How did Apple get its name, and how did Apple get that logo?
What can I say:
“One of the deep mysteries to me is our logo, the symbol of lust and knowledge, bitten into, all crossed with the colors of the rainbow in the wrong order. You couldn’t dream of a more appropriate logo: lust, knowledge, hope, and anarchy.”
President of Apple Products (1993)
Jean-Louis Gassée
First Story:
I seriously doubt it. According to an article on the macnyt web site, Steve Jobs decided Apple should have a new logo just before the launch of the Apple II. The same agency that had worked on logos for Compaq and other companies was used for the job. Here's a quote from the article: "According to Linzmayer, Rob Janoff started with a silhouette of a black apple on a white background, but felt that something was missing. A play on words that Apple previous had used in advertising for the Apple I, may have helped Janoff to the idea that a bite should be taken of the apple (playing on "taking a bite of the Apple", where "bite", is pronounced the same as the computer expression "byte" (as in Megabyte). The bite in the apple also meant the the logo no longer looked like or was confused with a tomato..." In the original Apple II logo, the bite was just the right size to accommodate the (lower case) "a" of Apple. For the past few years the logo has been one solid colour in any event.
Second Story:
Steve Jobs had worked during the summer at an apple farm, and admired the Beatles' record label, Apple. He also believed Apples to be the most perfect fruit. He and Steve Wozniak were trying to figure out a name for their new company, and they decided that if they couldn't think of one by the end of the day that was better than Apple, they would choose Apple. They couldn't think of anything better, so on April 1, 1976, Apple Computer, Inc. was born.
But they needed a logo. The first design included Sir Isaac Newton, a tree and a banner that said "Apple Computer." Jobs decided they needed a less busy logo, one that would signify a brand. The second logo attempt was very similar to the current logo, but without the bite taken out of it. Jobs thought this logo looked too much like an orange. The third attempt was the logo that Apple still uses.
...and the REAL truth about the Apple Logo:
The Apple LogoOne of Ron Wayne’s first duties after co-founding Apple was to designa logo for the infant company. The logo he created was a pen-and-inkdrawing of Sir Isaac Newton leaning against an apple tree with aportion of a William Wordsworth poem (Prelude, Book III, Residence ofCambridge) running around the border: “Newton … A mind forevervoyaging through strange seas of thought … alone.”Wayne’s logo wasused for a shorttime, but Jobseventually came tofeel that it was toocerebral and noteasily reproducedat small sizes, so inApril 1977, heinstructed RobJanov, an artdirector at theRegis McKennapublic relationsagency, to come upwith a better logo.Janov started witha black and whitesilhouette of anapple, but feltsomething wasmissing. “I wantedto simplify theshape of an apple,and by taking abite—a byte,right?—out of the side, it prevented the apple from looking like acherry tomato,” explains Janov.For a touch of class, Janov added six colorful, horizontal stripes thatpaid tribute to the Apple II’s impressive color capabilities. Althoughseparating the green, yellow, orange, red, purple, and blue bars withthin black lines would have reduced registration problems duringreproduction, Jobs nixed the proposal, resulting in the Apple logo aswe know it today, which former president Michael M. Scott calls “themost expensive bloody logo ever designed.” (Apple’s original logo was designed by Ron Wayne.)
Gruss
IceHouse
