United States Postal Service

The eagle remains, but in a very streamlined style. Also note the change in font, which is less easily readable.

                          

Almost always Golden Arches

Only one McDonald’s in the world has turquoise arches. Officials in Sedona, Arizona, thought yellow would clash with the natural red rock.

                                           

J C Penney

Penney has just changed their logo -- again, the second time in a year. The new one features only the company initials ( or ticker symbol for us stock geeks), lower case letters, and a box that is supposed to remind you of the United States flag.


Last year's logo had some of the same elements: the box, the lower case letters, but the full name.



The logo before that was much more formal.



It will be interesting to watch the reaction to the new logo as it is quite a departure from the previous ones -- and I don't think anyone says "hey, let's go shopping, I need something at jcp".

Kelly Services

Kelly Services provides temporary help services worldwide.

The movie "Nine to Five" with Dolly Parton describes the business environment of the 1970s and earlier when men were management, women were secretaries and clerical help, and the glass ceiling was very low. This logo epitomizes that world; without a doubt, office temps were all women.

The company's current logo is either more politically correct or just reflects the modern experience. Women are CEOs of major companies like Pepsico and Hewlett Packard and office temps are sometimes men.

United Parcel Service

Prior to 2003, the United Parcel Service logo featured the "bow-tied package".


They kept the shield shape but the new one looks more modern and computer generated instead of hand-drawn. Like Caterpillar and Deere, UPS has done a good job of making a color synonomous with the brand.



When you think of UPS, its service and and its brand, "packages" and "brown" both work.

FedEx

The original logo was used for twenty years, from 1974 to 1994.



The new logo has two interesting aspects, in addition to the crisp, modern type face. First, each division has a color-coded version of the corporate logo.



And there is the hidden "go this way, make forward progress" arrow. Squint at the white space between the "e" and the "x" near the bottom. See it yet? If not, here's the hint.

Procter and Gamble

No discussion of the history of corporate logos would be complete without retelling the story of how Procter & Gamble was forced to change its logo.

From 1851 on P&G used variants of this "man in the moon" logo.

                                              

In the 1980s rumors began circulating that the logo was a Satanic symbol. The company denied the rumors, tweaked the logo to remove the offending design elements, and finally in 1985 introduced its new, unoffensive logo.

                    

Luckily branding is more important for the company's products than its corporate identity.