From the largest car manufacturer in the world to the golden arches, today we look at 16
Secret Messages Hidden In Famous Logos!
16.
Baskin Robbins Looking at the bright pink and blue Baskin
Robbins logo, you may be quick to notice the big “B” and “R” at the top with their
two-color design.
But notice, too, that the outsides of the two letters are blue, and the insides of the
letters are pink, the insides forming the famous number “31.”
The number 31, of course, represents the traditional 31 flavors, offering you a different choice
of ice cream every single day of the month.
The next time you see the big “BR,” look for the big “31” also.
It’s right there and has been since 2005.
15.
LG “Life’s Good,” says LG, the South Korean
company that started out as Lucky-Goldstar in 1947.
LG sets out to make their customers happy, and their silver and red logo reflects that,
showing a smiling human face on a red circle.
The circle represents the earth, the future, and humanity.
LG’s initials shape the face's appearance, with the “L” as the nose, and the “G”
the encircling countenance, radiating trustworthiness and friendliness.
The face has but one eye, symbolizing a positive and goal-oriented company.
The silver color indicates sophisticated and reliable technology.
Let's face it, a lot is happening in that little red-faced logo.
LG hopes it makes you happy.
14.
Hershey's Kisses Just about everyone knows how a Hershey’s
Kiss looks.
And the big Hershey’s name on the wrapper is hard to miss.
But did you know that with every package of Hershey’s Kisses you get one extra kiss,
hidden away in the logo?
Look at the logo carefully, and right between the “K” and the “I” of the word “KISSES”
you’ll find your surprise: A kiss right between the letters, standing on its edge.
You can’t eat it, but you can appreciate the hidden message packaged into the package.
Sweet!
13.
Hope for African Children Initiative The Hope for African Children Initiative’s
mission is to organize the delivery of HIV/AIDS and nutritional health services in central
Africa and to help change regional behavior through consumer education.
Their logo speaks of the African continent and utilizes the logo’s white space to reveal
a hidden message of love and trust between a child and a mother.
The logo is colored in two different shades of orange with a white African “cutout”
in the center.
Light orange on the left reveals a child’s head, helping to shape the West coast of Africa,
while dark orange outlines the continent on the East coast, showing a mother gazing down
at the child.
A touching and emotional logo with a powerful message, fitting for such an outreach program.
12.
Wendy's Hamburgers Wendy’s burgers are square.
They make them that way.
They are custom-cooked, and hand assembled, and Dave Thomas, Wendy’s founder and chain
spokesman in over 800 television commercials, went to great effort to tell everyone how
his hamburgers were made “the old-fashioned way.”
This typically American home-and-hearth sentiment is evident in a secret message hidden in Wendy’s
logo.
If you look closely at the young, freckled, redheaded girl — Dave’s daughter — you’ll
find the word “mom” stitched into her blouse collar.
It is subtly inked in with sky blue, matching the color of her bows in her pigtails.
The button on her collar forms the “o.”
With an Americana logo that honors “mom,” you’ll not be surprised that Wendy’s menu
offers apple pie.
But it’s French apple pie.
We’re not sure what that means.
These days, Wendy’s even denies they put “mom” in the logo on purpose, but we’re
skeptical.
Dave wouldn't lie to us.
11.
Goodwill Industries International There are Goodwill Industries centers in many
communities in the United States, and their reach is international in scope, with over
13 affiliates across the globe.
Wherever they are located, their logo remains the same.
On a rectangular sea of dark blue, a smiling face looks out and the word “goodwill”
— with a lowercase “g” — appears below.
The secret hidden in the logo is that the large, smiling face is, if you look carefully,
a lowercase “g” itself, which stands for “goodwill” of course.
Furthermore, in the printed “goodwill” below the blue field, the initial “g”
is a smiling half-face too!
This “goodwill” smile echoes throughout the logo, and throughout the world, bringing
cheer to those who see it in their communities wherever they live.
10.
Toblerone The Swiss Alps are known for their large population
of bears.
The famous Matterhorn mountain is located in the Swiss Alps, along with the bears.
These two facts may have inspired Theodor Tobler to manufacture his Toblerone chocolates
in the shape of the Matterhorn mountain.
His sons, however, think a pyramid from a dance routine in the Folies Bergères inspired
the chocolate's famous form.
Whatever, the Matterhorn is on the package.
But what of the bears?
Tobler's secret ursine tribute is evident on the Matterhorn, printed on the packaging
of his Toblerone candy.
By making a close examination of the logo, you will discover a bear standing on its back
feet in the lighter colors of the mountain's image.
Look just above the “BL” in “Toblerone.”
There he is, just barely visible.
Maybe it’s a dancing bear?
9.
Tostitos Tostitos are crispy, crunchy, tasty tortilla
chips that people often eat with salsa or queso (cheese) dip.
Both you and PepsiCo already know this.
But this scene makes a great logo with a not-so-hidden but rather amusing message.
On a brightly colored background — sometimes orange, sometimes blue, sometimes yellow — bold
and saucy lettering of the word “TOSTiTOS” is used as the primary focus of the logo.
The party really gets started between the two “T”s in the middle of the word.
The dot on the small “i” is colored red to indicate a bowl of delicious dip shared
by two people — represented by the two “T”s on either side of it — and who are holding
a wedge-shaped chip between them.
Centered in the image, your eye moves directly to the chip fiesta.
The entire logo says "Party!"
Olé!
8.
Unilever It is not uncommon for a company to use its
name’s initial as its logo.
In Unilever’s case, that means a large capital “U.” And at first glance, this attractive,
artistic “U” in a blue and white pattern seems to be comprised of random objects, like
a very busy wallpaper.
However, these are not simply random objects.
Each one of the 26 deftly intertwined icons in the patterned “U” represents the Anglo-Dutch
company’s activities within its conglomeration of well-known brands.
Unilever’s products range from nutrition to personal care to hygiene.
The logo shows off the company’s vitality and its diverse mission.
It gives the eye an active, visual treat as well.
7.
The Bronx Zoo Long-legged giraffes in silhouette, birds
circling nearby, and the words “The Bronx Zoo” form the elegant logo for one of the
largest metropolitan zoos in the world.
New York City hosts it in its Bronx borough, and the zoo also holds the record as the largest
zoo in North America.
What you may miss in this first glance at this classy logo is the hidden New York skyline
portrayed in the white space between those long giraffe legs.
Once you see it, you can’t un-see it, and the effect is almost like a visual illusion.
Your gaze moves back and forth from the giraffes and birds to the skyline.
Remaining focused is difficult, but the message is clear: Those are tall giraffes.
6.
FedEx Hidden in the FedEx logo is the point to the
whole operation.
The logo’s designer, Lindon Leader, wanted to get across the concepts of forward direction,
precision, and speed.
He also wanted to add an element of surprise to the mix.
Are you surprised?
Have you found it yet?
This logo design won over 40 awards.
Notice that all the letters seem to be touching.
“Fed” is in blue and “Ex” is in orange, separating the two syllables.
Here’s the secret: Tucked into the white space between the “E” and the “x”
is an arrow pointing to the right…
forward.
Lindon Leader was successful, almost as successful as FedEx.
Well, maybe not financially.
5.
Milwaukee Brewers Sports has many notable logos.
The Milwaukee Brewers play the game of baseball, so it seems natural that they might have a
logo showing a baseball mitt catching a baseball.
There’s nothing too surprising there.
The glove itself turns out to be what catches your eye.
What looks like the fingers of the mitt is the letter “m.”
The thumb and palm of the glove, with the ball firmly in its grasp, is the letter “b.”
But this secret message has been hidden again.
The logo was only in use from 1978 to 1993.
We call foul.
4.
Sony Vaio Sony has a lengthy history as an electronics
company, beginning long before commercial digital technology was practical.
This trek from analog to digital is illustrated in the Sony Vaio logo, which looks like a
squiggly line, a dot and a 10.
Or is that “io?”
What does it all mean?
Sony is giving you a sign.
Or rather, a sine, as in sine wave.
That’s what the squiggly line is.
It’s what some forms of pure electricity look like on an oscilloscope.
An oscilloscope is analog technology.
The dot is also an analog signal, and helps shape the “A” in “vaio.”
The second half of the word indicates digital technology, with the “io” made to look
like a one and a zero, the numbers used in binary code.
“IO” also stands for “input/output” which is a communications term.
Who thinks these things up?
Well, it turns out to be Teiyu Goto, whose last name is also a programming command in
the Basic computer language.
It’s a sign.
3.
Toyota Evolving from the finalist in a Japanese public
design contest, the Toyota logo as we know it now emerged in 1989 to commemorate the
company’s 50th year.
Developing the logo took five years.
The three ellipses which comprise the logo are symbolic of unity, motion, and speed.
They also represent, according to Toyota, “the unification of the hearts of our customers
and the heart of Toyota products.”
The unique overlapping design of the three ovals makes it possible to spell a not so
hard-to-guess codeword: Toyota.
It’s a bit of a stretch.
Still, it works.
The Toyota three-oval logo is one of the most well-recognized designs in the world.
2.
McDonalds Everybody smiles when they see the golden
arches.
Just wait until you find out why.
When the McDonalds chain restaurants started opening around 1953, the most visible things
about them were the slanting roof and the giant, inverted-C shaped, bright yellow arches.
The “Golden Arches” were McDonald’s trademark look from the beginning.
But by the 1960s that simple look was already starting to seem a bit tired, so McDonalds
hired psychologist and design consultant Louis Cheskin to spice things up a bit.
Cheskin’s idea?
Make the Golden Arches look like breasts.
“Mother McDonald’s breasts” he called them.
The Freudian implications were obvious.
But as everyone in the 21st century knows, sex sells.
And six decades later people are still flocking happily to McDonalds.
1.
Coca-Cola Denmark is ranked as “the world’s happiest
country” by the World Happiness Report.
Who can argue with that?
And although it may be somewhat of a stretch, it is widely reported that you can find the
flag of Denmark in the florid script of the Coca-Cola logo, one of the world’s most
popular — and arguably happiest — drinks.
Once the ad agency McCann Copenhagen made this connection, they created a full-scale,
public interactive airport ad that dispensed flags.
Danish flags, of course, available from a Coca-Cola labeled vending machine.
Why?
It’s a Danish tradition to greet travelers arriving at the airport by waving Danish flags
called “dannebrogs.”
And what better way to sell more Coke than to wave a Coca-Cola-logo-Danish-dannebrog-flag.
What could make an arriving guest any happier than that?
We’re not sure.
Maybe some Carlsberg?