Logo history begins in the modern age, do you think like it? In fact, logos as symbols or symbols to visually communicate something have been around for thousands of years.
Visual Design in Ancient Civilizations
Primitive societies in 70,000 BC to 7,000 BC laid the foundation for graphic arts by making simple paintings on cave walls. People in Assyria, Egypt, Carthage, Persia, Media, and Sumeria, as early as 8,000 BC, made pottery that communicated aesthetic, ethical, cultural, socio-political, and religious information.
Around the year 4000 BC. the ancient Egyptians not only developed hieroglyphs, a formal system of writing, in which images represent words or sounds, but they also made other works, their paintings and sculptures include meaningful images and colors.
This is simply drawing on a cave wall. (source: bbci.co.uk)
Between 2125 and 1991 BC, Egypt experienced great developments in the art of ancient design. This development is important for logo design, as it ensures that the artist effectively maintains proportions and ratios – and ensures uniform reproduction of the same design.
This is not to say that only Egypt uses images symbolically. During the same period, calligraphy roots in the form of characters developed in China. Here is each word or idea has its own symbol, and this foundation influences later languages, even less visual character characters (like English).
Logo As Identification
In medieval Europe, we will see two distinct visual languages emerge: heraldic crests and symbolic signage. A Symbol is a system of making elements that are meaningful and describe the status of society. A certain set of colors and shapes represents a certain noble family. This collection of images is combined to create a unique emblem.
In medieval Europe, the purpose of making the symbol was to identify one’s own troops with enemy soldiers while fighting. Design elements have meaning and help people identify a particular “brand.”
Green Dragon Label (source: 99designs.com)
Outside the aristocracy, most of the population was illiterate. In the years 900 – 1300 AD, the population began to increase, causing more and more people to move to the city. Society shifted from an agrarian way of life to trade. This has led to an ever-increasing number and variety of goods being traded as people cannot make everything they need. Shops began to hang signs to identify the goods or services they provided – like a signboard with a striped barbershop symbol and a cross representing a pharmacy.
In 1389, King Richard II of England passed a regulation requiring brewers to put marks on their beers. This causes one business to differ from one another in terms of labels, such as “Green Dragon”.
And then the images are augmented by the name, allowing customers to develop a sense of brand loyalty to their favorite brewer.
Logos and Paper / Textile Technologies
The early paper appeared in China in 105 AD Then spread to Japan around 610 AD. In contrast, it was only around 1276 AD that paper was first made in Italy, after being imported by Arab traders to Europe. And finally made in England around 1495 AD.
Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1440, which led to massive production of printed materials. Then the authors and publishers of their work use the logo design to claim ownership of their work. Then, in the late 15th century, various publishers and printers used logos to identify their work.
With the printing press, came more prints. In the mid-1600s we saw the first fast-growing printed newspaper gain popularity. From here comes a new business: Advertising. The funds from these advertisements are used to fund newspapers. Printing provides a new reason for businesses to differentiate themselves from competitors. We can see that the printing of paper and textile has greatly influenced the history of the logo.
