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15 Logos With Hidden Messages
Posted by thardy on Aug 24, 2010 | 56 Comments
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1,266
746 Designing logos can be very difficult. When designing a logo you want it to stand out from the crowd yet still be really simple. Sometimes the designer is really
clever and makes the logo very simple yet includes a hidden message within the logo that has deeper meaning. In this article we have 15 logos with hidden
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messages, some of which you will have heard of before and some maybe new to you but hopefully you will enjoy them all.
Amazon
The Amazon logo is an extremely simple logo and while the arrow may just look like a smile it actually points from a to z. This represents that Amazon sell everything from
a to z and the smile on the customers face when they bought a product.
Baskin Robbins
2. The Baskin Robbins logo may look like it includes a simple BR above the name but if you take another look you will that it includes a pink number 31. This is a reference to
the original 31 flavors.
Chick-fil-a
The Chick-fil-a logo incorporates a chicken into the C. Although this isn’t very hidden, it is still very clever.
Eighty20
The eighty20 logo is a bit of a geeky one to figure out, the two lines of squares represent a binary sequence with the blue squares being 1’s and the grey squares being 0’s.
Which makes 1010000 which represents eighty and 0010100 which represents 20.
F1
3. The F1 logo is a fairly simple one to figure out. The negative space in the middle creates the 1.
Facebook Places
If you didn’t already know Facebook Places, is Facebooks new geolocational product. Which is in direct competition with the current leader in that area Foursquare. Now if
you take another look at Facebook Places logo you will notice it is a 4 in a square now is this a coincidence or a dig at Foursquare?
Fedex
The FedEx logo look like a plain text based logo but if you take a second look between the E and the x you will see an arrows which represents the speed and accuracy of
the companies deliveries.
Milwaukee Brewers
4. The old Milwaukee Brewers logo may look like a simple catchers mitt holding a ball, but if you take a second you will see the team’s initials M and B.
Museum of London
The Museum of London logo may look like a modern logo design but it actually represents the geographic area of london as it as grew over time.
NBC
5. The NBC logo has a hidden peacock above the above text which is looking to the right, this represents the companies motto to look forward and not back, and also that they
are proud of the programs they broadcast.
Northwest Airlines
The old Northwest Airlines logo may look like a simple logo but if you take a closer look the symbol on the left actually represent both N and W and because it is enclosed
within the circle it also represents a compass pointing northwest.
Piano Forest
The Piano Forest logo may look like a simple text logo with trees above it, but if you take another look you will see that the trees actually represent keys on a piano.
Toblerone
6. The Toblerone logo contains the image of a bear hidden in the Matterhorn mountain, which is where Toblerone originally came from.
Tostitos
The Tostitos logo includes two people sharing a chip and a bowl of salsa, this conveys an idea of people connecting with each other over a bowl of chips.
Treacy Shoes
The Treacy Shoes logo is very cute logo with a shoe hidden between the t and s.
About the Author
Thomas Hardy is a freelance web designer from Newcastle upon Tyne (UK), here is his portfolio. He founded Design-Heaven and Work-Killer, where he regularly blogs.
You will also find him on Twitter and Facebook.
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56 comments
1.
Yorrany Braga
August 24, 2010
Genial, great insight.
Thanks for sharing.
Reply
8. 2.
Matthew
August 24, 2010
Thanks for sharing mate, this was such an interesting read.
Thouroughly enjoyed this article. Cheers!
Reply
3.
Rozi
August 24, 2010
What could I say? Creative! This is how logo should be. Simple, beatiful and meaningful.
Reply
4.
Lovely
August 24, 2010
Superb, aside from the obvious “popular topic” shoehorning in of the Facebook Places logo. If that’s how you draw the number 4, you need to go back to school. It
just isn’t there.
Reply
Bret Juliano
August 24, 2010
There’s a rough version without the map indicator on it (Some colors have been changed for visibility)
http://tinypic.com/r/16kyk44/4
Reply
5.
Jakob Birgersson
August 24, 2010
Designers with brains. I like that!
Reply
2experts
August 25, 2010
me too
Reply
9. 6.
Erjon Mehmeti
August 24, 2010
These guys should go bowling with Leonardo Da Vinci ))
Thanks for the article, I will never view the logos the same anymore.
Reply
7.
Warren Jerzyszek
August 24, 2010
Great list… I have to be totally honest and say that I never noticed the connections and hidden meanings behind the logo designs you’ve shared with us. I really enjoy
logo design and also try to include little secrets here and there but like you mentioned the simpler the logo gets the harder it is to incorporate hidden meanings. This was
a really good read. Thanks for sharing.
Reply
8.
Simon Willans
August 24, 2010
Doesn’t the eighty20 one only work backwards.
- It should be 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, not the other way around?
Reply
Brian Altenhofel
August 24, 2010
The eighty20 logo is correct. Binary is written with the lowest number to the right, just like hexadecimal and decimal notation.
Reply
9.
Webrunner
August 24, 2010
I don’t think Facebook places logo is related to 4square, it’s only Facebook’s F rotated 90°CCW…
Reply
Ben
August 24, 2010
Whether or not the 4 / square was intentional is debatable, but I bet whoever designed it, even if they meant for it to appear like the facebook lowercase “f”, must
have realized it at some point, smirked, and left it like that on purpose.
10. Reply
10.
kropped
August 24, 2010
Cool collection
Reply
11.
Nico Kunz
August 24, 2010
To be honest, your post is just a rehash of about a million other blog posts out there that showcase hidden messages in logos. If you had found a new one then that
would have been cool.
Reply
Moz
August 24, 2010
I agree – disappointing collection, and rather limited observations too, compared with what’s gone before.
Reply
12.
Thomas Røst Stenerud
August 24, 2010
Brilliant post, indeed. Wasn’t a part of the idea behind the NBC Peacock to highlight the vibrant colours of the colour TV set? Can’t remember where I picked that up,
though. Nevertheless; thanks for sharing!
Reply
13.
web designer leicester
August 24, 2010
Nice post, i never noticed the amazon logo points from A-Z before…
Reply
14.
Brian Altenhofel
August 24, 2010
The Big Ten Conference logo (American college football) also has a good one. A few years back, they expanded to 11 teams, but Big Eleven doesn’t have the same
ring to it. So, they put some 1’s on either side of the T in negative space.
Reply
11. 15.
Rob Dyson
August 24, 2010
Bar the Eighty 20 logo, I don’t think any of these were particularly designed to be ‘hidden’- rather they all represent the ingenuity of good designers (I would have said
they were all quite overt). But seeing them altogether is a great celebration of what makes a memorable brand design, so thanks for sharing
Reply
16.
Lara
August 24, 2010
I never noticed the arrow in FEDEX! I feel so ashamed.
Reply
17.
Ivan Tsankov
August 24, 2010
Simply brilliant!What could I say?
The NortWest Airlines,Fedex and Amazon logo are
created by real,creative designers!
This is how it should be done!
Reply
18.
Brad Morse
August 24, 2010
Another one I’ve always liked is the Safe Auto logo. There is a rear view mirror in between the “S” and “A” in the logo.
http://www.safeauto.com/
Reply
19.
Austin Pickett
August 24, 2010
Now I want a toblerone…!
Reply
Scott
September 5, 2010
I know it’s an old joke, but it’s near impossible to eat a Toblerone without hurting yourself.
12. Reply
20.
Online Printing Services
August 24, 2010
Didn’t know that the bear was in the Toblerone logo.
Reply
21.
Johnny Deeze
August 24, 2010
Abuse of the word “hidden”.
Reply
22.
Eko
August 25, 2010
Amazing, very creative logo design…
Thanks…
Reply
23.
Dave
August 25, 2010
Check out the Big Ten Conference logo.
The task was to create a logo for a conference that actually has eleven teams. Great.
Reply
24.
Grzegorz
August 25, 2010
Great article. That’s amazing pice of art!
Reply
25.
Craig
August 25, 2010
Creative and well thought out Logos, Thanks for the share.
Reply
13. 26.
Dawid Deja
August 25, 2010
Lots of interesting stuff.
This was the first time I was looking at most of this logos differently.
Cheers for this article.
Reply
27.
Jeff
August 25, 2010
Creative, yes. Hidden, no.
Reply
28.
Arslan
August 25, 2010
Nice Collection
Reply
29.
Kartlos Tchavelachvili
August 25, 2010
…very interesting stories behind those logo designs, especially Amazon & NBC.
TH4NK5 : )
Reply
30.
Mauricio González
August 25, 2010
“The xx logo may look like a simple logo but if you take a closer look …”
Reply
31.
mimwow
August 26, 2010
good article, thank u.
guys who made those logos are pure genies.
14. Reply
32.
Hey
August 29, 2010
Most of these are pretty obvious. Come on- Baskin Robbins? The “hidden” element is highlighted in pink.
I feel like the only one that will always truly shine is the FedEx one. That is because it works and reads exactly the same weather you see the negative space or not.
Reply
33.
Hey
August 29, 2010
whether*
Reply
34.
thesebb
August 29, 2010
Very interesting article! I really like Amazon and Fedex. All of them are very good though.
Reply
35.
Lisa Thomason
August 31, 2010
Amazing, very original logo designs. LT
Reply
36.
Amanda Smit
September 1, 2010
Brilliant, and loved the explanations too!
Reply
37.
rickwebz
September 1, 2010
Not sure if I should be amazed or feel shameful. Most of those logos have been in front of me for years and I never saw the hidden elements in them.
Reply
15. 38.
inspirationfeed
September 1, 2010
Fedex logo is classic!
Reply
39.
Azim Khatri
September 3, 2010
Brillian job…quite interesting
Reply
40.
Jeff
September 3, 2010
Interesting information on how some of these logo designs came about, Cheers
Reply
41.
blogwebdesigner
September 12, 2010
Very interesting article! I really like Fedex.
Reply
42.
Fabian Lujan
September 14, 2010
Carrefour logo?
There’s a “C” in the white neutral space.
Reply
43.
skaizun
September 14, 2010
What might be a coincidence, the blue area of the letter ‘m’ in the baseball Milwaukee Brewers logo appear to be three mugs of beer, and the yellow part could be the
foam! Brewers and Beer!
Reply
16. 44.
Rett
October 1, 2010
Nice job choosing the most obvious hidden messages. And I think your the 1000th designer to write about the fed ex arrow.
Reply
45.
Simon Hall
October 8, 2010
Never noticed the bear in the Toblerone logo before. I’ll sleep better for that.
Reply
46.
Jason Bones
November 7, 2010
This Facebook Groups thing…turned sideways represents an f.
Reply
47.
Felipe Spina
November 16, 2010
Maybe you could see the Carrefour supermarket logo, it’s a good example as well
Reply
48.
Miguel
November 16, 2010
Fantastic article.
Thanks
Reply
49.
Achim
November 21, 2010
Wow, that Fedex and Toblerone thing really got me – seeing it for years but never REALLY seeing it. Thanks for sharing and opening eyes.
Reply
17. 50.
web design hull
December 7, 2010
Nice collection, there were plenty of hidden elements that I’ve never noticed… I can’t believe I’ve missed the fedex arrow.
Reply
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