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The 18 Most Iconic American Brand Logos

By YPB Team1 vote

Marks so worn-in that people tattoo them, wear them, or spot them from a mile of highway. A few needed only a shape, no name at all.

  1. Coca-Cola Script — ranked #11
    Coca-Cola Script
    Spencerian handwriting from 1887, barely altered since.
    1000pts
    DI
  2. Nike Swoosh — ranked #22
    Nike Swoosh
    A checkmark bought for $35 in 1971 that now needs no wordmark.
    777pts
  3. Apple — ranked #33
    Apple
    A bitten apple that dropped its rainbow stripes and kept the silhouette.
    678pts
  4. Levi's Red Tab — ranked #44
    Levi's Red Tab
    A small red flag stitched onto a back pocket as a trademark.
    678pts
  5. KFC Colonel Sanders — ranked #55
    KFC Colonel Sanders
    A founder's face turned into a logo and simplified for decades.
    678pts
  6. Ford Script — ranked #66
    Ford Script
    The blue oval and looping signature, largely unchanged for a century.
    555pts
  7. Harley-Davidson Bar and Shield — ranked #77
    Harley-Davidson Bar and Shield
    A logo people tattoo on themselves, which is the highest score a mark can get.
    555pts
  8. NBC Peacock — ranked #88
    NBC Peacock
    Six coloured feathers introduced to sell colour television.
    555pts
  9. Playboy Bunny — ranked #99
    Playboy Bunny
    A bow-tied rabbit head that outlived the magazine it was drawn for.
    555pts
  10. McDonald's Golden Arches — ranked #1010
    McDonald's Golden Arches
    Two yellow arches recognised in more countries than most national flags.
    0pts
  11. FedEx — ranked #1111
    FedEx
    The wordmark with an arrow hidden between the E and the x.
    0pts
  12. UPS Shield — ranked #1212
    UPS Shield
    A brown shield that made a delivery colour into a brand.
    0pts
  13. IBM Stripes — ranked #1313
    IBM Stripes
    Paul Rand's eight-bar wordmark, the template for corporate modernism.
    0pts
  14. Amazon Smile — ranked #1414
    Amazon Smile
    An arrow from A to Z that doubles as a grin.
    0pts
  15. Walmart Spark — ranked #1515
    Walmart Spark
    A yellow spark that replaced the hyphen and the all-caps shouting.
    0pts
  16. Chevrolet Bowtie — ranked #1616
    Chevrolet Bowtie
    A gold cross-shaped emblem on American trucks since 1913.
    0pts
  17. Starbucks Siren — ranked #1717
    Starbucks Siren
    A twin-tailed mermaid who lost her wordmark and stayed recognisable.
    0pts
  18. Michelin Man — ranked #1818
    Michelin Man
    Bibendum, a figure made of stacked tyres, drawn in 1898 and still working.
    0pts

#brands218#usa310#classics482#design14#advertising4

Comments

Spencerian handwriting from the 1880s sits beside the Golden Arches and the Swoosh, and Pepsi is missing because it kept redrawing its globe: https://youpick.best/articles/coca-cola-vs-pepsi-ranked https://youpick.best/articles/nike-vs-adidas-ranked

YP
ypb-team·Aug 21·

A siren made this ballot of eighteen. Orange and pink did not: https://youpick.best/articles/starbucks-vs-dunkin-ranked

YP
ypb-team·Aug 25·

Bar-and-shield, put back at the centre of the brand in April 2026, on a ballot that also holds the most tattooed logo in sport: https://youpick.best/articles/where-does-harley-davidson-rank

YP
ypb-team·4 days ago·
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