My Rough Draft to the article Swoosh
History[edit source | edit]
The Nike Swoosh is a corporate trademark created in 1971 by Carolyn Davidson, while she was a graphic design student at Portland State University. It was here that she met Phil Knight, who was at the time teaching accounting classes at the university. Knight had overheard that Davidson was in search of extra funds in order for her to take oil painting classes, so he offered to pay Davidson to do some freelance work for his company, Blue Ribbon Sports (later Nike, Inc.) Knight offered to pay Davidson $2 per hour (about $14 per hour today) for the work that she completed. [8]
For seven years after its founding in 1964, BRS primarily imported Onitsuka Tiger brand running shoes from Japan. In 1971, Knight had decided to launch his own brand of shoes, which would first appear as cleated shoes for football or soccer, and had a factory in Mexico ready to make the shoes. All Knight needed was a "stripe" -- the industry term for a shoe logo -- to go with his new brand, so he approached Davidson for design ideas. He had asked Davidson to make sure the stripe conveyed motion and did not look similar to the three stripes of Adidas. Over the ensuing weeks, she created at least a half-dozen marks and gathered them together to present to Knight, Bob Woodell and Jeff Johnson (two BRS executives) at the company's home office, at the time located in Tigard, Oregon. [9][10]
They ultimately selected the mark now known globally as the Swoosh. "I don't love it," Knight told her, "but I think it will grow on me." [11] Once the choice was made, Davidson asked for more time in order to refine the work she had done on the Swoosh, however, Knight stated that the company had produciton deadlines to meet and needed the logo as soon as possible. For her services, the company paid her $35 ($206 in 2015 dollars), citing that she worked 17.5 hours on creating the Swoosh, although Davidson claims that she is certain she worked more hours on the design. [12][13] In September 1983, Knight gave Davidson a golden Swoosh ring with an embedded diamond, and an envelope filled with 500 shares of Nike stock to express his gratitude. [14]
The Swoosh was officially patented 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 fresh new Swoosh. [15][16]
Design and Color[edit source | edit] 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. Knight was very outspoken about his love for rival shoe manufacturer, Adidas', logo, which incorporated three thick stripes. He had talked with Carolyn Davidson about ensuring Nike's new design not resemble that of Adidas. The logo is also said to symbolize the wing of the famous Greek Goddess of Victory, Nike. [17][18]
When first released, the design was displayed in a variety of colors in order to stand out on the track from other shoe manufacturers. [19] Nike then traditionally 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. [20]
Until 1994, the official corporate logo for Nike featured the name NIKE in Futura Bold, all-cap font, cradled within the Swoosh. In 1995, Nike began using the stand-alone Swoosh as its corporate logo as a form of debranding, and continues to use it that way today, while also using a simple black color palette for the Swoosh. [21]