Later on, the revolutionary design firm Regis McKenna, who also helped develop brand identity for competitors like Compaq and Intel, would continue to work with Apple by creating a full business and marketing plan for the company. Apple II’s defining feature of color graphics was communicated well through the spectrum of colors found amongst the redesigned Apple logo. The redesign debuted just before the computer’s launch at the West Coast Computer Fair in 1977. This version of the logo was a nod towards the Apple II, the world’s first computer with a full color display. Rob Janoff in aninterview with Forbes MagazineĬaption: Rob Janoff’s logo redesign for Apple The Apple computer was the only one that could show images in color.” And the rainbow colors had to do with the USP of this product. And I was like, there’s a bit of wit that will last! Any logo that makes a joke or engages you in that way you’re going to remember. And you took a bite out of Apple. I wasn’t computer literate enough to see that initially. You just designed something you didn’t realize. What’s funny, though, is after I came up with it my creative director, Chip, said “Oh guess what, Rob. Also metaphorically the bite indicated biting into all the knowledge users would get out of this computer. So the bite in the apple was initially meant to indicate that it was an apple, and not something else. Lots of different fruits have a stem, are sort of round with a leaf dangling off of it. It’s to get people to notice that an Apple computer was not some piece of hard-edged metal that has no place in your home and that your kid wouldn’t want to be near. The apple shape itself didn’t have anything to do with computers. The designer himself stated there was no reason behind the placement of the colors themselves, but noted that Jobs wanted to have green at the top “because that’s where the leaf was.” A bold and modern sans-serif font accompanied the apple graphic. The colorful version, dubbed the “rainbow apple”, was chosen. The logo was seen with stripes, as a solid color, and as a metallic apple. Janoff brought two versions of the logo to the meeting one version included a bite and one without. The nerdy play on words (bite/byte) was an incredibly relevant reference for the tech company, and the happy coincidence of the design has only contributed to its memorability. Janoff’s colleague revealed that 'bytes' were the foundation of computing. The bite seen in the Apple logo was originally implemented so people would not confuse an apple for a cherry tomato. Janoff studied actual apples with bites taken from them in every angle possible. The only direction Janoff received from jobs was to not “make it cute”. Jobs reportedly believed the first logo to look old fashioned, and it was proven to be difficult to reproduce in smaller sizes. The following year, Steve Jobs hired designer Rob Janoff, an Art Director at Regis McKenna and well-known for his work with corporate design and branding, to create a new logo for the developing startup. The inaugural name of the company, “Apple Computer Co.”, wrapped around the top and bottom on a fabric-like banner. Inside of the picture frame read a text from the romantic English poet, “Newton… a mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought”. Created with India ink, the black and white illustration featured the English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, and author, Isaac Newton, sitting under an apple tree. The very first logo for Apple was designed in 1976 by two of the founders, Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne, and inspired by a quote from Wordsworth.

6 color apple logo