The Nike Logo: What Does The Swoosh Stand For?

There is almost no person in the world that wouldn’t recognize the cool Nike logo (swoosh). Ever since 1971, the Nike logo (swoosh) is backing up the brand’s quality, and teaching designers that the real secret of elegance lies in simplicity.

The Nike logo design is among the most popular and recognizable ones in the design world. But the Nike logo history and design is actually a very simple one.

Where does the Nike Logo come from?

Image source: Ryan Putnam

The brain of the operation was Carolyn Davidson; an ambitious Portland State University student hired by an accounting professor Phil Knight, later to become one of the co-founders of the Nike Company.

Back in the days, Knight was running a business of his own, known as Blue Ribbon Sports. The company wasn’t even producing sports equipment but imported such from Japan (primarily Onitsuka Tiger shoes).

How much did Nike pay Carolyn Davidson for creating the Nike Logo swoosh symbol?

It was not a famous advertising company that asked for millions to reaffirm the company’s brand. But freelance designer Carolyn Davidson who charged a total invoice of $35, and never even thought she’d done such a masterpiece.

Image Source: Marcelo Schultz

As we mentioned before, the creation of this masterpiece cost only $35. But wait, there’s more to the story…

Image source: MUTI

Knight overheard Davidson discussing how she couldn’t afford the oil painting class she wanted to attend, even though she hadn’t applied for the job. Aware of her potential, Knight approached her and offered the graphics assignments at a rate of only $14 per day. Davidson accepted and continued working on a variety of Blue Ribbon Sports projects. Once Knight decided to produce his own shoe line instead of importing Japanese products. The logo idea was born and assigned to Davidson.

https://youtu.be/CYThr8Dot-o

It took her about three weeks to come up with the final design, and approximately 17.5 hours to perfect it. The idea was to draw an original shoe and then put it on a tissue to see how it looks. According to what she shared, the challenge consisted of the fact that it had to be a small logo design that could fit the shoe, and look good on it at the same time.

Right before the deadline was over, Knight gathered five or six ideas. And he presented them to Bob Woodell and Jeff Johnson (who thought of the new name for the business). Knight also glanced at her work but didn’t find it extremely satisfying.

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Image source: Tisba

First, he considered the Nike logo swoosh, and said it could be an interesting choice, even if it didn’t completely blow him off his shoes. Like every designer, Davidson felt disappointed by his reaction. His exact words were ‘it will grow on me’.

Trying even harder, Davidson brought the swoosh to perfection, but Knight was still refusing it. Eventually, she submitted the invoice for payment and gave up.

We find this story inspiring because it reveals that the world-famous logo wasn’t simply ‘ripped off’ from the beginning. Even Davidson wasn’t too excited about it; she described it as ‘a fair piece for the money she was paid.’

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Image source: Damasso

She didn’t foresee the popularity of the logo, or how it would affect her future career. She was simply happy she got the money for her oil painting class.

Still, that’s not where the story ends. Upon graduation in 1975, Davidson quit her Nike job completely and continued her freelance career. Unexpectedly, more and more clients were approaching her impressed by her previous work. Which is why she believes Nike had a lot to do with her success.

Image source: Turgay Mutlay

In 1983, Knight honored her for her role as one of the masterminds behind Nike’s early development. He organized a surprise party for her, during which she was presented with a special golden ring adorned with a swoosh diamond and was granted ownership of 500 company shares.

What did 500 Nike shares mean at the time? We’d say approximately $18,000 at the current dollar rate. It may not sound that much, but it was a reasonable gift for someone that did such a small job to make it happen.

They never cashed up the shares, which is the best part about it. And following the stock splits that happened since the total number she owns today is 8000 shares. Considering today’s price per share ($60), that makes half a million.

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Image source: ∆ Studio–JQ ∆

Quite a catch for 17 hours of part-time work and a curvy checkmark, don’t you think so?

What is the meaning of Nike swoosh symbol?

what does the Nike symbol mean? Generally, swoosh stands for speed and motion. The idea behind it is to depict movement or to replicate the sound.

Michael Jordan makes when he zips past the opponent and makes a spectacular dunk.

On the other hand, the name relates to Greek mythology, where Nike served as a winged Victory Goddess.

The associations are thereof similar to victory, fight, and speed, as the Goddess we mentioned, was also a flying one.

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Image Source: R A D I O

Flying is an attribute we nowadays prescribe to Michael Jordan, the celebrity player signing two of Nike’s greatest products (Air Jordan’s and Jordan Flight), the same as the famous Wings Poster.

However, one cannot attribute victory and speed as the only connotations to the Nike sign.

In the last decades, numerous transformations have occurred to it, and million-dollar upgrades have enhanced its visibility and connotations.

The way it is today, it stands for transcendence among sports, urban hip-hop, basketball heroism, and much more.

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Image Source: Marcelo Schultz

If you’re interested in creating branding design, we recommend you to read Naomi Klein’s book called No Logo, where she speaks of the Nike brand’s philosophy, and the influence the logo had on the success of this company. The book is generally a marketing & branding one, and tackles strategies such as outsourcing design to foreign and affordable contractors.

According to the author, Nike didn’t impose a type of shoes, but a lifestyle, and that means its value will never become any lower. At the same time, she researched other companies and popular marketing strategies too in order to reaffirm her point.

Nike Check Mark

Image Source: Marcelo Schultz

There is more to the Nike logo than the checkmark.

Let us share another interesting story of an art professor. This professor liked to pick pupils’ brains about their favorite logos and to associate those with their emotions. Nike was rarely out of the discussion, as there was at least one kid wearing Nikes in the room.

Asked what this logo represented, most children said ‘checkmark’. However, considering a proper checkmark would likely reveal that Nike’s swoosh differs significantly from it. The regular checkmark’s lines converge at a sharp angle (as seen in examples like Verizon), whereas the swoosh is curved. Therefore, Nike’s logo is not a checkmark.

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The design elements applied to create the Nike swoosh

Popular Oregon’s shoes and sports clothing company has a lot to thank its logo for. It is one of its most powerful assets nowadays, and a symbol of its leading corporate identity that reaffirms its giant share in today’s sports industry.

The name – What does Nike mean?

Image source: Michael Walchalk

The name of the logo was inspired by the Greek victory Goddess Swoosh. It is well-known that her wings bring strength and motivation to warriors, which is why the originally named Nike strip was altered into Swoosh and you now see it on a lot of T-Shirt designs.

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The Nike logo color

Image source: Julian Burford

The most typical color is a dull orange one, being at the same time the brand identity shade of the company. The revolutionary approach of Nike’s designers throughout the years transformed it many times and used many other colors including strong black.

Nike Symbol text

Image source: Jason Wright

Nike is most of the time written with a simple and bold font, in order to make its name sound more glorious and powerful.

More often than not, the name is accompanied by an even more powerful slogan (Just Do It), which Advertising Age selected to be the top ad slogan of the entire 20th century. Using an elegant font for a brilliant slogan was an excellent idea to keep Nike logo on top of the sports fashion world.

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