We see some symbols every day without even knowing what they mean. And some logos are much more complex than one might first think.
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For example, the one used by the soft drink brand Pepsi could represent feng shui, the magnetic field of the Earth, the theory of relativity or even the Pythagoras theorem!
The Command button on Mac computers comes from a sign used in Scandinavian countries to indicate places of historic interest.
The Bluetooth symbol is apparently the fusion of the letters H and B in Old English, which are the initials of Harald Blatand (Bluetooth in English) This Danish king ate so many blueberries that he was nicknamed ‘blue tooth.’
The origin of other symbols is more logical, like for example the one used by the sports brand Adidas, which represents mountains to be overcome.
Or the confectionery brand Haribo,which consists of the three first syllables of the name of its creator Hans Riegel Bonn. The pause symbol comes simply from the caesura used in music to signify a silence in the score. Also, the seven spikes on the crown of the Statue of Liberty are no accident; they represent the seven continents. As for the on/off button, it symbolises the 0 and 1 of the binary system used in tech.
Have you ever wondered why Bacardi rum has a bat as its logo? According to legend, it’s because the wife of the creator found a bat in the distillery and wanted to document this story.
The famous McDonald's Golden Arches logo was almost changed once but a psychologist revealed that customers unconsciously saw it as the maternal breast. This Freudian effect apparently subconsciously encourages us to go and eat in the fast food restaurant!
