Logo Research – PlayStation Logo | Jerry Pico's ePortfolio

The PlayStation logo is synonymous for representing the home video game console of the same name. If you asked anyone under the age of 30, they would say the logo represents all the fun adventures they made growing up with the product that was first introduced in 1994. Almost everyone I know can say they had the best time growing up with PlayStation. The logo was designed by Manabu Sakamoto during the initial conception of the game console. The logo we know today to represent Sony’s branch of gaming was created along with other designs that were being looked at. The final logo utilizes a font that Sakamoto himself invented specifically for the logo. The logo has remained the same design for more than twenty years, but the color scheme has changed to become more modernized. Back when it was invented in 1994, the logo used four distinct colors to represent what Sony wanted the PlayStation to invoke into its consumers. The four colors are red, yellow, green, and blue and are said to have represented joy, passion, and excellence. The first PlayStation up until the first iteration of the PlayStation 3 used the PlayStation logo with the usual colors. In recent times however, the color scheme has changed from using the colors to using plain white on packaging of its games and consoles. The white colored logo has also been featured on commercials for PlayStation products, such as an updated version of the PlayStation 3, PS Vita handheld console, and PlayStation 4, the newest member of the PlayStation family. This decision to change the colors of the logo could stem from the idea of wanting to become more modernized for today’s consumers of the brand.

The logo wasn’t found right away, however. It took up to 20 times for the brand to gets its proper identity. The designer had numerous designs to show the company executives. Ultimately, Sony and the designer decided to go with the logo that we are familiar with today. As stated before, the font in the lettering in the word PlayStation is of the designer’s own creation. The letter “a” the word PlayStation was altered when the logo and word got an update in 2009.

In 2009, the PlayStation brand celebrated it’s 15th anniversary. With this celebration, came with it a logo that payed tribute to the many incarnations of the PlayStation brand. The special edition logo showed the many products that Sony made for the PlayStation brand. All these images made up the number 15, and in them you can see the PlayStation 1, the PlayStation 2 and its updated versions, and the PlayStation 3 and its updated versions. Along with those images are included the PSP (PlayStation portable) and the discs that ran with the system UMD (Universal Media Disc) and the PSP Go, its companion system. Also you can see a blu ray disc, the disc that ran on the PlayStation 3, a few controllers compatible with the systems called DualShock and other peripherals used in the PlayStation family. In 2014, PlayStation celebrated its 20th anniversary with another special edition logo. It incorporated the original four color PlayStation logo and the number “20th” next to it, as well as the word “anniversary” at the bottom.