Favourite long-running logos/emblems?

[Lencoboy]

Does anyone have a favourite corporate logo and/emblem that has stood the test of time?

Three of mine that currently spring to mine (in no particular order) are;

1. The Adidas wordmark in the all-lowercase font (stylised as 'adidas').

Its older accompanying 'trefoil' emblem also looks pretty cool, but the current emblem that replaced it isn't bad either.

2. The Hoover 'roundel' with the large capital 'H' at the start of the wordmark.

Although I love it now and think it's a great time-honoured emblem, it often struck terror into me as a little kid, obviously being a byword for loud vacuum cleaners (also including those from other brands).

3. The Philips 'shield' emblem.

Another timeless legend, evoking strong memories of a colour TV set my parents rented in the early 80s (first acquired circa late 1981) that was made by said brand, and had said 'shield' emblem on the front panel.

I still vividly remember the smell of it as soon as it was unboxed and installed by the technician from the rental organisation (part of the electrical dept of our local Co-op department store). We also rented a top-loading Sony Betamax VCR from them at the same time, which IIRC was rather temperamental. I think its model number was SL-C7UB.

[NoraB]

Marshall. (Amplification)

Founded in 62 and still going strong.

[Lencoboy]

Marshall. (Amplification)

Founded in 62 and still going strong.

Definitely iconic.

I also like the original Aiwa logo (stylised as AIWA), as my dad's first Walkman-style portable cassette machine was by them (model number TP-S30), that he bought in the very early 80s soon after it first came out.

I can also remember the smell of that vividly, especially coming from inside the cassette drive when the door/lid was open. Lovely!

It used to record as well as play back cassettes (rare on most Walkman-style machines), it was very flexible in terms of facilities/capabilities, such as having separate left and right input jacks that could be switched between line and mic level, the sound automatically switching to both channels in mono when a lead is inserted into just the left input jack, or alternatively, when a lead is plugged into the right input jack it recorded just the sound from that on the right channel and the live 'ambient' sound from the unit's built-in condenser mic onto the left channel. Of course with nothing plugged into either input jack the machine simply recorded the sounds from the built-in mic (on both channels) by default.

Even though cassette tapes and machines are yesterday's technology (and mostly crap by today's standards), I still wish we had that particular machine purely for the 'nostalgia' factor, plus it would no doubt be worth an absolute fortune nowadays, even more so if it's an extremely scarce NOS item.

Nonetheless, I have no desire to return to VHS or Betamax video tapes for normal day-to-day use in a hurry.

[Carnation]

The Fred Perry emblem and The Mini car.

[Lencoboy]

The Fred Perry emblem and The Mini car.

The Mini logo is definitely a good 'un.

[NoraB]

I can also remember the smell of that vividly, especially coming from inside the cassette drive when the door/lid was open. Lovely!

Same.

[Lencoboy]

Same.

That smell was a combo of metal and grease. None of that plastic crap back then that had eventually become the norm on such devices by the end of the 80s.

Also the Aiwa brand never felt the same for me again when they changed the logo to the all-lowercase font (stylised as 'aiwa') in around 1992 or so.

I was also disappointed when B&Q changed their long-running red 'roundel' logo (circa 1993) to a boring 'straight' logo, though they've still managed to outlast almost all of their closest likewise competitors over the years, so they must have been doing something right in order to achieve that, while many of their former rivals (e.g, Texas Homecare, Do It All, etc) ended up going the way of the dodo!

[NoraB]

That smell was a combo of metal and grease. None of that plastic crap back then that had eventually become the norm on such devices by the end of the 80s.

I am partial to the smell of oil - engine oil in particular.

I was also disappointed when B&Q changed their long-running red 'roundel' logo (circa 1993) to a boring 'straight' logo, though they've still managed to outlast almost all of their closest likewise competitors over the years, so they must have been doing something right in order to achieve that, while many of their former rivals (e.g, Texas Homecare, Do It All, etc) ended up going the way of the dodo!

Co-op changed there's for a while then went back to the original - which I was pleased about. If something works, why change it?

Also. 'Texas'..

I did the literal thing when my dad told me he was taking me to Texas one Saturday. (I was expecting cowboys and cactuses, not cement and drill bits).

[Lencoboy]

I am partial to the smell of oil - engine oil in particular.



Co-op changed there's for a while then went back to the original - which I was pleased about. If something works, why change it?

Also. 'Texas'..

I did the literal thing when my dad told me he was taking me to Texas one Saturday. (I was expecting cowboys and cactuses, not cement and drill bits).

Yes it was in 2016 that the Co-op revived their classic 70s-80s era 'blue box' logo (with the letters 'co' stacked on top of the letters 'op' underneath, and in a slightly squared font in white lettering). They also seem to have another coexisting logo stylised as 'coop' (in a bit of a 'joined/squashed-up' font), of which I can take or leave.

You made me laugh about when your dad told you he was taking you to Texas (Homecare), and you immediately thought of cowboys and cactuses rather than the DIY items your dad was actually purchasing from there. God, us Auties often don't half take many things literally (for better or worse), but I don't so much now I'm older and generally wiser.

It would really make me laugh (in the nicest and least patronising manner) if, for example, a little kid (Autie or not) was told by his/her parents that they were going out to do a car boot sale and the kid grabbed loads of little toy cars and footwear to take to sell, assuming that those items were literally intended to be sold, and unable to comprehend the concept of 'car boot sale' meaning selling virtually anything from the boot of one's own car with it wide open.

In fact, I'm sure there is actually an episode of 'The Sooty Show' from around the early 90s era where they were about to go and do a car boot sale and Sweep gathered a load of toy cars and various footwear beforehand to take to sell in it, being unable to comprehend the disambiguation!

However, I digress.

[WiredIncorrectly]

I started learning embroidery, and since then I've taken a liking to emblems and patches and can appreciate the work that goes into them.

I've always loved the US sports emblems. NBA has some awesome ones.