Derwyn Hill
3/20/19
COMD 1112 D110
                                                     History of Amazon’s Logo
We all know what Amazon is, we’ve all used it or know someone who does. We may shop on Amazon a few times a year or for others it’s their go to. Despite how you may know Amazon, one thing still doesn’t change and that is the fact that you know Amazon. We all love that it offers almost anything you can think of and comes in handy when you’ve ran out of places to look. Amazon is one of the largest companies in the world and they didn’t just get there overnight. All of their success took years to build and make them the company they are today. It took years of tweaking and adjusting parts of the company to get them to the company we know today. Something as simple as their logo contributes to why they are this big and successful company. And just like many parts of a business, over the years their logo changed as well.
Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos under a name not many know of “ Cadabra” Amazon was a platform were books we’re sold. Despite that, within the first two months Amazon was selling books in 45 different countries and making about $20,000 a week. At the start the logo was quite simple and adequate for its time in the 90’s. Their first logo features a semi transparent letter A with the phrase “Amazon.com, Earth’s biggest bookstore” underneath it all on a water like textured background. As you can see the logo was simple and straight to the point. It clearly showed what the company was about and what you can expect from it. Like I stated earlier the logo was quite appropriate for its time, something like this wouldn’t go over as well cause we seem to be transitioning to more sleek and clean looks for our designs. The companies logo went through three significant changes as they progressed as a company and proceeded to change their brand and image. Like i’ve stated previously the company’s logo went through significant changes as the company itself grew and changed  the first major one is shown above.
The companies second major logo is closer to what we know today. It’s clear when looking at it that the company had and idea of what they wanted their image to be and I think that this logo was a ste in the right direction for the company, not only does it boast a more grown and professional feel for the company it was also at the time a clean and sleek looking logo and in my opinion. The logo featured the companies name “amazon.com” in all black font with a slight curved yellow line underneath with the words “books, music, and more” in a light grey font that sat nicely on top of the word amazon. As you can see the logo evolved to represent what the company did at the time. Amazon had moved on from books only and started to dabble in other forms of media by selling music, video, and more. This new logo is clean and easy on the eyes and i feel like hat an important thing to consider when designing a logo. You have to keep in mind that many people from all over will come across your logo and you wanna make sure that it can be read and interpreted the same way across the board. When it come to logo design the simpler the better in my opinion and that’s exactly the same mindset that Amazon had when updating their logo for what seems to the final time.
This final design is the one that the company still uses to this day and for good reason, it works. This final logo is very clever in its design elements. The first impressive element that the new logo features is an arrow that begins at the “A” in “Amazon” and ending at the “Z”, this design element of the Amazon logo is meant to portray the message that Amazon sells everything from “A” to “Z”. having arrow go from “A” to “Z” like that shows how amazon has everything literally from “A” to “Z”. The second noticeable element also lies within the arrow and that’s the fact that the arrow also mimics a smiling face that paired with the rest of the logo makes a resemblance to a smiling face altogether.  By designing their logo to look like a smiling face, Amazon is able to convey that they are a trustworthy, friendly company.
Link to original with images and sources:Â https://docs.google.com/document/d/14HWHSFb3EHg608XBkgrygGQPD27WQbsjI2RHIymS7CA/edit?usp=sharing
