Hey guys it’s Greg with Apple Explained,and today we’re going to explore how the Apple logo went from this complicated illustrationin 1976 to the iconic symbol we know and love today
This topic won last week’s votingpoll and if you didn’t get to vote, make sure you’re subscribed, that way the votingpolls will show up right in your activity feed and you can let me know which video you’dlike to see next
Now, Apple is arguably the most iconic brandin history and their logo is universally recognizable
It’s simplicity and straightforward aestheticmakes this a timeless symbol to represent the most valuable company in the world
Butthe Apple logo hasn’t always looked this way
In fact, you may not recognize theirlogo from 1976
To be honest, it looked more like an illustration
Now you may be wonderingwhat the heck Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were thinking when creating this logo
Butyou’d be asking the wrong people, since it was Ron Wayne, Apple’s third co-founder,who made this drawing
It was created with India ink and featured Isaac Newton sittingunder an apple tree reading a book
A fabric banner surrounded the image that said “AppleComputer Co
” but there was more text featured on the picture’s frame
If you look closely,you just might be able to make it out: “Newton
‘A Mind Forever Voyaging Through StrangeSeas of Thought
Alone
’” The quote is from the romantic English poet WilliamWordsworth, who in “The Prelude, Book Third: Residence of Cambridge” wrote: And from my pillow, looking forth by lightOf moon or favoring stars, I could behold The antechapel where the statue stoodOf Newton with his prism and silent face, The marble index of a mind for everVoyaging through strange seas of Thought, alone
Now this logo clearly had some artistic value,but as you can imagine, Steve Jobs wasn’t a fan
He argued that Apple should have amore stylish logo and thought this logo could be part of the reason for the Apple 1’sslow sales
And he may have been right
The illustrated logo was too intellectual fora technology company and it was simply too complicated to reproduce on computers or insmall sizes
Jobs then asked Rob Janoff to design a new logo
Janoff was the art directorof Regis McKenna Advertising who had helped Compaq, America Online, and Intel developbrand identities in their early years
Steve knew the Apple II was going to be launchedon April 17th 1977 at West Coast Computer Fair, and he wanted Apple to have a fresh,modern look
Rob Janoff started with a silhouette of ablack apple on a white background, but felt that something was missing
A play on wordsthat Apple had previously used in advertising for the Apple I may have helped Janoff getthe idea that a bite should be taken out of the apple
But Janoff said he included thebite “for scale, so people understood that it was an apple and not a cherry
But BillKelley, who also worked for Regis McKenna Advertising, remembered the story a bit differently
He said that the bite was symbolic of acquiring knowledge, a biblical reference to eve eatingfrom the tree of knowledge
Janoff then added colored stripes to the applelogo because of the Apple II’s impressive color capabilities, and Steve Jobs himselfspecified many of the hues that were include
And this Apple logo was in fact used at theApple II’s launch in April 1997
But there was a big problem with this colorful versionof the Apple logo… It was very complicated to print
You see, printing colored stripsside by side has to be done in separate steps
And if just one strip is misplaced, it willoverlap with the other colors and have to be redone
This meant printing the Apple logowas an expensive process
Janoff suggested that the colored stripes be separated by thinblack lines, which would make printing much cheaper
But Steve Jobs spared no expenseand demanded that the logo should remain as it was
The Director of European Operations at AppleComputer had this to say about the legendary Apple logo: “One of the deep mysteries tome is our logo, the symbol of lust and knowledge, bitten into, all crossed with the colors ofthe rainbow in the wrong order
You couldn’t dream of a more appropriate logo: lust, knowledge,hope, and anarchy
” Now although the Apple logo had been developed,the Apple type still underwent some changes back in those days
At first, the Apple logowas accompanied by the text “apple computer inc
” in the Motter Tektura typeface whichwas designed by Otmer Motter in 1975 and was quite new when Apple started using it
Overthe years, Apple made some changes to the logotype to make it a little more stylishin advertising
In the early 80’s they shortened “Apple Computer Inc
” to “Apple”,as you can see in this advertisement for the Lisa
In 1984, just in time for the original Macintoshintroduction, Apple dropped the Motter Tektura typeface and replaced it with the more sophisticatedGaramond
But Apple actually had their own custom version of the typeface called AppleGaramond
This was also when Apple began featuring their logo by itself, although they usuallyincluded their slogan “think different” in advertising and printed materials
Apple’s rainbow logo remained unchangedduring Steve Jobs’ absence from the company, but the typography was updated from AppleGaramond to Gill Sans
And Jobs made another mark on the Apple logo when he returned in1997
Because for the first time, Apple featured a solid white logo on the Powerbook G3 lid,and its box featured solid black and white Apple logos
Now, the operating system, MacOS 8, still used the rainbow logo but this changed in 2001 with the introduction of MacOS X
Now, as this monochrome logo began being usedon the lid of Apple’s PowerBooks and iBooks, a design issue arose
Which way should theApple logo face? The answer may seem obvious today, but it wasn’t so clear in the late90’s
There was a time when Apple logos were actually upside down on the lid of theirnotebooks, Joe Moreno, a former Apple employee, explained it this way: “About a dozen years ago we had some discussionsat Apple about the placement of the logo on the back of Apple’s laptops
Apple has aninternal system called Can We Talk? where any employee can raise questions on most anysubject
So we asked, ‘Why is the Apple logo upside down on laptops when the lid isopen?’” And the answer? Because Steve Jobs wantedit that way
He wanted to make sure that when a user sat down in front of their closed notebook,the Apple logo was facing towards them; he didn’t care how it appeared to an onlooker
Jobs believed this was an important detail because his design group noticed that usersconstantly tried to open the laptop from the wrong end
And Jobs always focused on providingthe best possible user experience and believed that it was more important to satisfy theusers needs rather than the onlookers
But just a few years later, Steve reversedhis decision and turned the Apple logo around
Moreno concluded that “opening a laptopfrom the wrong end is a self-correcting problem that only lasts for a few seconds
However,viewing the upside logo is a problem that lasts indefinitely
” Ken Segall, who worked closely with Jobs onadvertising, summed up the issue quite well
He said,“Which was more important — to make the logo look right to the owner before the PowerBookwas opened, or to have it look right to the rest of the world when the machine was inuse? Look around today and the answer is prettyobvious
Every laptop on earth has a logo that’s right-side up when the machine isopened
Back then, it wasn’t so obvious, probably because laptops were not yet ubiquitous
Looking back, it borders on the unbelievable that something so wrong could ever have seemedright
That Steve Jobs ever wrestled with this decision only proves one thing: beingright in retrospect is much easier than being right in real time
” Now, shortly after the switch to their monochromeApple logo, things started to get a bit colorful with the Bondi Blue iMac in 1998
The logoappeared embossed in a translucent blue veneer that resembled its appearance on the iMac
And this design was carried through to the fruit-colored iMacs the following year
Nowthis time period was a bit awkward for the Apple logo
It appeared monochrome on Apple’sPowerBook, but was stylized with color and translucence on the iMac and iBook
And theoperating system was still using the rainbow Apple logo which was beginning to look outdated
But these inconsistencies were straightenedout in 2001 with the release of Mac OS X
Its aqua interface meant Apple had to designa new logo to match, and that started the aqua Apple logo era
The typography was alsorevised two years later from Gill Sans to Myriad
But I should mention that Apple didn’tuse their aqua logo in every case
For example, products like the iPod and Mac mini used Apple’smonochrome logo in addition to printed materials like brochures and even software packaging
Apple’s website didn’t even feature their aqua-style logo
So there was often a tug-of-warbetween the flashy aqua logo and the flat monochrome logo until Apple made an effortto streamline these two styles
They accomplished this by creating the newchrome logo in 2007 which they used on their website, in advertisements, during iOS startupand shut down, in Mac OS X’s About This Mac window, and in printed material
Althoughthis wasn’t the only style of logo Apple used during this time, it was a step forwardin making their logo appear more uniform across different platforms and materials
Now in 2013 Apple's design language beganto shift from three dimensional to two dimensional, and this meant a much flatter logo
Appleessentially went back to using their monochrome logo from the late 90s
And this meant nomatter where you saw an Apple logo, it would look exactly the same
No stylization, noembellishments, just a flat logo that looked the same, from the MacBook Pro’s lid tothe iPhone’s manual to the Apple Store
This change marked a true unification of theApple logo’s design
I should also add that Apple’s signature typography was updatedin 2015 with the release of the Apple Watch
It used Apple’s new San Francisco typefacewhich eventually replaced Myriad on all Apple’s operating systems and printed materials
Now I think the most recent Apple logo designis the absolute best
After all, it looks as good today as it did in the 90s and I don’tthink Apple will be changing it anytime soon
But what do you think? Should Apple changetheir logo? Maybe they could go back to one of their previous designs
Let me know whatyou think in the comments
And if you want to vote for the next video topic, don’tforget to subscribe
Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time
This topic won last week’s votingpoll and if you didn’t get to vote, make sure you’re subscribed, that way the votingpolls will show up right in your activity feed and you can let me know which video you’dlike to see next
Now, Apple is arguably the most iconic brandin history and their logo is universally recognizable
It’s simplicity and straightforward aestheticmakes this a timeless symbol to represent the most valuable company in the world
Butthe Apple logo hasn’t always looked this way
In fact, you may not recognize theirlogo from 1976
To be honest, it looked more like an illustration
Now you may be wonderingwhat the heck Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were thinking when creating this logo
Butyou’d be asking the wrong people, since it was Ron Wayne, Apple’s third co-founder,who made this drawing
It was created with India ink and featured Isaac Newton sittingunder an apple tree reading a book
A fabric banner surrounded the image that said “AppleComputer Co
” but there was more text featured on the picture’s frame
If you look closely,you just might be able to make it out: “Newton
‘A Mind Forever Voyaging Through StrangeSeas of Thought
Alone
’” The quote is from the romantic English poet WilliamWordsworth, who in “The Prelude, Book Third: Residence of Cambridge” wrote: And from my pillow, looking forth by lightOf moon or favoring stars, I could behold The antechapel where the statue stoodOf Newton with his prism and silent face, The marble index of a mind for everVoyaging through strange seas of Thought, alone
Now this logo clearly had some artistic value,but as you can imagine, Steve Jobs wasn’t a fan
He argued that Apple should have amore stylish logo and thought this logo could be part of the reason for the Apple 1’sslow sales
And he may have been right
The illustrated logo was too intellectual fora technology company and it was simply too complicated to reproduce on computers or insmall sizes
Jobs then asked Rob Janoff to design a new logo
Janoff was the art directorof Regis McKenna Advertising who had helped Compaq, America Online, and Intel developbrand identities in their early years
Steve knew the Apple II was going to be launchedon April 17th 1977 at West Coast Computer Fair, and he wanted Apple to have a fresh,modern look
Rob Janoff started with a silhouette of ablack apple on a white background, but felt that something was missing
A play on wordsthat Apple had previously used in advertising for the Apple I may have helped Janoff getthe idea that a bite should be taken out of the apple
But Janoff said he included thebite “for scale, so people understood that it was an apple and not a cherry
But BillKelley, who also worked for Regis McKenna Advertising, remembered the story a bit differently
He said that the bite was symbolic of acquiring knowledge, a biblical reference to eve eatingfrom the tree of knowledge
Janoff then added colored stripes to the applelogo because of the Apple II’s impressive color capabilities, and Steve Jobs himselfspecified many of the hues that were include
And this Apple logo was in fact used at theApple II’s launch in April 1997
But there was a big problem with this colorful versionof the Apple logo… It was very complicated to print
You see, printing colored stripsside by side has to be done in separate steps
And if just one strip is misplaced, it willoverlap with the other colors and have to be redone
This meant printing the Apple logowas an expensive process
Janoff suggested that the colored stripes be separated by thinblack lines, which would make printing much cheaper
But Steve Jobs spared no expenseand demanded that the logo should remain as it was
The Director of European Operations at AppleComputer had this to say about the legendary Apple logo: “One of the deep mysteries tome is our logo, the symbol of lust and knowledge, bitten into, all crossed with the colors ofthe rainbow in the wrong order
You couldn’t dream of a more appropriate logo: lust, knowledge,hope, and anarchy
” Now although the Apple logo had been developed,the Apple type still underwent some changes back in those days
At first, the Apple logowas accompanied by the text “apple computer inc
” in the Motter Tektura typeface whichwas designed by Otmer Motter in 1975 and was quite new when Apple started using it
Overthe years, Apple made some changes to the logotype to make it a little more stylishin advertising
In the early 80’s they shortened “Apple Computer Inc
” to “Apple”,as you can see in this advertisement for the Lisa
In 1984, just in time for the original Macintoshintroduction, Apple dropped the Motter Tektura typeface and replaced it with the more sophisticatedGaramond
But Apple actually had their own custom version of the typeface called AppleGaramond
This was also when Apple began featuring their logo by itself, although they usuallyincluded their slogan “think different” in advertising and printed materials
Apple’s rainbow logo remained unchangedduring Steve Jobs’ absence from the company, but the typography was updated from AppleGaramond to Gill Sans
And Jobs made another mark on the Apple logo when he returned in1997
Because for the first time, Apple featured a solid white logo on the Powerbook G3 lid,and its box featured solid black and white Apple logos
Now, the operating system, MacOS 8, still used the rainbow logo but this changed in 2001 with the introduction of MacOS X
Now, as this monochrome logo began being usedon the lid of Apple’s PowerBooks and iBooks, a design issue arose
Which way should theApple logo face? The answer may seem obvious today, but it wasn’t so clear in the late90’s
There was a time when Apple logos were actually upside down on the lid of theirnotebooks, Joe Moreno, a former Apple employee, explained it this way: “About a dozen years ago we had some discussionsat Apple about the placement of the logo on the back of Apple’s laptops
Apple has aninternal system called Can We Talk? where any employee can raise questions on most anysubject
So we asked, ‘Why is the Apple logo upside down on laptops when the lid isopen?’” And the answer? Because Steve Jobs wantedit that way
He wanted to make sure that when a user sat down in front of their closed notebook,the Apple logo was facing towards them; he didn’t care how it appeared to an onlooker
Jobs believed this was an important detail because his design group noticed that usersconstantly tried to open the laptop from the wrong end
And Jobs always focused on providingthe best possible user experience and believed that it was more important to satisfy theusers needs rather than the onlookers
But just a few years later, Steve reversedhis decision and turned the Apple logo around
Moreno concluded that “opening a laptopfrom the wrong end is a self-correcting problem that only lasts for a few seconds
However,viewing the upside logo is a problem that lasts indefinitely
” Ken Segall, who worked closely with Jobs onadvertising, summed up the issue quite well
He said,“Which was more important — to make the logo look right to the owner before the PowerBookwas opened, or to have it look right to the rest of the world when the machine was inuse? Look around today and the answer is prettyobvious
Every laptop on earth has a logo that’s right-side up when the machine isopened
Back then, it wasn’t so obvious, probably because laptops were not yet ubiquitous
Looking back, it borders on the unbelievable that something so wrong could ever have seemedright
That Steve Jobs ever wrestled with this decision only proves one thing: beingright in retrospect is much easier than being right in real time
” Now, shortly after the switch to their monochromeApple logo, things started to get a bit colorful with the Bondi Blue iMac in 1998
The logoappeared embossed in a translucent blue veneer that resembled its appearance on the iMac
And this design was carried through to the fruit-colored iMacs the following year
Nowthis time period was a bit awkward for the Apple logo
It appeared monochrome on Apple’sPowerBook, but was stylized with color and translucence on the iMac and iBook
And theoperating system was still using the rainbow Apple logo which was beginning to look outdated
But these inconsistencies were straightenedout in 2001 with the release of Mac OS X
Its aqua interface meant Apple had to designa new logo to match, and that started the aqua Apple logo era
The typography was alsorevised two years later from Gill Sans to Myriad
But I should mention that Apple didn’tuse their aqua logo in every case
For example, products like the iPod and Mac mini used Apple’smonochrome logo in addition to printed materials like brochures and even software packaging
Apple’s website didn’t even feature their aqua-style logo
So there was often a tug-of-warbetween the flashy aqua logo and the flat monochrome logo until Apple made an effortto streamline these two styles
They accomplished this by creating the newchrome logo in 2007 which they used on their website, in advertisements, during iOS startupand shut down, in Mac OS X’s About This Mac window, and in printed material
Althoughthis wasn’t the only style of logo Apple used during this time, it was a step forwardin making their logo appear more uniform across different platforms and materials
Now in 2013 Apple's design language beganto shift from three dimensional to two dimensional, and this meant a much flatter logo
Appleessentially went back to using their monochrome logo from the late 90s
And this meant nomatter where you saw an Apple logo, it would look exactly the same
No stylization, noembellishments, just a flat logo that looked the same, from the MacBook Pro’s lid tothe iPhone’s manual to the Apple Store
This change marked a true unification of theApple logo’s design
I should also add that Apple’s signature typography was updatedin 2015 with the release of the Apple Watch
It used Apple’s new San Francisco typefacewhich eventually replaced Myriad on all Apple’s operating systems and printed materials
Now I think the most recent Apple logo designis the absolute best
After all, it looks as good today as it did in the 90s and I don’tthink Apple will be changing it anytime soon
But what do you think? Should Apple changetheir logo? Maybe they could go back to one of their previous designs
Let me know whatyou think in the comments
And if you want to vote for the next video topic, don’tforget to subscribe
Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time
0 Comments