Hasta La Ideas

Earlier this month, as part of our research for our April issue, we asked readers to nominate their top five logos of all time. Here are the top 15, as voted by you

Our April issue will seek to compile a list of the 20 greatest logos of all time. Ever. (Yes, we know, but we thought it would be fun). To start off our research and help inform our final deliberations, we asked readers of the CR website and also the Brand New blog, to give us their top five. Almost 300 CR readers responded – here are your top 15

1. Apple

2. V&A

3. Nike

4. FedEx

5. London Underground

6. BR

7. Mother & Child

8. Rolling Stones

9. Woolmark

10. Adidas Trefoil

11. Channel 4

12. Coca-Cola

13. Guild of Food Writers

14. VW

15. Mercedes

A few things immediately spring to mind about this list. Firstly, this wasn’t a scientifically-conducted poll – we just asked for your choices. And although we asked readers for their top five, a lot of people purposefully steered clear of the ‘obvious’ and instead nominated some lesser-known logos that they thought worthy of our attention (some of which are posted here).

So, what about the choices? We have to wonder what part the affection for all things Apple that most designers still harbour played in its status as your number one. Yes, it is a beautiful and elegantly applied symbol, but would it have made number one if it were for a less-admired company? Or is it a brilliant distillation of everything that you love about Apple and therefore worthy of its top spot?

Likewise, few could argue that McDonald’s golden arches is an unsuccesful logo, yet it hardly figures in your nominations.

This is also very much a European-skewed list. Shortly, we will post the results of the Brand New poll, which are considerably different. DRU’s BR logo, the Woolmark, Channel 4 and Fletcher’s V&A barely figure in the Brand New list, for example.

And then there is the sheer ubiquity of many of these logos to consider. I recently read some interesting research about artistic canons in which it was argued that the key pieces that make up our Western idea of the great works owe their presence more to the fact that they are the most seen, the most often reproduced, than to their superiority as works of art.

So, lots to bear in mind when we come to our final deliberations. As previously mentioned, the readers’ poll forms one part of our research in order to draw up our 20 greatest logos list, which will also involve canvassing leading designers, academics and critics as well as a final panel debate, the results of which will be revealed in our April issue.