23 Brilliant Logos With Hidden Messages
Logos aren’t always what they seem. Some contain hidden information about the brand, or iconic imagery, or even just fun and kooky stuff. Some can even be downright mysterious. Join us on a journey into the surreal world of branding as we go over 23 brilliant logos with hidden messages:
Big Ten
The Big Ten founded in 1896, since then it has grown to 11, with the inclusion of Penn State. Big Eleven doesn’t have the same ring to it so they embedded a hidden “11″ in the text of the logo. Not bad, guys!
Amazon.com
Nothing too overt here, but see that yellow swoosh? It’s there to indicate their unabiding love of customer satisfaction. Also, it indicates that they have everything under the sun, or everything from “A to Z.”
Eighty-20
Eighty-20 is a small consulting firm. Most people think that the logo has nothing to do with the brand name. But the trick is to view the dark squares as 1’s and the light squares as 0’s. Then the top line reads 1010000 and the bottom line reads 0010100, which represent 80 and 20 in binary.
FedEx
If you look ever so closely, you can see an arrow formed by the letters “E” and “X.” Why the arrow? Speed and precision, of course. FedEx love both of those things more than I love pizza.And that’s saying something.
Continental
This is the tire company, not the airline. Notice how the “C” and “O” form a tire. It’s a bonafide 3D image. I’m not how how two letters could form an airplane, though. Sorry other Continental.
Toblerone
Toblerone is a chocolate-company from Bern, Switzerland. Bern is sometimes called ‘The City Of Bears’. See the bear hidden in the mountain, poised to strike? Stephen Colbert would not be happy with this one.
Baskin Robbins
This old logo from the popular ice cream chain features the numbers 31 hidden in the letters. That was to indicate how many flavors they offered up at the time. They have more now, sigh. Innovation ruins everything.
Sony Vaio
Sony Vaio is a well known brand of laptops. But did you know that the name Vaio logo also had a hidden meaning? Well, the first two letters represent the basic analogue signal. The last two letters look like a 1 and 0, representing the digital signal. Computer geeks, rejoice!
Eight
Every single letter and every single piece of information in this logo is made of the letter 8. Kind of cool, right?
Carrefour
Carrefour is a huge European retailer. Also, the word means “crossroads” in French. The whole logo sort of resembles a crossroads and the letter “C” is hidden in one of the spaces.
Roxy
Roxy is a company that makes snowboarding and skateboarding equipment and clothing intended for girls. The company is a derivative of the Quiksilver brand and if you look closely, you’ll see the Roxy logo is just two Quiksilver logos squished together.
Unilever
Unilever is one of those companies that rule the world by making just about everything imaginable. Every object embedded in the “U” represents something the company makes. For example: the heart represents love, care and health - feeling good, a bird is a symbol of freedom.
Northwest Airlines
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This logo has all kinds of cool stuff going on. Firstly, the letters “N” and “W” are hidden in the circle to the left of the brand name. Also, less obvious, is the circle makes a compass that is pointing towards the northwest. Pretty sneaky, guys!
Milwaukee Brewers
The fabulous Milwaukee Brewers have a neat little logo going on here. The glove is actually formed using the letters “M” and “B.” These two letters, for the totally clueless, are the letters that start each word of their name.
Hartford Whalers
Another day, another professional sports team. This logo also uses a negative space to create the letter H. You can see three different parts: the letter H and W and a whale’s tail in blue.
Tostitos
The middle letters here actually form two people enjoying chips and salsa. Kind of cool. This is used to represent the oh so social nature of the popular corn chip brand. Chips ARE fun, though.
Formula 1
This logo, first and foremost, communicates the feeling of speed. That’s because Formula 1 is a racing organization, duh! Also, there is a “1″ hidden in the negative space between the two characters. Vroom, vroom.
Elefont
Think you are looking at a simple ole “E?” Think again. Thar be an elephant trunk hidden in that letter. And as we all know, elephants never forget.
Sun Microsystems
The Sun logo is one of the most famous ambigrams in the world. You can read the brand name in every direction; both horizontally and vertically. This logo was designed by professor Vaughan Pratt of the Stanford University. In that case you hadn’t figured out, he’s pretty smart.
NBC
NBC may have fallen on hard times, but their logo is still as timeless as they come. I think most of you have already seen the peacock in this logo. The peacock has 6 different tail feathers, referring to the six divisions at the time that this logo was created. The peacock’s head is flipped to the right to suggest it was looking forward. Never look back.
GreenLabs
I know this logo looks like a simple, boring green tree, but if you look at the tree crown, you’ll see that it can also be interpreted as a brain. The logo lays emphasis on the strong intellectual capabilities of the company’s staff and also reflects ‘green’ and ‘labs’ parts of their name.
Presbyterian Logo
If you think the previous logos were rife with double and triple meanings, then take a look at this one. It’s the seal of the Presbyterian church and it has several hidden messages. There are too many to name here, so take a look at this article.
Twins
Notice the hidden “2″ inside the letter “N.” That’s because, according to myth, a set of twins comes to around two. The bold type face is also used to show the boldness of the company’s ideas. I wonder if one arm of the company can feel when the other arm is in pain or something. Get it? That’s what twins experience.
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