![]() In this version, the word Nike, in Futura Condensed Extra Bold, was placed above the swoosh. It wasn’t until 1978, two years after Nike hired its first ad agency, John Brown and Partners, that the logo started to gain some coherence. In its first iteration, which now looks rather ungainly, the word Nike – in a lower-case, white, italic font – was superimposed along the length of a white "tick". But although it has been around as long as the company, its use has evolved considerably. The swoosh was first used by Nike on 18 June 1971 and registered as a trademark in January 1974. After settling on the swoosh, Knight declared: "I don’t love it, but it will probably grow on me." In fact, it came down to choosing the option that was, as Knight put it, "the least awful". He asked her to design a shoe stripe, with the brief to "make the stripe supportive of the shoe". Two years later, Knight needed to differentiate a new batch of shoes and turned to Davidson for help. Knight offered her some work at $2 per hour, designing charts and graphics for his company. While lecturing at Portland State University, Knight overheard graphic design student Carolyn Davidson tell a friend that she couldn’t afford to take a class in oil painting. Back in 1969, future Nike chief executive Phil Knight was working for an accountancy firm in Portland, Oregon.Īs a business sideline he was importing Japanese running shoes and selling them for the company he’d co-founded with his former athletics coach, Bill Bowerman – Blue Ribbon Sports. Quite an achievement for what could just be seen as a simple tick. The Nike "swoosh" has become instantly recognisable across the globe and carries with it all the brand’s positive, life-affirming symbolism, as well as an acknowledgement of the Greek mythological roots of the Nike name. In all that time, however, it has used only one logo. Nike has used many memorable copy lines over the course of its history, most famously "Just do it", but also "There is no finish line" and "Yesterday you said tomorrow". ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |