant screaming, “savage”.
Recently, to the amazement of Native American groups, the Braves brought back
their “Screaming Savage” logo on their caps. It was so prolific, The Onion, a satirical
news site, also wrote a piece on it.
“Braves general manager Frank Wren announced Wednesday that the team's new
logo would feature a grim depiction of the numerous atrocities suffered by Native
Americans on the Trail of Tears. "Since many felt that the screaming brave logo
was offensive and insensitive, we decided that the Atlanta Braves' emblem should
encapsulate the brutal forced relocation of Native Americans," said Wren, adding
that the new symbol would feature a bleak illustration of starving members of the
Cherokee nation succumbing to exposure and disease. "The young Cherokee girl
dying from pneumonia at the center of the logo really captures the cruelty of
forcibly removing Native Americans from their homelands to make room for white
settlements. However, we feel that all 4,000 of the dead Native Americans in the
design were rendered wonderfully." In related news, the Cleveland Indians
announced plans to honor the plight and discrimination of Native Americans by
continuing to use the same logo.”
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The scary thing is this onion quote was featured on the Braves fan website
http://www.talkingchop.com. Here is what was said in response by someone with the
username Gondeee:
“I mean, it's humor through absurdity, but that meme is a little played out. It's
just so predictable and seems forced. And I'm not being negative because they're
making fun of something I like; I would totally laugh it were truly original and
funny. I remember when The Onion used to be funny. Their online site seems to
just throw everything out there without any regard to the quality of the humor.”
There is very little outcry, except from Native American groups, about the use of
these racist images in their logos. It is almost as if the public doesn’t seem to think this is
an issue, that perhaps sport teams get a pass. This should be a PR nightmare, but the
Braves aren’t taking steps to make sure they are racist free. They are in fact taking a step
backwards by bringing back the “Screaming Savage” logo that had so much controversy.
The Braves have not changed their logo since their new one in the 1990s. They
seem to be sticking with the Tomahawk as their new logo, ignoring its racial undertones.
Native American groups are still fighting to have their image removed from sports,
though I have not heard of their cause in some time. Casual racism like this isn’t news
worthy, so it won’t make stories.
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Symbols and the History of Logos
The logo is a business’s face. It’s their representative and their mascot. But logos
weren’t always used by just organizations. Humans as a whole have many deep-rooted
images that people have been identifying with for quite some time. The use of logos as a
business tool is a design of the 20th century, but the use of symbols goes back much
further. In fact, the use of symbols is one of the most important parts to designing a new
logo.
Dictionary.com says the definition of symbolism is “the use of symbols to
represent ideas or qualities.” Such symbolism was rampant in the early times of man,
with the earliest record being parietal art, also known as rock art. Carvings and paintings,
usually in caves or on large surfaces of rock were one of early man’s few forms of
expression. As stated by Andre Leroi-Gourhan in The Dawn of European Art, An
Introduction to Paleolithic Cave Painting “Paleolithic art was discovered at the
beginning of the second third of the 19th century, simultaneously
at Geneva, and in France.” The oldest known rock art dates from
the Upper Paleolithic period, having been found in Europe,
Australia and Africa. There are many different contexts for the
carvings and paintings, but archeologists have determined the
majority were used in rituals. Art of this nature is still important to
multiple modern indigenous tribes around the world and is
practiced regularly.
Some of these paintings were used as symbols for the
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whole tribe, while others depicted scenes of battle. Some, as pictured here, were used as
icons for the gods that presided over the tribesmen. Here, in Image A, is "The Great
Fishing God of Sefar", one of the oldest paintings on earth.
There is a difference between modern logos and cave paintings, but the symbols
that were used in the paintings is important. It is the first recorded use of something used
to represent another thing, just as logos do today. The use of symbolism became more
sophisticated with time, and the icons began to represent more than just gods and hunting
scenes. Shamans for example, may have had a symbol representing them painted on the
outside of their home, one of the first examples of a logo. The Japanese took symbolism a
step further, and created a concept that took simple paintings and used them as personal
logos.
The Mon, also known as Monshō or Komon, are emblems that were used to
decorate and identify an individual or family. As Mas Nakano says on
http://www.japanusencounters.net/mon/, “The concept of the Family Crest in Japan is
still alive today, although its identified history goes far back to the beginning of the
12th century. Generally, the Family Crest in Japan is called KA-MON, KA means
"family with own genealogical trees" and MON means ‘crest’ or
‘emblem’.” The western equivalent would be the crest. Even
up to the 20th century, Mon’s were used as representative
emblems signifying membership and particular
individuals, and were used extensively to establish
hereditary, especially in battle. First held only by
affluent families, Mon were eventually adapted by
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commoners. Display of the Mon was soon considered necessary in formal attire.
This, Image B, is the Mon of the Tokugawa shoguns, three hollyhock leaves
inside a circle. Rules about the Mon were strictly followed, such as using a Mon already
in use, which was considered offensive, especially if held by someone of a high rank.
Today, all modern Japanese families have a Mon. They are used in weddings,
funerals, and other places where ritual requires them. Often Mons are featured as
B
advertisements on Japanese products such as sake and tofu to create an air of Image
elegance
and refinement. There is even a Mon on the reverse side of the 500 yen coin.
Symbolism was very important in selecting a Mon.
A geisha may choose, a fan design for instance, as fans
were once thought to keep away evil. Even Mitsubishi, the
car manufacturer, has a famous Mon as their logo, featured
here as Image C. Their name, Mitsubishi, means Three
Water Chestnuts. Yataro Iwasaki, the founder of the old
Image C
Mitsubishi organization, wanted to combine the two, so their Mon is three stylized oak
leaves with the name three water chestnuts, pictured here.
Similar to the Japanese Mon is the western medieval Coat of Arms, although
more involved. Everything about the Coat of Arms, also known as heraldry, has meaning,
even the colors: Gold means generosity and elevation of the mind, silver or white means
peace and sincerity, red means warrior or martyr, military strength and magnanimity,
blue means truth and loyalty, green means hope, joy and loyalty in love, black means
constancy or grief, purple means royal majesty, sovereignty, and justice, orange means
worthy ambition, and maroon means patient yet victorious in battle.
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The background in most crests would have a design called a fur, which
represented dignity. These designs were usually solid colors with opposite color spots,
though the Vair design is a bit unusual. It has blue and white bell shaped objects as its
fur.
Crests weren’t always so ornate, but over time and with new
kings and queens who wanted to represent more in their personal crest,
these evolved and became more complex. Image D here is the yellow
lion on the red shield, and it belonged to King Hennery II. Notice the
contrast between it and Queen Elizabeth II’s, Image E. The belt
Image D
surrounding the shield bears the motto of the Order of the
Garter, "Hon Y Soit Qui Mal Y Pense" or "Shame to him
who evil thinks." The motto below, "Dieu et Mon Droit,"
means "God and My Right."
The use of Coat of Arms for particular families
was introduced during the time of the Crusades, the 12th
Century. Armies were sent to fight in the holy land, and
since the numerous troops came from 20 different
nations, they were each told to adopt a mark or ensign. It
was the Heralds who invented the symbolism for many
Image E
common themes in coat of arms, and these were displayed by leaders on numerous
banners and shields. Heralds were originally messengers sent by monarchs or
noblemen to convey messages or proclamations.
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Later, medieval Coats of Arms were held only by nobility. Usually, this nobility
was rewarded, as well as large tracks of land, for military tenure. Eventually knights
began wearing crests of their patrons on their shields, though slightly different to show
their subordinance. When being introduced, especially in tournaments such as jousting
tournaments, it was usually by their crest, such as “Knight of the Lion” or “Knight of the
Swan.”
In the late medieval period, lands and estates were given with titles less for
military prowess, and more for wisdom, superior learning, and other qualities not having
to do with battle. New symbols were invented for these modern nobility and coat of arms
were eventually granted to civic and commercial corporations as well. Many practitioners
of various fields adopted their new honor and replaced their store signs with crests.
Families also readily took to their new symbols, and would decorate their homes
and themselves with images of it. Even today many prestigious families still use their
medieval crest.
Though ancient, the use of crests is has also found
its way into modern logos such as in Image F. This crest is
used as a logo for Addison’s Rare Books & Gallery. Note
the use of black, meaning constancy, and the horses, as
well as the three rings. It is interesting that a business
would use a crown for their logo, but it may be they were
going for an aesthetic effect rather then pure symbolism, or
Image F
perhaps the business has royal heritage.
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The use of these crests also helped the people of the medieval age to get over a
large hurdle, which was illiteracy. These coats of arms conveyed a lot of information
about the company and with, what was at the time average everyday knowledge of its
symbols, customers would be able to understand not just what the company sold, but its
morals, its aspirations, and the caliber of what it was selling just from their logo.
Coat of arms were adopted all over the world and used in various fields, one of
which was cattle branding. The notion of branding cattle usually conveys cowboys and
the American West, but actually the branding of cattle goes back to the Egyptians.
Americans took the idea from Mexican cattle ranches, who would mark their heard with
their own family coat-of-arms. With the onset of cattle thieves, American ranchers
accepted this form of marking.
The actual branding process is not painful to the animal, and is usually done in the
animal’s infancy. Old brands used to be quite large and covered most of the animal’s
body, but with cattle hides beginning to become valuable, the brand became much
smaller and was localized to the hip or flank area.
Brands themselves were quite small and contained very few
characters. This band, Image G, is called O W, or “Oh, double you.” It
Image G
may have been the owner’s initials. The one beneath is it, Image H, is
simply called Forty-Five. There are famous cattle brands such as the
Lone Star for Texas, and Huntington Stanford in California, represented
Image H
by an H next to an S.
The use of brands also extends beyond thievery. At one point there were little to
no fences in the vast expanse of the west. Herd would range far and wife, and cattle from
30
various owners would mingle. When rounded up, the cattle would be sectioned off due to
its mark, and each owner would be able to count his individual stock. Brands became so
numerous that laws were passed regarding their usage. Cattle being moved over state
lines had to be inspected, and having a brand somewhere on the livestock was considered
proof of ownership.
The use of logos for a particular individual or a corporation, and to identify stock,
are common practices, so it only makes sense that they were also adopted for political
parties. Good or bad, with politics most is unsure, but one thing everyone can agree on is
the most prolific and well-known political symbol there ever was: the Swastika. See
Image I. The symbol is actually very old, predating even the Egyptian
Ankh. It can still be found in many cultures around the world, and it’s
the Indian word for it that we get the term “Swastika” today. In China it
was called the Wan, in England the Fylfot, and in Germany it was
Image I
referred to as the Hakenkreuz.
It has had many meanings, including life, the sun, power,
strength, and its most notable use, good luck. Even in the 20th
century it was used in logos and on various packaging. It was even
used on World War I American military patches for its good luck
nature as seen in Image J.
In the 1800, Germany wasn’t even formed as a country yet.
It wasn’t until 1871 that they unified. Nationalist of Germany used
the symbol for its Aryan/Indian origins to represent a long
Germanic/Aryan history to combat the stigma of a young country.
31
Image J
Many organizations in Germany adopted the symbol of the Swastika as well, and soon its
appearance was common.
But, in 1920, Adolf Hilter, the leader of the Nazi Party, needed a symbol. He
decided that his party should have their own flag and insignia, and it had to be a “symbol
of the struggle” as Germans. It was on August 7th of the same year, that a black swastika,
in a white circle, on a red flag, became their emblem, their logo.
In Mein Kampf, Hitler described the Nazis' new flag: "In red we see the social
idea of the movement, in white the nationalistic idea, in the swastika the mission of the
struggle for the victory of the Aryan man, and, by the same token, the victory of the idea
of creative work, which as such always has been and always will be anti-Semitic."
It was through this political party that the ancient symbol became one of evil.
Following the defeat of the Nazis, the symbol was struck from all packaging and
buildings, all documents and organizations that used it. The symbol had become tainted
by the Nazis, and no one wanted to defend its origins. As Malcom Quinn says in his book
The Swastika: Constructing the Symbol, “…the
swastika is again being employed across Europe not
simply with reference to Nazism, but as an image
which unites various groups promoting a racist
creed.” That’s how far this particular symbol has
come. There are other symbols similar to the
Swastika in their world-wide recognition, but none
that stand for such evil.
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In direct contrast with the Swastika, the symbol for peace has spread far and wide.
Originally designed for the British nuclear disarmament movement, the “peace sign” as
shown in Image K, is a commonly used symbol for peace. The symbol is a combination
of the semaphore signals for the letters "N" and "D," standing for "nuclear disarmament",
Image K
as shown in Image L. In semaphore the letter "N" is
formed by a person holding two flags in an inverted
"V," and the letter "D" is formed by holding one flag
pointed straight up and the other pointed straight down.
Superimposing these two signs forms the shape of the
peace symbol.
Image L
It was originally used for a march in 1958 from Trafalgar
Square in London to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston.
Image K
Afterwards, the symbol became the logo for the CND (Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament), and was adopted as “the peace logo” ever since by various groups over
the years.
Logos are now more prevalent then ever, but they existed far back in history as
well. Perhaps not as the corporate mascots we see today, but in the numerous was
humans have used symbolism to identify, not only themselves, but also ideas and
concepts as a whole.
33
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