Swoosh: 40 Years Fly By!

I remember when the infamous Nike swoosh first hit the streets, but had no idea it was done for $35 bucks and was, at the time, considered the lesser of all evils. It sure has stood up to the test of time, becoming one of the most iconic logos of the last 40 years. I was intrigued with Steven Heller's story on the logo in Imprint's blog today.

— Funny how 40 years swoosh by: June 1971 is the date the Nike Swoosh was launched. Designed by Carolyn Davidson for $35 - a "Bargain Brand," the Dept. of Nike Archives notes in its extraordinarily understated tabloid-sized newsprint history of the mark (produced for the "benefit of Nike employees"). What others might take an entire book (and many trees) to convey - explaining the origin and history of the Swoosh logo - the "DNA" accomplished in a mere 28 pages.

Included are commentaries by designers and design critics, former employees and recollections by Phil Knight, the co-founder of Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS) that evolved into Nike.

The origin of the mark goes like this: Knight wanted to differentiate BRS's custom product from the ones they were importing from Onituska in Japan: "...so Knight turned to a graphic design student he met at Portland State University two years earlier." One day in 1969, the student, Carolyn Davidson, was approached by Knight and offered $2 per hour "to make charts and graphics" for his business. For the next two years Davidson managed the design work on BRS. "Then one day Phil asked me if I wanted to work on a shoe stripe," Davidson recalled. The only advice she received was to "Make the stripe supportive of the shoe." Davidson came up with half a dozen options. None of the options "captivated anyone" so it came down to "which was the least awful.

Well, the rest is history. And the Swoosh emerged from "the stripe" and is one of the most recognized logos in the world.

Note: Several other early sketches are included in the original article, found here.

August 4, 2011   Permalink   Steven Heller - Imprint | Expanding the design conversation.