Did you know the hidden meanings behind these companies’ logos? Here are ten familiar companies’ brand logos that carry a hidden meaning nestled in their intelligent design

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Every company has a story behind its origin. Coca-Cola was a result of an experiment to find an alternative to morphine by one John Pemberton. The man behind Boeing, William E. Boeing, broke his own plane and struck upon the idea to make his own, only better. Creativity finds its place through many means and mostly through intelligent design. Logos are one such medium that convey illuminating meanings and messages reflecting the company’s values, origins or stories behind their beginnings. Here we list ten such familiar companies’ brand logos that carry a hidden meaning nestled in their intelligent design.

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Amazon.com | The US-based e-commerce and cloud computing firm wanted to depict ‘the ultimate expression of customer satisfaction: a smile. Hence, the curve below ‘Amazon’ in the logo stands for that. But it doesn’t end here. The smile begins under ‘a’ and ends under ‘z’. As per Amazon’s press release, this emphasizes that Amazon.com offers anything – from A to Z – that customers may be looking to buy online.

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Cisco Systems | As per John Morgridge, Former CEO of Cisco Systems, finding a logo for the company literally involved taking drive in the sunshine for the companies’ founders. While driving to Sacramento to complete registration formalities for the company, the founders saw the Golden Gate Bridge framed in the sunlight. The pipes above the ‘Cisco’ name denote the Golden Gate Bridge and that’s how they decided on the logo. Further, Morgridge says, bosses hoped the logo would shape the future, “convey something about creating an authentic life and making a living at something you believe in, in a place you love, with people you really like to be with”.

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Google | The search giant went through a lot of iterations before arriving at what it is right now – a colour assortment of its names’ alphabets. However, there is one crucial detail that not many are aware. All the letters in Google’s logo are in primary colours except the letter L. Why so? Ruth Kedar, the designer of Google’s logo, said in an interview that the letter L, in Google is in a secondary colour unlike all other letters in the logo. This represents that idea that Google doesn’t follow the rules.

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Mercedes Benz | The iconic tristar on Mercedes Benz cars has its origins in the imagination of Gottlieb Daimler, the founder of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG). As per a story, Daimler drew a tristar on the top of a letter he wrote to his sons. The three stars represent three types of mobility on land, air and sea. DMG trademarked the three and four-pointed stars and later when Daimler merged with Benz & Cie in 1926, the tristar logo went on become one of the most recognised logos around the world.

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Domino’s Pizza | In an interview, Tom Monaghan, the founder of Domino’s Pizza explained how easily he struck upon the name of the brand. During the 60s, while he was searching for a name for his pizza venture- that’s also when he had acquired just three outlets– an employee returned after delivering a pizza and said - I’ve got our name! Domino’s! As Monaghan had only three outlets at that time he decided that he could use a Domino as the logo with three dots on it. He planned to increase the number of dots on the logo whenever they added a new store – also explaining how he’d never thought that it will go on to become a global fast food chain.

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Audi | German luxury automobile manufacturer Audi has a rather melancholy tale that explains the meaning of its logo. Audi was founded by August Horch in 1909, who also founded the company Horch in 1899. The four-rings in its logo represent Germany’s four oldest carmakers, namely, Audi, Horch, DKW and Wanderer, that had to band together to make Audi as we know it.

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Adidas | Adidas’ logo has had many iterations since the company came into being. Its logo has been changed twice in the past but the three stripes have been carried always. The one it currently has, three stripes above the brand name, carries a special meaning. The new logo is designed to look like a mountain. Denoting a challenge in itself – as climbing a mountain is – to push people to explore their limits.

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Dell | Everything in Dell’s logo is fine except a slanted E. The reason behind this, as per Siegel+Gale - the agency who designed this logo – is, that it ‘embodies the company’s brash humour and aggressiveness’. And the tilted ‘E’ enlivens the logo and it captures the irrepressible spirit of the company that ‘stood the PC industry on its ear.’

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Baskin Robbins | Owned by the company Dunkin Brands, Baskin Robbins’ logo has an interesting meaning. The ice cream giant is known for its 31 flavours that it offers. The number 31 can be seen in pink colour in the large B and R alphabets written above the name Baskin Robbins in the logo. As per Baskin Robbins’ VP of marketing, Carol Austin, ‘The 31 stands for our belief that our guests should have the opportunity to explore a fun, new ice cream flavor every day of the month’.