Matthew DeSouza
COMD 1112 OL14
2/7/2020
There are hundreds of different stores and markets, but one stands out from the rest as being one of the most iconic marketplaces in human history. With a logo that is extremely simple, yet very recognizable and to me, impactful. In 1962, the Dayton Company opened a discount store in Roseville, Minnesota and that store would later become known as Target.
Multiple names and logos have been passed around before the name “Target” was settled upon. Once decided, the first version of the logo was created. The background depicted a target with three red circles with three different white spaces between them. Finally the name of the store was placed right in the middle of the red circles. The word mark was featured as being black with a bold italic font. The logo itself was created by the director at the time, Stewart K. Widdess and his workers came up with the name.
The name and logo go hand in hand as they are very self explanatory. Extremely simple yet memorable. According to blogger Roman Rogoza, “In 1962, the company’s PR team had to sift through more than 200 business names before it opted for “Target”. The name dictated the logo choice. This is how a red bull’s eye became the symbol of the US retailer.” (logaster.com) (March 2020). This initial Target logo remained unchanged from 1962 until 1967. In 1968, an executive decision was made to update the logo as Target stored were opened in other states such as St. Louis and Houston. Always provide the business reason for a logo change as well as the discussing the visual adjustments.The newly changed Target logo featured only two red circles and a single white ring.
With the change, the emblem became much more easier to look at. The simplicity of it was at its highest and it worked as it did garner the attention that company wanted. “The legibility issue was resolved, the emblem grew easier to grasp. To begin with, the type grew more transparent and the elements of the Target logo were separated from each other…Also, three rings disappeared making the design simpler.” (1000logos.net) (December 2020). A year later, a wordmark was again added to the logo. The typeface used for the workmark was outlined in black in an italic, sans serif typeface.
For six years the third logo was maintained but after that the color of the font was changed from white to a solid pitch black. I believe this was a good change because it made the font more readable, the uppercase name remained on the right side of the logo and the bull’s eye became smaller.
However during 1989 the font was changed from black to red but this was believed to not have been a good decision. According to blogger Lily Wordsmith, she states,“By 1975, Target had switched over to a two-ringed bullseye placed to the left…Later, this was replaced by a much quirkier version of “Target” in red and white in 1989. This version proved to be a total failure, as shown by how it was retired from use after a short period of just 12 months.” (moneyinc.com) (August 2020). Another piece to support this is by Deepak K, they state,” The new logo didn’t get a positive response from the customers and the team decided to replace it soon and the word mark logo lasted for a very short period of time.” (compile.blog) (January 2020)
The Target logo underwent another change in 2004 and 2006 but it was only a slight update in the typeface. This update involved the name of the brand going underneath the iconic bulls’eye logo.
Target itself has created such a popular brand that they have settled on just taking away the name “Target” and just have the bulls-eye logo there. This shows how iconic and popular the brand has become. According to the Logo Ream Team they state, “The 2006 logo is instantly recognizable as the symbol of the Target retail store and is versatile enough to place on an advertisement with no textual reference to the retail store and still evokes customer recognition.” (logorealm.com) However in present day Target seems to involve both the 2004 logo and the 2006 logo. But the 2004 logo has been officially changed once again except the capital “T” has been updated to a lowercase “t”.
The logo for a brand and company is a reflection of what it is and Target is a brand that is very successful when it comes to grabbing people’s attention with just their logo alone. Target has less design elements and therefore looks more precise, relevant, and a distinctive appearance. There is no crowding, there isn’t much happening in the logo color and basic design wise. The removing of the brand name just enhances the overall by a lot, not only certifying it as a household emblem that needs no introduction but just shows how far the brand and company has come since its first creation. The typography is also very simple as well being an Helvetica Neue Bold Font. “Expect More. Pay Less” is the motto Target follows and it prides itself as being a discount focus retail store in the United States of America. Now how big is Target exactly? Well according to a blog by Logo Design they state, “Target is the second-largest discount retailing store in the United States with close to 1,900 locations. Its wide range of products includes but is not limited to food and beverages, baby products includes but is not limited to food and beverages…” (blog.logomyway.com). Target is one of the most memorable brands in all of human history, standing at the top along with other brands like Walmart, Best Buy, Kohls, etc… but none of them have yet to do what Target has done logo wise.
Sources
https://blog.logomyway.com/target-logo/
http://logorealm.com/target-logo-design-history/
https://compile.blog/2020/01/03/target-logo-history/
https://moneyinc.com/target-logo/
https://www.logaster.com/blog/target-logo/
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/target-outlines-2020-strategic-initiatives-301015576.html
