Af1 Red Swoosh

[Zebedeo Konig]

TheSwoosh is the logo of American sportswear designer and retailer Nike. Today, it has become one of the most recognizable brand logos in the world, and the most valuable, having a worth of $26 billion alone.[1][2]

Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight founded Nike on January 25, 1964, as Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS). Upon changing its name to Nike, Inc. on May 30, 1971, the company adopted the Swoosh as its official logo the same year. Carolyn Davidson, a student at Portland State University during the time Knight taught there, created the logo, attempting to convey motion in its design.

The logo has undergone minor changes from its original design in 1971, today most commonly seen as a solo swoosh, although for much of its history, the logo incorporated the NIKE name alongside the Swoosh.

The Swoosh has appeared alongside the trademark "Just Do It" since 1988. Together, these two make up the core of Nike's brand, and has been the face of the company, with many high-profile athletes and sports teams around the world sporting the logos.[2]

They ultimately selected the mark now known globally as the Swoosh, a shape inspired by the wings of the Greek goddess Nike.[6] "Well, I don't love it", Knight told her, "but maybe it will grow on me."[4] Once the choice was made, Davidson asked for more time to refine the work she had done on the Swoosh; however, Knight stated that the company had production deadlines to meet and needed the logo as soon as possible. For her services, the company paid her $35 (equivalent to $263 in 2023) citing that she worked 17.5 hours on creating the Swoosh, although Davidson said that she is certain she worked more hours on the design.[7] The Swoosh was officially trademarked on June 18, 1971 and in June 1972, at the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, Nike's first official track shoe, the Nike Cortez, was released to the athletes sporting the new Swoosh.[8][4]

Davidson continued working for Blue Ribbon Sports (it officially became Nike, Inc. in 1972) until the design demands of the growing company exceeded one person's capacity. In 1976, the company hired its first external advertising agency, John Brown and Partners, and Davidson went on to work on other clients' needs. In September 1983, Knight gave Davidson a golden Swoosh ring with an embedded diamond and 500 shares of Nike stock (which have since split into 32,000 shares) to express his gratitude.[9] Of the gift, Davidson says, "this was something rather special for Phil to do, because I originally billed him and he paid that invoice."[10] Davidson went on to be known as "The Logo Lady".[11] She said that she is not a millionaire but lives comfortably. Davidson retired in 2000 and now engages in hobbies and volunteer work, including at the Ronald McDonald House at Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center in Oregon.[10]

Nike co-founder Phil Knight was adamant that his company's new logo be a simple design that is fluid and conveys motion and speed. The logo is also said to symbolize the wing of the Greek goddess of victory, Nike.[12][4]

When first released, the design was displayed in a variety of colors to stand out on the track from other shoe manufacturers.[8] Nike primarily used the red and white color palette on its logo for much of its history. The red is meant to exemplify passion, energy, and joy, while the white color represents nobility, charm and purity.[12]

One of the most recognized logos in the world, the Nike brand was valued at $26 billion in 2015.[2] Nike spends about 10% of its annual revenue on advertising and promotions. Harvard Business School professor Stephen A. Greyser has described the logo as "the living, vibrant symbol of the firm".[4]

Nike has prominently featured the Swoosh logo in its advertising. The endorsements of Romanian tennis player Ilie Năstase and distance runner Steve Prefontaine kicked off Nike's brand sponsorships; today hundreds of athletes endorse the company. Nike's contracts with Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant in basketball, Shane Warne (until 2001) in cricket, Cathy Freeman in athletics, Cristiano Ronaldo in football, Tiger Woods in golf, and Roger Federer (until 2018) and Rafael Nadal in tennis are among the largest athlete endorsement deals in sports history.

Nike is the winged goddess of victory in Greek mythology, who sat at the side of Zeus in Olympus. Nike is said to have presided over history's earliest battlefields as she flew around rewarding the victors with glory and fame, symbolized by a wreath of leaves. She was often found next to the goddess of wisdom, Athena, who is said to never put up with defeat.

In statues and paintings Nike is represented as a woman with wings dressed in a flowing robe, with a wreath in her outstretched hand. To represent her role as the messenger of victory, she is shown with the staff of Hermes. In Athens, the statue of Nike is portrayed without wings and is called Nike Apteron (Wingless Victory). Nike's wings were removed from the statue so she would not fly away, as the Athenians believed doing so would indicate her permanent stay in the city.[13] A sculpture of Nike at Ephesus is said to contain the Swoosh in the flowing dress, but there is no evidence this is the origin of the design.

In 2006, Lorillard (the previous owner of Newport) and Nike sued graphic designer Ari Saal Forman after he released his Ari Menthol 10s shoes, which combined the design of the Nike Air Force 1 with Newport's spinnaker and colors. According to Forman, the shoes were "dedicated to the two brands who have taken the most and given the least." As a result of the lawsuit, Forman is not legally allowed to own a pair of Menthol 10s.[14][15]

In 2021, Nike sued the art collective MSCHF for the "Satan Shoes", a modified version of Nike Air Max 97 with explicitly Satanic imagery. Nike claimed trademark infringement and that its brand was being erroneously linked to Satanism. A US district judge ruled that the modified shoes could not be sold.[16]

[video: elevated shot of top of play set as young girl goes down double swoosh slide. Two girls hang by their arms and swing at top of double swoosh slide hand grabs to push themselves down the slide faster.]

Nike is an American corporation headquartered in Washington County, Oregon. The company was established in 1964 by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight. But the company changed its name from Blue Ribbon Sports to the current Nike in 1978.

The company employs more than 44,000 people across the world and has total assets of around $ 15 billion. There are over 700 outlets of the company in the world. The company sells a wide range of sports products along with creative packaging including its most popular sports shoes with the Nike symbol.

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The Swoosh is a sound that we hear when something zips past quickly by our side. This word stands for fast sound, speed, and motion. This is the reason that the custom logo is in a shape that shows an arch of movement.

The Nike swoosh logo is shaped as a wing of the Greek goddess of Victory, Nike. So, the designer had the wing shape in mind because of the goddess. By borrowing the shape and other design elements from mythical, cultural, and historical sources, you can engage people with the design.

The font appears to be Futura Bold Condensed Oblique with minor tweaks. There is some slanting of the letter K to make the text distinctive and visible. Nike was written on the logo in Futura bold until 1995.

The company name was there within the Swoosh. One of the qualities of Futura is that it is a sans serif font and has features of geometric shapes. Most of graphic designers were fond of using Futura in the last century. This font stands for values like forwardness and efficiency.

Carolyn Davidson made the sign to compete with the Adidas logo. This logo had three lines that grew larger at a certain angle. She liked the idea of the angle, which stood for energy and motion. But instead of three separate lines, she turned them into one continuous thick like. This gave the logo a sense of energy and motion.

Nike logo appears as a simple swoosh design. But simplicity is harder to achieve. The designer Davidson took 17.5 hours to design this logo. Obviously, a lot of thinking and design techniques were involved in creating the sign.

But Davidson told in an interview that the real challenge was in converting that idea of a shoe into a logo design. The Nike symbol was supposed to fit on the shoe. It had to look impressive on the shoe. So, she made sketches of the swoosh logo on tissue paper.

Then, put the design on a shoe drawing to test its appearance. Another challenge for Davidson was to create a logo that not only look classic and clean, but different from other rival companies. There were competitors like Adidas in the market.

It is not as if the logo design, that we find impressive today, was accepted and welcomed right away. On the contrary, the company owners simply did not like the design at first glance. When Davidson presented the sketches, they diplomatically asked, if she has some more designs to show. That meant the rejection of the logo.

Phil Knight simply rejected it saying that the design will grow over him. Disappointed by his reaction, Davidson made more attempt to improve the logo. Still, Knight was not pleased with the design. Finally, Davidson gave up and wrote the invoice.

In a way, Carlyon Davidson can be regarded as possibly the highest paid logo designer in terms overall money earned from the design. When she finished the Nike logo, Nike owners gave her $35. Her payment was fixed at $ 14 per day.

The company organized a surprise party for her. She was given even a bigger surprise in the party. Knight gave her a special golden ring which had a swoosh shaped diamond on it. Not only that, she also received 500 shares of the company.

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