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September 29, 2008

Origins of a brand

By ayr

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This was McDonald’s logo, until 1962. Isn’t that amazing.

I’ve been having some great back-and-forths on the brand with Brian and Erik. Both have 2 clear messages:

(a) Nix the flask

(b) Make both logos (truck and restaurant) the same

I’m thinking hard about these points, trying to decide what might be the best path forward. For one, I’m just not sure we could develop the final restaurant logo in time for the truck launch, as a practical consideration. But perhaps more importantly, I’ve been of the mind that the truck and restaurant should be related but separate identities. Mostly I’ve been telling myself that this is necessary because the experience and expectations for the two must be so different. But in light of above, I’ve been thinking hard about the approach that has both identities the same.

I feel better when I look at the history of some of the most iconic logos out there. See above that for McDonald’s, it took almost 20 years for the arches to come around. And here’s the history for Nike:

And here is Apple’s progression. Can you believe that first one? That was Newton beneath an apple tree.

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