Which logo is the apple logo

Apple Logo Design – History, Meaning and Evolution

Logo is a graphic image used by commercial organizations to attract customers’ attention. Any company tries to create its unique sign, but, unfortunately, not all of them do it successfully. The famous half-eaten apple, logo of the world’s largest producer of computers, phones and software, is in the top 5 most recognizable emblems in the world. The history of Apple logo shows how many changes it has undergone.

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Apple Logo history

April 1, 1976, is the official date when Apple was established. There were three founders: Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne and Steve Wozniak. These three friends who managed to build a PC with MOS Technology 6502 processor and sell several prototypes got funding and registered their firm.

The first Apple logo was designed by Ronald Wayne in 1976.

In the beginning was Newton and apple

Ronald Wayne was the author of the new firm’s logo. He left the company after two weeks of its establishment selling his 10% stake for $800. Having decided that the friends’ venture was a failure he lost billions. If we assume that Apple stock price will triple, Wayne’s possible profit could reach $100 billion.

The logo designed by Ronald didn’t look like the world-famous Apple logo. The image that Wayne created was more of miniature artwork. It depicted Isaac Newton sitting under a giant tree with an apple falling down from it. As you zoom in, you can see a phrase on the edge “Newton… A Mind Forever Voyaging Through Strange Seas of Thought … Alone”. It’s a quote from The Prelude, a poem by William Wordsworth.

Apple Logo Evolution – How “half-eaten apple” logo was born

Apple logo has been altered twice over its history of the four decades and it was a significant design change – mostly in color.

Even though the emblem created by Ronald was unique and carried meaning, it wasn’t suitable for commercial purposes. The company used Wayne’s image as its logo for almost a year. Then Steve Jobs decided to use the services of a professional. The choice fell on Rob Janoff.

Jobs imposed the following requirements on the future company logo. It should be:

In a week the designer presented the finished project to the client: a multi-colored apple with a bite. In the process of developing the logo, Janoff bought apples in a nearby store, put them on a plate at home, and made multiple sketches trying to get rid of unnecessary details. He decided to design the apple with a bite for a scale so that people got that it was an apple, not another fruit or berry.

Rumors and speculations

Apple’s colored logo gave rise to rumors and speculations that the company supported members of sexual minorities. Generally supporting the LGBT community the firm didn’t intend to demonstrate it with the logo. If homosexuals chose the rainbow as their sign, it had nothing to do with the multi-colored Apple logo. Rob had created the icon long before these events.

Those who like discerning hidden meanings in everything claimed that the rainbow-striped apple is a tribute to an Englishman Alan Turing, famous mathematician and cryptologist.

Alan tried to fight fascism using his knowledge and skills, breaking the codes of secret organizations. When World War II was over Turing became involved in the research of artificial intelligence. But his scientific work didn’t save Alan from a criminal conviction for homosexuality. The scientist had to make a tough choice: two years in prison or hormone therapy. In addition to that Alan was prevented from doing cryptography. In the end, Turing adopted a very reclusive way of life. At the age of 41, he committed suicide by biting a poisoned apple.

The logo has been altered twice over its history of the four decades and it was a significant design change.

Apple Logo Meaning

The Apple logo designer invites not to look for hidden meanings in the logo color scheme. Rob claims that the logo he developed reflected the sphere of the company’s activities. Apple produced PC with color monitors, that is why the apple was colored. A display of that time could generate six colors. The comparison of the apple logo and rainbow is irrelevant as the rainbow consists of seven colors, not six. Green was the main color for Janoff, he meant it to be in the first place. The arrangement of the other colors was random.

The apple symbol, the Apple company logo has a deep meaning – symbolizes knowledge. This symbol is one of the oldest and most important in Western mythology. In the Bible, Adam and Eve were tempted and took a bite of an apple it was their first taste of knowledge. After that they were ashamed. And as a result this first taste represents the fall of man.

From colored to monochrome

The colored apple attracted customers to Apple products for 22 years. The company underwent a series of changes during that time.

Problems began in the 1980s. First, the failure of the Apple III project, then the plane crash in which Wozniak was injured. Having hard times leading the company all by himself Jobs asked John Sculley to join. But there were more and more frictions between the two CEOs. Steve was extremely anxious about the problems with the firm. Although in 1985 Jobs and Wozniak got medals for the contribution to technological progress, Steve decided to leave the company. Which he did in the same 1985. He came back only 13 years later. At that time the company was in a miserable state. Financial problems were so serious that competitors repeatedly advised it to declare bankruptcy.

Only a miracle could save the company. The design of the iMac G3 was a miracle. Johnathan Ive was the author of this design. The computer case he created made personal computers look like lollipops. With this invention, the industrial designer saved the firm from financial ruin. A series of new all-in-one personal computers formed the basis for developing a consumer desktop line. This compact desktop computer had all the necessary specifications for uninterrupted work. The iMac featured a web-camera and the option of wireless networking. In order to use it one needed to connect the keyboard and mouse included in the basic package. The computer came with remote control for operating multimedia files.

The new computer was more and more popular among users. Unusually designed PCs became an integral attribute of characters in movies and TV shows. iMac 3 that combined a beautiful design and technical capacity became worldly known. The amount of attention the new product attracted made the company managers decide to replace the colored logo that looked odd on the colored computer. In 1998 the decision was made to use the monochrome version of the apple instead of the multi-colored one. This change adds originality to the Apple logo.

What does the monochrome apple tell us? The evolution of the Apple logo shows that the company has matured. It went through hard times and managed to move on. Apple continues to develop and make its fans happy by creating new products.

Appreciation for the logo’s success

It is worth mentioning that Apple didn’t really recognize Rob Janoff’s contribution. Thanks to his job Apple products are recognized all over the world. But Jobs forgot the person who created the ‘face’ of his baby. Having a huge annual income he could distinguish the designer in the same way as, for example, Phillip Knight, the founder of Nike, did. The firm thanked its logo designer by making her a shareholder and giving her a diamond ring.

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Apple Logo And the History Behind The Company

This is a look at the Apple Logo & some history behind the business.

Let’s take a quick test. What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘Banana?’ And what comes to mind when you hear the word ‘Apple?’ Most likely, you just saw the Apple Logo in your head.

Though these two words are fruits, you will quickly associate the first word–Banana with fruit while having two distinctive images in mind concerning the second word–Apple, which could either mean the fruit or the company.

In this digital era, the word–Apple is more likely to be associated with the company than the fruit. You may wonder what accounted for this dilemma! Well, it’s the power of effective branding and communication.

While a college education remains and will continue to be the best choice for most youths, only a handful of children have the tenacity to trade it for their passions. One such kid was Steve Jobs, the soul, and the heart of Apple Inc. Welcome to the history class of Apple, the world’s first trillion-dollar company.

The History of Apple

Steve Jobs was born on February 24, 1955, to John Jandali and Joanne Carole Schieble in San Francisco, California. Paul and Clara Jobs adopted and raised him as their own. He dropped out of Reed College in Portland, Oregon, with the excuse of not wanting to waste his parents’ money on an education that seemed meaningless.

In 1974, Atari Corporation hired him as a Video Game Designer. He worked hard to save money for one of his adventures–a religious trip to India to experience Buddhism. Back in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, he met with his former high school mate, Steve Wozniak, who was working for Hewlett Packard Company and developing his logic board.

Steve Jobs took delight in his friend’s innovation, the Apple I, and together with Ronald Wayne, the three men co-founded Apple Computer Inc. in 1976 after Hewlett Packard officially rejected Wozniak’s design. Their first office was a garage at Jobs’ house.

Ronald Wayne, who hand-sketched the first Apple logo, left the company shortly before its registration. He took with him a cheque of $800, which could have earned him about $72 billion today.

Apple I, the first product for the company, was a motherboard with only a processor and memory. Customers who buy it had to get their case, monitor, and keyboard. It sold for $666.66, a recurring figure that delights Steve Wozniak–fascinating!

The primary reason Steve Jobs brought in Ronald Wayne was for him to handle the business side of the company. So, his departure compelled him to take charge of the business functions. He worked hard to persuade potential investors to invest in their personal computer, a product he envisioned will revolutionize the technology industry. Fortunately, he could get the attention of Mike Markkula, an Angel Investor, to contribute $250,000.

The funding and mentorship of Mike Markkula led to the official registration of the company in January 1977. Mike, holding one-third share of the company and working as the third employee, brought in Michael Scot to become the first Chief Executive Officer. He reasoned that Steve Jobs was too young to serve as CEO.

In the same year, Apple stormed the world with its second product, the Apple II, which comes with VisiCalc–the world’s first spreadsheet and calculating software. The software shot Apple ahead of the market leaders, Tandy, and Commodore. With VisiCalc, Apple became a force to reckon with in the technology industry and started selling to businesses.

The garage office gave way to an entirely new office in 1978 with the Apple II production line and many employees. Xerox PARC, in 1979, granted access to their campus to Apple engineers for three days with the condition to buy 100,000 shares of Apple for $10 per share.

In 1980, the company faced fierce competition from the likes of IBN and Microsoft. To compete effectively, Apple introduced the Apple III. Sadly, it failed to live up to expectations because of a design flaw.

Steve Jobs’s visit to Xerox PARC labs inspired him to start the development of a Graphic User Interface (GUI) for the company’s next computer, the Apple Lisa. Sadly enough, the board removed him from the Lisa team because of internal misunderstanding. So, he joined the other team that was working on the Macintosh project.

Apple laid the golden egg on December 12, 1980, when the company went public. The Initial Public Offering (IPO) generated $217 million for Steve Jobs and made 300 other millionaires. A report by EDN Network revealed that the company’s $4.6 million shares were sold out immediately and generated more capital than other Initial Public Offering (IPO) since the Ford Motor Company in 1956.

In 1983, the company released Apple Lisa into the market, but just like its predecessor, the Apple III, it failed to live up to expectations. This time not because of the design flaw, but its high price and limited support. The same year, when Mike Markkula was about to retire, Steve Jobs poached John Sculley from Pepsi to be the new Chief Executive Officer.

But the new CEO and Steve Jobs did not fit well in the same boat, so Steve Jobs executed his hidden motive. In 1985, Steve Jobs attempted to get rid of the new CEO, but his action backfired and the board side with John Sculley to remove him from his duties. He left to start another company called NeXT. His bosom friend, Steve Wozniak, also left the company around the same year.

Let’s leapfrog to the event that brought the Apple Emperor back to post. In 1993, the Apple Board fired John Sculley for an unsuccessful production line. Immediately, Michael Spindler took over, but he made the same mistakes as his predecessor. So, the board axed him from the position in 1996, and Gil Amelio took over as the new CEO.

Gil Amelio made a lot of changes, including reducing the workforce and cutting down expenses. Under his watch, the company’s stock continued to trend downwards. This unfortunate event compelled him to buy NeXT, Steve Jobs’s second company, for $429 million. This business deal brought Steve Jobs back to Apple in February 1997.

Five months into his reunion with the company, the board made him the interim CEO, and Gil Amelio resigned a week later. From this moment to his death in October 2011, he led a transformative team that built the Apple legacy that has become one of the world’s wonders.

His second spell at the company brought to the world some innovative products: iMac, iMovie, iPod, iDVD, iTunes, MacBook Pro, iPhone, and Apple Store. Though he’s gone, his legacy continues.

Apple’s Logo Evolution

In 1981, at a press conference, a journalist asked Steve Jobs why he chose the name Apple. He answered, ‘I love apples and like to eat them.’ With this revelation from the famous business icon, it’s no surprise he channeled all his energy and resources to ensure its success.

The Apple logo has undergone two significant designs, and minor color transitions over the four decades it has existed. Stay with me as I walk you through its logo evolution. Ronald Wayne designed the first logo in 1976.

The event that led Isaac Newton to discover the law of gravity inspired him. Thus, an apple falling on his head. This logo had an apple hanging above the head of Isaac Newton, and with an inscription that read, ‘Newton… A mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought alone.’

In the same year, the company changed its logo. Steve Jobs wasn’t happy with it. He thought Newton’s version was complicated, outdated, and not representing the philosophy of the company. He wanted something simple, modern, and which blends the name and logo.

He got precisely the emblem he wanted after engaging the services of Job Janoff, a corporate logo designer from Regis McKenna, in 1977. He designed the iconic logo–the Bitten Apple, which today is one of the recognizable symbols in history. This version of the logo had the rainbow colors on it, and the company used it from 1977 to 1998.

Other versions are the translucent (1998), Monochrome (1998 – 2000), Aqua (2001 – 2007), and the chrome (Current).

Apple’s Logo Element of Design

Meaning, they say, is in people. The Apple logo is shrewd in mystery, and till the founders come to explain the intentions behind it, any explanation will remain guesswork.

Apple used the famous rainbow spectrum on its second, accepted, and renowned logo. A careful study shows the logo doesn’t follow the natural orders of the rainbow colors–red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. This usual shift attests to the company’s vision to dare to be different, and that’s what it represents in the industry.

As noted earlier, Apple was the first company to bring a color display computer to the world, the Apple II. Some people think that to honor and celebrate this milestone in the company’s history, the company adopted the rainbow spectrum.

The shape of the logo is another wonder. Though it’s the apple fruit, the meaning is profound. To explain, some people have linked it to the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve took a bite of the forbidden fruit – a thirst for knowledge. Therefore, using Apple’s product will improve your experience and set you free from ignorance.

Also, there’s the bitten part of the logo. Here, there are two schools of thought. According to the designer, Rob Janoff, it should differentiate it from cherry tomato and other objects of a close resemblance.

But, Rob’s creative director, Mr. Chip, had a different opinion. To him, the bite stands for byte–a computer term that references the industry the company is. This statement is also a good fit, but not the position of the company.

‘One of the deep mysteries to me is our logo, the symbol of lust and knowledge, bitten into, all crossed with the colors of the rainbow in the wrong order. You couldn’t dream a more appropriate logo: lust, knowledge, hope, and anarchy.’

The above quote was the opinion of Jean-Louis Gassée, Apple’s former executive.

The Popularity of Apple’s Logo

Mystery drives curiosity. The lesser people know about an object, the more they crave to find out more. Apple, from its inception, has used puzzles to attract loyal clients. Steve Jobs and his Co-founders have said little about their famous logo, leaving room for speculations.

Today, Apple is the strongest brand in the world. The only company in the world to have achieved a market cap of $1.2 trillion. Interbrand, a brand consultancy firm, revealed. Thanks to their powerful logo, innovation, and marketing drive.

In 1984, Apple’s Superbowl Campaign took the world by storm. Many still regard it as the most successful Superbowl campaign that disrupted the tech industry and position Apple in the minds of people as a tech giant.

Another marketing drive that intensified their brand popularity was the ‘Think Different Campaign,’ in 1997. It won many hearts.

The Bitten Apple Logo is everywhere. It has become synonymous with style, luxury, wealth, reliability, innovation, and power. It has become highly recognizable that it represents the company without its name, Apple Inc.

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