Haley Tow

Minor Project 2
Logo Analysis
Instructor: Liz Lane
Purdue University
English 309

Speed on in your SPEEDOS

go faster.

The Speedo logo is simple in
design, and once again proves that
simple logotype designs are very effective. The design has two colors,
with the words in a light black, almost
grey, and then the signature Speedo
boomerang that completes their logo
and makes it most recognizable is in
red. The logo could be considered to
hold three colors, with the negative
white space as its background, although this is not necessarily a part
of the logo itself. Red is known to be
an effective color to draw the eyes attention, adding another reason why
this simple design is so memorable.
The typography is all in lower case
lettering, and according to fontslogo.com it is closest to the font digital serial-bold italic font, although
Speedo has their own font that cannot be used or purchased. Having an
in-house or even outsourced typographic specialist can be a helpful
way to make a logo memorable. The
Speedo font is specific to their logo,
making it even more recognizable
aside from the already key boomer-

Speedo is a very successful,

internationally-known company that
provides swimwear and gear such as
caps and goggles. Speedo, originally
called MacRae Hosiery Manufacturers, was first established in Australia
by Alexander MacRae in 1910(Our
History-Speedo USA). MacRae began creating swimwear, and was the
first to create The Racerback swimsuit for both men and women. A year
later in 1928 staff member Captain
Parsons coined the slogan Speed
on in your SPEEDOs, which is where
the brand name Speedo was developed. The Speedo brand and swimwear has since become extremely
popular, especially among Olympic
swimmers. In 1956, Speedos logo
became recognized internationally when their swimwear was worn
by the entire Australian swim team
in the Melbourne Olympics, who
took home eight gold medals that ang graphic.
year. Since then, Speedo swimwear
has debuted at every Olympics and
continues to be a successful global
brand. The company strives to create
swimsuits in innovative styles and is
known for being the first to make a
non-wool swimsuit.

Today they continue to live up to
that standard by creating swimsuits
with the least drag to allow athletes
(Logos)

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The boomerang is a whole
other key component in this
simply effective logo design.
According to Paul Rand, A
logo derives from the quality
of the thing it symbolizes, not
the other way around. A logo is
less important than the product
it signifies; what it represents
is more important than what it
looks like. The boomerang
represents a swimmers quick
return to the next lap as they
cut through the water. A small
symbol like the boomerang carries a deeper message here in
this logo and emphasizes the
speed that swimmers work so
hard to get. As a swimmer, I
know how important flip turns
are and how they can make or
break a swimmers record. The
faster the flip turn and push-off
from the wall, the better position that swimmer is going to be
in. This is why Speedo has debuted in so many Olympics with
their revolutionary swimsuit designs and materials. A boomerang returns to its starting point
quickly, which is exactly what
a swimmer wants to do when
theyre in a race, and why this
logo bring about trust between
the swimmer and the Speedo
company.

(Speedo Brand)

Due to how effective
Speedos logo has been, it
hasnt changed much throughout its one hundred and six
years of business. The very
first Speedo logo design was
created in 1928 with a much
thinner font as well as a cursive-styled lettering, especially
for the S. This design did not
incorporate the boomerang,
however it did convey the original message of Speed on in
your Speedos by using a simple arrow that cuts through all
of the letters in Speedo. This
first logotype also did not include the color black, which
was added into the third logotype created. Being the first
logo design for Speedo, it was
a good starting point to convey
their message, but found to
not be the most effective when
compared to the boomerang
graphic.
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The very next logo design that

came forth from Speedo incorporated the boomerang, but like
the first logo design, it was only
a red and white design. This
design kept the same font of
the first, along with the arrow
cutting through the letters, but
this time Speedo was placed
inside of a boomerang. The red
lettering was instead turned
into white lettering, with the
boomerang making a red background. In this second design,
the signature boomerang was
born, however as one can note
from the picture, it still had a lot
of progress to be made.

(Olympic Swimming records set to tumble)

It is noted that much of
the progress that comes with
the Speedo logo has to do with
developing technology. As a
company that started in 1910,
Speedo was first limited in the
design of their logotype. As
Lupton (2014) points out in the
early 1990s, new digital tools
and processes made it easier
to design and reproduce drop
shadows, fine lines, transparency, and multiple colors...
(p.146). As one can see from
Speedos third logotype, a fine
black line was added to better
outline and define the boomerang. The typography was also
changed from the original cursive-style to a more digital font
in all uppercase letters, and
the arrow through the text was
eliminated. They then were able
to incorporate three colors into
the Speedo logo and it began to
look much more refined, thanks
to new technology and software
that designers were able to
start engaging with.

(Olympic Barracuda Swimsuits)

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The next version of Speedos
logotype was much more fleshed
out and is very similar to the logotype they use today. To be more
effective and practical, Speedo
removed the company name from
within the boomerang, and placed
it directly above the boomerang,
emphasizing hierarchy toward the
company name, while still keeping
the important and signature boomerang.The font stayed digital as
well as uppercase, but this time the
font was put into a bolded black.
The next logotype Speedo tried out
was very similar, but they removed
the bolded lettering and changed
the font color to blue. The blue font
color was most likely used to show
connection between the company
and the water. This logotype ended
up being replaced in 2008 with the
most current Speedo logo, where
the font was put in all lowercase, the
boomerang was moved to the side,
and the font color was changed to
a medium-grey(Our History-Speedo
USA). This shows a more equal hierarchy between the Speedo name
itself and the boomerang. Due to
how recognizable the Speedo brand
has become, making the choice to
have a lighter colored font and putting the name and the symbol on the
same line just made a more visually
appealing logotype, without having
to change much.

The Speedo logo is distinct
because of the signature red
boomerang, which although sizing has changed it has remained
since the second version of their
logotype. It is appropriate because of the relationship between
the boomerang and the speed of
the swimmer, and it is also practical for this same reason. Also
making the logotype practical as
well as simple is the use of just
two colors, one word, and one
graphic. Lastly, this logotype is effective because it conveys a message, Speed on in your Speedos as well as boomerang right
back to the finish line. I find this
logo very effective so I wouldnt
change much about it. I would
however make the typography
dark black again, rather than grey.
The grey almost seems washed
out or faded, so I would critique
that, but other than that I find this
to be a simple and effective logo
that has proved to be timeless.

(Olympics: Speedo drops Lochte after Rio scandal)

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References
Logos [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved September 29, 2016, from https://s-me

dia-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/9f/7c/10/9f7c10b3a275adf34d60f62ef

6ba6b4c.jpg
Lupton, E. (2014). Type on Screen: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Edi

tors, & Students. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.
Olympic Barracuda Swimsuits [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved September 29,

2016, from http://www.news24.com/SciTech/News/Olympic-barracu
da-swimsuits-20120717
Olympics: Speedo drops Lochte after Rio scandal [Digital image]. (n.d.). Re

trieved September 29, 2016, from http://www.cbn4.com/2016/08/23/

olympics-speedo-drops-lochte-after-rio-scandal/
Olympic swimming records set to tumble at London 2012 as Speedo unveil

Fastskin3 swimwear system [Rivals: Ryan Lochte (left) and Michael Phelps

in the new Fastskin3 swimwear]. (n.d.). Retrieved September 29, 2016,

from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/swimming/8924083/
Olympic-swimming-records-set-to-tumble-at-London-2012-as-Speedo-un

veil-Fastskin3-swimwear-system.html
Our History - Speedo USA. (n.d.). Retrieved September 29, 2016, from http://ex

plore.speedousa.com/heritage.html
Paul-Rand.com. (n.d.). Retrieved September 29, 2016, from http://www.paul
rand.com/foundation/thoughts_logosflags/#.V-10nj-jLgo
Speedo Brand [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved September 29, 2016, from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Speedo-brand.svg

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