Lets have a little fun today.
I’m going to show you five easily recognizable logos.
Look at each one and take a guess how much the business paid for them.
I realize it would be impossible to guess exactly what they cost, so just rank them one through five, from what you think were the highest to lowest price tags.
OK, ready?
I’ll show you the famous logos right after today’s top sponsor ad…
OK, here we go…
OK, so you recognize the brands.
Google, Twitter, Coca-Cola, Nike and Pepsi.
Take a minute and rank them…
- _____________
- _____________
- _____________
- _____________
- _____________
OK, let’s see how close you were. Coming it at most expensive logo is…
- Pepsi!
In 2008 Pepsi paid $1,000,000 for it’s new Pepsi Globe logo according this CBS News article. Yikes. That’s a lot of dough for a logo.
Did you guess Pepsi? I’m guessing you didn’t. I know I would have guessed one of those high market acp technology companies…
Let’s move onto number two.
The second most expensive logo from this list is… drumroll please…
2. Nike
The Nike logo was designed by a lady names Carolyn Davidson in 1975. Carolyn was a graphic design student at Portland State University. She came up with the Nike Swoosh, a check mark shape that is fluid and indicates movement and speed.
Did you know that Nike was the Greek goddess of victory? The image resembles a wing, and although Ms. Davidson was only paid $35 for the design, Nike reportedly gave her stock shares years later, which are now worth six figures.
That’s a nice payday for a logo.
OK, let’s move onto the third most expensive logo on our list…
3. Twitter
The twitter logo cost the company (get this) all of $15. Yep, that’s it!
It was originally designed by a fellow named Simon Oxley in 2009, and has recently been updated.
Simon was a British freelance graphic designer who was a prolific contributor to the iStockphoto site, which he joined because of a free promotional offer for purchasers of the Adobe Creative Suite.
4. Coca Cola
Way back in 1886 Coke’s bookkeeper, Frank Robinson, suggested that “the two Cs would look well in advertising”, and designed the now world famous Coca-Cola script logo.
He experimented the flowing elaborate script which was considered very “of the moment”, and to this day it remains one of the most recognizable trademarks in the world.
Total cost: $0.
Which leaves us one last logo, which I’m guessing many of you put first on your list….
5. Google
The original Google logo was designed in 1998 by Sergey Brin, one of Google’s founders. He reportedly designed the logo using the free graphic tool called Gimp. While the logo has been fine-tuned several times, the original concept is still intact.
As you can see from this little quiz, logo designs can cost as little as nothing, and as much as a million dollars.
Here are four lessons you can take from these logos…
1 – Your Logo Must be “Memorable”
When someone sees your Logo you want them to remember it, and for them to be able to easily distinguish YOU from the competition. A bland logo means you’ll blend into the crowd and become forgettable.
2 – Your Logo Must be “Descriptive”
You want your logo to be a visual description of what your business is all about or the message you want to convey about your services.
If you train dogs for a living then you will not want a little computer icon in your logo. You want something that when your audience sees it they will instantly recognize your business and what it is all about.
3 – Your Logo Must be “Professional”
This goes without saying but you’d be surprised how many businesses have really awful logo designs. Even though your logo is often the first thing potential customer see.
4 – You don’t have to pay a lot for a great logo.
As these examples show, you can make your own logo if you want and pay as little as $0. Or you can hire a logo designer and get a great logo for about $35.
Whether you want to design a logo for yourself or for others, here is a package of 800 logo templates you can use. They cover just about every niche imaginable. Who knows, maybe you can turn a few of those logos into something memorable…
