“The Nike swoosh was nothing the day it was drawn.” Marketing made it work. That’s one of several insights in Vox.com’s 4-minute video interview with logo designer Michael Bierut. He breaks down corporate symbols into four categories:
– wordmarks like Coca-Cola and FedEx
– pictorials like Shell and Apple
– abstracts like the Nike swoosh
– logo systems that morph on a core design, like Google’s ever-changing six letters

From a history marketing perspective, I found it fascinating that Bierut considers religious symbols to be logos. When you think about it, religions do as much branding as any other organization. And here’s a good piece of corporate storytelling: Carolyn Davidson, who initially earned $30 for designing the Nike swoosh, was later compensated with stock options.

Nice work by Vox.com’s video producer Joe Posner.