Logos: First Impressions Count Quiz

Answer: Harp

The Celtic harp has historically been used to represent Ireland. It is said that the harp represents the immortality of the soul.

The Guinness family adopted the harp symbol as a trademark for their brewery. The harp instrument has been synonymous with Guinness since 1862 when it was used as symbol on the first bottle label for Guinness. It was registered as a Guinness company trademark in 1876.

The harp that served as a model for this logo was the 14th-century Irish harp, known as "O'Neill" or "Brian Boru" harp, which is housed in the Library of Trinity College Dublin.

Answer: Mermaid

The first Starbucks store opened in 1971 in Seattle. Its logo was developed by Terry Heckler who was inspired by ancient navigation books, where he chose a figure found in 16th century Nordic ship inscriptions. The first logo, which was brown in color to resemble coffee, consisted of a mermaid with two tails, with breasts showing, long hair and a crown; the figure was surrounded by a ring on which "Starbucks Coffee, Tea and Spice" was written.

Over the years, the logo has undergone many changes. It changed from brown to green, the mermaid's long hair covered her breasts and there was a reduction in the number of words. In 2011, to celebrate the company's 40 years of existence, the logo was redefined; it has practically become a medallion where only the green mermaid is present, with her two tails, the crown and the long hair covering her breasts.

Answer: Bear

Toblerone is a chocolate bar, produced in the city of Bern, Switzerland, located near the Matterhorn, a peak in the Alps. Toblerone was created in 1908 by the Swiss Theodor Tobler and Emil Baumann who owned the former Tobler AG Chocolate factory, currently part of Mondalēz International, Inc.

Toblerone is a combination of the name of its creator "Tobler" with the Italian word "torrone", for a type of nougat and at the same time contains the letters that form the name of the city where it is manufactured. On the package we can see the name of the product and the design of a mountain, inspired by the Matterhorn. When we look closely at the design of the mountain we can see that there is an outline of a white bear, rearing up on its hind legs, which takes up half of the mountain. The bear is a symbol of the city of Bern.

Answer: Swan

Swarovski is an iconic brand of the family business, founded in 1895 by Daniel Swarovski, based in Wattens, Austria. The company has three branches of activity, the most well-known being the Crystal Business, which produces crystals, jewellery and cutting-edge accessories. When creating the company, the idea was to create "a diamond for everyone", making the crystals attractive and accessible.

In 1899, the edelweiss flower was chosen as the first symbol of the company. This flower represents purity, the Alps and Austria. From 1976 to 1988 the SC block logo was used, and then from 1988 the company adopted the swan logo.
The swan has long been associated with royalty, and the Austrian crystal manufacturer's logo uses the bird as a symbol of sophistication, elegance and class. The logo consists of the word mark and a swan emblem above it.

Answer: Jousting Knights

Faber-Castell was founded in 1761 by Kasper Faber, under the name "AW Faber Bleystiftwerke", in Stein near Nuremberg, Germany. Over the years and through many weddings the Faber family joined the Castell family, forming in 1900 the new Faber-Castell company.

When the company stopped being AW Faber and became Faber-Castell, a new logo was created that combined the new name, Faber-Castell, the Faber motto "Since 1761", with the "jousting knights" of the Castell's coat of arms. The logo therefore gives an idea of the company's long history and brings out the sense of chivalry.

Faber-Castell is the world's oldest pencil manufacturer. It is known for the high quality of its products for writing, drawing and decoration, as well as other office supplies such as erasers, slide rulers, etc. Headquartered in Stein, Germany, the company operates factories and sales units worldwide. Its annual production is about 2 billion wooden-cased pencils.

Answer: Yellow Arrow

Amazon is an American company organized by Jeff Bezzos in 1994, under the name of Cadabra. The company was renamed to "Amazon" in the same year. The initial logo had a black "A" with a smooth white line, imitating the Amazon River and under this emblem the company name "Amazon.com" appeared in lower case.

Several logos were used until reaching the one adopted in 2000, in which the word mark "Amazon.com" appeared, which later became only "Amazon", in black lower case letters. Under the letters, there I s a smooth and bold yellow arrow. The arrow points from A to Z, the first and last letter of the alphabet, indicating that the company intends to sell all types of products. The yellow arrow imitates a smile, which means customer satisfaction and the black color expresses elegance and excellence.

Answer: Nest with 3 Birds

Heinrich Nestle (1814-1890) was a German-Swiss, who was trained as a pharmacist and, at the age of 20, moved to Switzerland where he started to manufacture nut oils and carbonated mineral water. After years of experiments, Nestlé, concerned with the high infant mortality rate, combined cow's milk with grains and sugar, and in 1867 launched "children flour", a substitute for breast milk. He developed other products, including condensed milk, that allowed chocolatier Daniel Peter to formulate milk chocolate. This partnership resulted in the creation of the Nestlé Company in 1879.

The company's logo has undergone several redesigns over the years. However, the main symbol remains the same: a nest with chicks being fed. The logo is based on the surname of the company's founder, Heinrich Nestle, which translates from German as "The Nest". Over the years, the number of chicks in the nest has changed. There was also a redefinition of the graphics and the text, including the name of the company. The original logo was white and brown and the most modern one uses a gray-and-white or a black-and-white color scheme.

Answer: Peacock

The National Broadcasting Company (NBC), which was founded in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America, is an American English language commercial terrestrial radio and television network. NBC is sometimes called the "Peacock Network", referring to the peacock logo, created in 1956 to promote the first color TV broadcasts.

In 1979 the peacock became the network's official emblem. For many years the NBC wordmark was part of the logo, with profound changes in the typeface. The logo that represents a peacock includes the colors green, blue, purple, yellow, orange and red.

Answer: Swoosh

Nike is an American company dedicated to the development, manufacture and marketing of clothing, footwear, equipment and other sporting goods. Blue Ribbon Sports was founded in 1964 and in 1971 officially became known as Nike, Inc. The name came from Nike, the Greek goddess of victory.

In 1971, Carolyn Davidson, a design student, received an invitation from one of the company's founders, Phil Knight, to design the logo that represented movement and dynamics. She created the "swoosh". This word according to the Cambridge English Dictionary means "to make the sound of air or water that is moving quickly".

Over time the company has made various minor changes to the swoosh symbol. It sometimes includes the name of the company.

Answer: Incomplete Globe

Wikipedia is an online and free encyclopaedia which explains countless subjects in many languages. The Wikipedia logo, since 2003, is an incomplete globe built with pieces of a jigsaw, with some pieces missing at the top. Initially, there were multilingual texts inscribed on each piece, which are replaced with glyphs and today there are among the pieces. Below the globe is the "Wikipedia" mark and underlining the emblem is the slogan "The Free Encyclopaedia".

It is an emblematic logo. The glyphs symbolize the multilingualism of the site. The globe represents the idea of covering all knowledge and the missing pieces reflect the impossibility of knowing all there is to be known.