05. Apple
Apple's initial logo was a drawing of Isaac Newton by Ron Wayne in 1976. Steve Jobs knew it would never work as a brand and commissioned a new mark the following year. Since then, the apple's shape has remained the same, aside from some geometric tweaks for the 1998 refresh, and the move from coloured stripes to a solid silhouette. Rob Janoff's logo has remained an important element in Apple's global success story since its inception.
In pictures – how the Apple logo developed:
We spoke to graphic designer Rob Janoff, (opens in new tab) the man handed the job of designing a logo for a company called Apple Computer...
What was your original brief and what did Apple want the logo to convey?
"I didn't have much of a brief, when I think about it. It was a few words from Steve Jobs, which were, 'Don't make it cute.' I think he was referring mostly to the typography."
"Don't make it cute"
Steve Jobs
How did you come up with the idea of an apple with a bite taken out of it?
"When you take a bite out of an apple, it stays sort of bite-shaped, it doesn't collapse as a peach would. It was to make it look more like an apple, and to give it scale – because people's mouths are a certain size and an apple is a certain size, and the bite would be a size relater."
How many versions did you present?
"I've never done this before or ever again, but I was just so sure about this design that there was just one version. However we did have a back pocket one, which was the apple without the bite in it, in case they thought it was a bit too cute. That never got shown."
For more about the Apple logo, including how much it cost to digitise, check out our interview with Janoff.
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