Hidden messages in company logos you see all the time

As consumers, we see company logos daily. If you stop at 7-Eleven, you see its logo as soon as you pull in. If you make a pit stop at Starbucks for coffee, you’ll carry its logo on your coffee cup. Logos are everywhere, but have you ever stopped and really looked at them? There’s more to them than meets the eye.

Turns out, many companies have hidden messages in their logos. Companies like Starbucks, Amazon, and even Goodwill strategically designed their logos to convey subtle messages about things like company values and products. Logos can also try to subconsciously influence buying behaviour, which partially explains why so many logos are red. Let’s look at the hidden messages in logos you see all the time, and why they’re there in the first place.

Baskin Robbins is known for its ice cream, but did you know there’s a hidden message in the logo? Look closely and you’ll see the number 31 in the initials, as in the number of flavours the company began offering in 1953. Why 31? One flavour for every day of the month, so you can try something new every day. Yum!

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Amazon is a staple in many online shoppers’ lives, but have you ever wondered what that little arrow at the bottom of the logo means? It’s not just a fun design element – the arrow broadcasts the wide variety of stuff (from A to Z) sold on Amazon.

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The FedEx logo looks pretty normal at first glance, so it’s easy to miss the hidden message. Look at the space between the E and the x – it’s an arrow pointing forward, perhaps to suggest speedy and accurate delivery.

Why does the tech giant’s iconic logo have a bite mark on it? Turns out, the reason is pretty practical. The designer made the bite mark for scale, so that a smaller logo would still look like an apple and not a cherry.

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If you’ve snagged this delicious Swiss chocolate bar in your day, you’ve seen the mountain on its logo. But wait, what’s that on the left side of the mountain? Turns out, it’s a bear. The bear is the official symbol of the Swiss town of Bern, the original home of Toblerone.

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The sideways E in the Dell logo is more than just a creative way to set it apart from other logos. Michael Dell announced that the goal of his company was to “turn the world on its ear.” So it’s been said he started with an E.

Wikipedia is a massive source of information, and there’s a reason their puzzling logo isn’t totally complete. The unfinished globe, made of puzzle pieces with characters from various languages, represents the “incomplete nature” of the company’s mission to be the go-to information portal – and the fact that a site built on user submissions can never be complete.

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The hidden message in this logo is very clever from a marketing and branding perspective. If you turn the logo around, the word “Sun” is always there.

You may have thought the dot over the “i” was used to give the logo a pop of colour, but it’s actually part of a hidden – and creative – message. The dot over the i is actually a bowl of salsa. The two t’s are people, and the yellow triangle in between them is a chip. It’s supposed to represent people coming together to share a tasty snack of chips and salsa.