History of the Lego Logo Design Evolution

10 Jun History of the Lego Logo Design Evolution

History of the Lego Logo Design Evolution

For every company across the world, the logo design plays a substantial role. It drives brand awareness and creates the company’s sense of identity. Most company logos may seem so simple before our eyes. In many cases, we take them just as mere means of identification. 

In most instances, these logos represent specific meanings, which are generally the company’s key ideas and beliefs. The finest versions of the logo designs you see today have probably travelled a long way. They started many years ago but have undergone lots of transformations to become what they are now.

In this article, we have described the Lego logo design history. We will explain how the whole idea came about and also the factors that made the logo to keep on changing with time. But before we get started, what is LEGO? What does it do? How and when did it all begin?

The History of the LEGO Brand

LEGO is a Denmark-based company that specialises in the manufacture of a wide range of toys. Lego is famous for its popular interlocking building blocks and the LEGO movie that are excellent means of recreation for the LEGO juniors in all parts of the world. 

The company was established in 1932 by a Dane, Ole Kirk Christiansen. During the establishment time, Kirk’s son, Godfred, served as his right-hand man. 

The most surprising thing to learn, however, is the fact that Lego was never started as a big company. LEGO started just as a small business, making wooden toys, ladders, ironing boards, and stools. But since the establishment in 1932, Lego has grown into a sizeable, trustworthy organisation with overwhelming global recognition. 

Today, you could easily walk into a LEGO store anywhere and purchase some of the latest LEGO classic products. 

The LEGO origin is attributed to two Danish words (Leg Godt), which stand for “Play Well.” These are the two Danish words that were written in capitals, and the name “LEGO” was born.

LEGO Logo Design Evolution

The first official LEGO logo was designed in 1934 after the establishment of the company in 1932. Since then, the logo has undergone numerous transformations but not necessarily on the LEGO logo name. If companies were ranked based on how many times they had changed their logos, then LEGO would honestly emerge the best. 

Two main factors drove the transformation of the LEGO logo ideas. These included the introduction of new products in the company or the entrance into a new market, especially the United States. 

During the logo evolution, the key aspects which were continually being modified are the typeface of the letters, the shape of the logo, and the colour. It’s worth noting that the font never experienced many changes throughout the journey. 

The LEGO font almost remained the same apart from that on the first LEGO logo and towards the end of the evolution. In terms of shape, the first LEGO logo did not include any kind of form. It was composed of only the letters “LEGO,” making it the simplest variant of all. 

However, in the course of the journey, there were massive changes in the shape, which included Circular, Oval, Rectangular, and then the final, square shape. 

Just like the shape, the colour of the letters also experienced an array of modifications. The colour changed from black to orange, yellow, red, and then to white, which we see on the logo even today. 

Additionally, the evolution of colour also included modifications of the outline, as we’ve explained in detail in the sections below.

History of the LEGO Logo Design

This is the most incredible section of this piece, pointing out LEGO worlds logo concepts as one of the best. We’re going to learn how the LEGO logo appeared as well as the year when it happened. 

We’re going to start from 1934 when the first logo was unveiled and then take you through up to 1998 when the final and the present iconic form was designed. Let’s begin!

1934 to 1936

This is the period within which the first LEGO logo was designed. As we have already mentioned in the above section, this was the purest form of all the designs. 

The logo consisted of the company name “LEGO,” written in bold-black colour and not enclosed in any kind of shape. This design is the one that served for a short time. It went for about two years, and then LEGO designed a new logo. 

1936 to 1946

This is the time during which the need for LEGO to include the logo on its products arose. This left the company without an alternative but to redesign the logo so that it could easily be included in the products. 

This LEGO logo new idea was also text-based but included a little more details. The logo comprised of the italicised brand name, “LEGO,” positioned in between two parallel lines on both sides. This was one of the longest-serving LEGO logos and remained active for about a decade. 

1946 to 1950

The year 1946 marked quite a tremendous transformation in the LEGO logo design history. This was the time when the company unveiled its first-ever colourful logo. It was also a text-based type but of two different colours, orange and black. 

The two colours were a symbol of high confidence, happiness, and energy, and they made the logo look more presentable and official than the earlier versions. 

During this period of the logo evolution, there were up to two different LEGO logo variants. The first one took the form of an Orange LEGO-lettering blended with a black cursive “Klodster” at the bottom. 

This variant was extremely modern and with a great sense of professionalism and expression of the company’s commitment. 

The second variant came in a three-dimensional design. Its finer graphical details and the addition of a brown and black base gave it a traditional toy-package look. For this reason, the logo was used mainly on the wooden toys and not in documents as the first variant. 

1950 to 1953

Remember what we mentioned at the beginning of this section? We stated that the transformations in the logo designs were propelled by either introduction of a new product or getting into a unique market setting. 

Therefore, the introduction of LEGO plastic toys in late 1949 was never going to pass unanswered. It’s what pushed them for the designing of a new logo in 1950.  

This new emblem was a way of celebrating the latest company’s discovery and also for attaining a new, better identity. 

It was designed in a circular shape with a very thick black outline. Inside the framework were the words “Billund Denmark,” written in white colour, then in the central part of a white circle, the brand name “LEGO” was displayed in an extremely stylised manner. 

1953 to 1955

This is probably the time when LEGO tried to associate its logo with the end-users of its products. According to information published on the LEGO website and other LEGO news outlets, the emblem was designed to inspire the kids with great joy and a sense of friendliness. Below are some main reasons why children need to play with toys, after all.

During this period, the LEGO logo design included three different colours – red, yellow, and white. The model took two shapes, either a rectangle or an oval. 

Their first design was the red LEGO-lettering with a white outline placed inside a yellow rectangle. It was a very fresh and attractive design. 

The other two variants were in the form of red oval shapes. They resembled each other in almost every aspect except the colour of the brand name outlines and straight line that stroke through the LEGO-lettering. 

The first one in this category comprised of the brand “LEGO,” written in white and with a skinny black outline. 

The line that stroke straight through the brand name, in this case, was white and somehow thick. The other one was the LEGO-lettering also written in white but with a very thick black outline. The striking line was also thick but black. 

1955 to 1960

This is the age during which LEGO logo evolution never recorded significant changes in the logo design. It involved the perfection of the previous versions to create a greater sense of brand identity. 

But most importantly, during this period, the logo experienced the transformation of shape from oval to rectangular in late 1959. 

Very remarkably, the colour of the word-mark was also changed to yellow, and the black outlines were made bolder. 

1960 to 1964

We would like to underline the fact that the LEGO logo received minor modifications from 1960 onwards. This is mainly why if you try comparing the versions of this period with the current one, then you’ll realise a considerable resemblance. 

This is where LEGO decided to say goodbye to the earlier oval designs entirely.   

The emblem emerged in the form of White LEGO-lettering with black outlines inside a red rectangle. Then, there was something more to this logo design; it had the “System” inscription added at the bottom of the LEGO brand in the rectangle. 

1964 to 1972

This age recorded probably the most colourful logo of all the designs. The rectangular design from the previous (1960 – 1964) era was joined with another rectangle, decorated with up to 5 different colours. 

The five colours were yellow, red, blue, white, and black vertically arranged in that order. The first 1960/64 rectangular logo was put on the left joined with the second highly coloured one on the right. Colourful lines were a symbol of joy. 

1972 to 1998

The entry of LEGO into the US market 40 years from its establishment, catalysed further logo modifications despite the design consistency that was already coming in. 

Surprisingly, the LEGO logo creator decided to change the multicoloured rectangular part of the logo resulting in a red squared logo. 

The LEGO-lettering at the centre was in bold with double black & yellow outlines. While these changes made the LEGO logo look more robust, the overall picture remained incredibly kind and friendly. 

1998 to Date

This era of the LEGO logo story has never experienced significant modifications. Only some finer details have undergone little changes so that the logo remains relevant as per the company’s present agenda and values. 

Some of these changes include squeezing the LEGO-letters together and making the whole emblem a bit narrower, and it’s LEGO’s iconic image we see today.

The history of the LEGO logo design is one of the longest and most diverse concepts ever seen. So, is there any other information you believe we should have included? 

And, by the way, could you please share with us one crucial thing you have learnt, we’ll be so glad!

Author Bio: Ellen Royce is a well-known web designer. She has developed immense interest in this field and helps several minds like her to excel in web designing. She has designed many outstanding website pages. In this article, she has tried her best to help out those who are willing to try their hands in web design.  

Last update on 2020-06-10 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API