Monday, June 6, 2011

Hidden Messages In 20 Well-Known Logos

I've talked a lot about your logo & how you can gain company recognition by putting it on promotional imprinted products & then distributing the items to your clients & prospective customers.  This is one of the best ways to attain logo identity.  You may not get the notoriety that Toyota, Apple or McDonalds has; but if you continually circulate your customized promotional items, you will be recognized by your targeted audience.

Did you know that many companies have objects & symbols hidden inside their logos or incorporate their logos to be a part of a hidden message?  Below are 20 logos hiding a subliminal message.  How many can you depict just by looking at the logo?

Some of the trade marks will be easy to recognize, though the subliminal message may not be as obvious to you.  It doesn't matter if you've seen the logo before or not........just for fun, try to find what the hidden meaning is in each one. The answers are at the bottom of this post, but don't scroll down until you've looked at each one carefully to see how clever you are at discovering the subliminal message.

Hanuet Wine
Bison

FedEx

NBC

Portrait Photos Studio

amazon.com

Raven Financial

Sun Microsoft
Goodwill Industries
Skittles Candy
Wisdom Spa

Toblerone Chocolate
Tostitos

8 Fish Sushi Restaurant


 Eight
Baskin Robbins Ice Cream


This was just for fun. I'm not suggesting you do this to your logo.  The important thing is that you keep it simple & it's easy to be recognized--especially when used in advertising & imprinted on promotional custom products.

Here are the answers:

1. Hanuet Wine:  two wine glasses in the H
2. Bison: the word shapes a buffalo & was designed for a rock band from Vancouver, Canada
3. FedEx:  space between the E & the X forms an arrow pointing right, meaning moving forward & it depicts speed for which the company is known for
4. NBC: showing the peacock looking to the right, again symbolizing looking forward--not back
5. Portrait Photos: the negative space under the camera & the lens forms a person
6. Amazon.com:  the arrow is in the shape of a smile & goes from A to Z, depicting a happy customer & that they're a company that will sell anything from a to z.
7. Raven: (a Dutch financial company) the negative space between the 3 ravens forms a 4th raven
8. Sun Microsoft:  4 interwoven copies of the word sun that can be read from any direction
9. Goodwill Industries:  the letter "g" is also a smiling face
10. Skittles: look at how their token red Skittle is placed on the package & the prominent "X"
11. Body Wisdom:  (high end day spa) the hands convey a relaxing massage while forming an owl's head meaning wisdom
12. Toblerone Chocolate:  from Bern, Switzerland. Bern means City Of Bears & a bear is incorporated into the Swiss Alps
13. Tostitos: the T's form two people eating a chip over a bowl of salsa--the I--& gives the idea of connecting, having fun & being social.
14. Piano Forest:  piano keys on a keyboard shaped like trees
15. Yoga Australia: (my favorite) look close & you'll see the body posture creates the map of the country, Australia
16. 8 Fish: how many fish do you see--4 or 8?
17. Treacy Shoes: there's a shoe in the negative space between the T & the S
18. Eight: various parts of the figure 8 are used to form the word "eight"
19. Baskin Robbins: 31 for their 31 flavors is incorporated in their logo (B & R)
20. Hope For African Children Initiative: (definitely another favorite!) what do you see first--the faces or the map of Africa?

How did you do?  If anyone got them all correct, let me know in the comments section.  Also send me logos that you've found that have a subliminal message.  There's definitely more than 20 out there--I only chose the ones I thought were the most creative. 
IT'S YOUR COMPANY......SHOW IT OFF!!!
Ronni Sherman

7 comments:

  1. This was clever and entertaining. I enjoyed it but I'm too embarrassed to let you know how I did.

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  2. Ronni, the question is, in your search did you take the same quiz and if so how well did you do? I got 8 & Pam & Kim got 9. We all got Skittles ;-D

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  3. 5. The people who got 9 have good eyes or too much time on their hands. Or they picked their favorite number.

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  4. I got 11, but our office as a whole came through with 19 out of 20. We couldn't get Yoga Australia and now looking at it seems to be obvious. But that is what clever art and design is all about. Fedex, NBC and eight have been examples of subliminal messaging for years and by now most people can recognize their messages.

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  5. Some of these are amazing. Very creative.

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  6. This post was fun and different. The graphic artists deserve recognition and credit for their ingenuity. There is one I question and that is 31 Flavors. It is ingenius but I don't think it is subliminal.

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  7. This was fun! Got them all but Fed-Ex. Looks like I win. What's the prize!

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