How Tech Logos Tell a Company's Story

Anywhere you look you're bound to see pretty logos vying for your attention in a sea of products. We live in a world where image and branding does matter to a consumer, and sometimes the logo alone will draw someone to a product from across the room.

In the world of technology, we're all too familiar with the iconic bitten apple on computers or the colorful search engine logos that eventually become a fixture on our desktops. However, NeatoRama reminds us that most of these logos didn't start out looking so hot.

For example, the first Apple logo was designed in 1976 by Ronald Wayne (one of the original Apple founders) depicting a lonely Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree. An inscription even followed: "Newton … A Mind Forever Voyaging Through Strange Seas of Thought … Alone." Imagine how that would look on the back of a MacBook Air!

Steve Jobs joined Apple later that year and commissioned Rob Janoff to design a second logo because the original one was too complex and wasn't selling any machines. The result was a rainbow-stripped logo that pretty much stuck with the company from 1976 to 1998. Amazing!

NeatoRama's "Evolution of Tech Companies' Logos" has other great tidbits like how Google's first doodle was a reference to the Burning Man Festival in 1999, or that Canon was originally named Kwanon after the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy. It's an interesting read, and it has plenty of logos that have evolved nicely over the years. Check it out.

Who can list the names of the companies these logos (pictured above) belong to? (Hint: Some of the companies are mentioned in the article)