May 4, 1998: The Apple Logo Evolves

by Chris Seibold May 04, 2011

Ron Wayne's original Apple logo featured an apple and Isaac Newton; it was truly a thing of beauty. For all of its beauty, however, the logo was complex and Steve Jobs rightly worried that the logo was too complicated to be reproducible in a myriad sizes. To rectify the situation, Steve turned to Regis McKenna Advertising.

The duty of designing the actual logo fell to Rob Janoff. After trying several different designs, without the aid of a Mac it must be noted, Mr. Janoff settled on the familiar rainbow colored logo with the missing bite. The "byte"/"bite" pun was not lost on Mr. Janoff but he maintains the bite was there so the logo would be identifiable as an Apple and not some less interesting apple-shaped fruit.

All good things must end and the multihued, much loved Apple logo, which was called "the most expensive bloody logo ever designed" by Apple President Mike Scott, began to be phased out this week in 1998 in favor of the spare white logo used on currently shipped product.

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Comments

  • Strewth, time flies! Can’t believe it’s been eight years. That makes it nearly half as old as the rainbow one was.

    Chris Howard had this to say on May 04, 2006 Posts: 1209

  • Choosing the apple logo over the rainbow was a smart move. To me, the apple looks better and cooler. It is simple but is very appropriate to the brand.  - Unilife Alan Shortall

    Alan Shortall had this to say on Sep 23, 2011 Posts: 35

  • The Modern look for the Apple logo has had a variety of color variations in recent years. hire a programmers

    John Sy had this to say on Oct 24, 2011 Posts: 1
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