19 Embarrassing Early Tech Logos

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19 Embarrassing Early Tech Logos

Long before tech companies earn their first billion or two and gain their max level ability to successfully undermine the very democracy on which the country they were made in was founded, they humbly start out as a couple of nerds' vanity project that comes together between their programming classes and their not getting invited to parties (it’s okay, we never were either). It is in this crucial phase that the very important act of branding is initiated, with some truly horrifying results. From the overwrought messes of too much design to the underthought first drafts that didn’t look at all the implications, these early designs really did not stand up to the test of time, as the companies using them clearly realized. Come along with us, and let’s go on a journey through the annals of the decades to see what bland, horrific, or downright ugly first takes of companies’ branding looks like. 

Scary Naughty Dog

NAUGHTY DOG 1989 NALITY DO NAUGHTY DOG WARES Before they settled on a more sensible and legible logo, Naughty Dog created this nightmare hound that is half Poochie from The Simpsons, half Chester the Cheetah, and all drawn-with-a-computer-mouse.

Source: Mishes

Groovy Microsoft

MICROSOFT 1975 MICRO Microsoft SOfT CRACKED COM Microsoft's original logo harkens to the technological heights of the mid 1970s; SO grab your bell bottoms, comb your mustache, and break out your 500 computing machine with 64 KB of memory.

Source: Cnet

IBM Through Time

IBM HAN B 1889 HR CRACKEDCO IBM was first known as the International Time Recording Company several decades before computers were to be invented, and we can't be too hard on a company that was in business during the first Grover Cleveland presidency; however I will say that it looks

Source: Alphr

Google's Backrubs

GOOGLE 1995 Backrub Google BackRub was SO named because their algorithm counted backlinks which led to better search results. Their logo, ripped straight from the cover of a steamy romance novel you'd buy at an airport, shows Google co-founder Larry Page sensually stroking... the inside of a tabletop scanner.

Source: Vox

Amazon's Rainforest

AMAZON 1997 amazon amazon.com Back when Amazon was just Earth's biggest bookstore, their logo was a blocky 'A' cut through by a river. The logo was deemed too bland and replaced, which is good because it conjures images of a rainforest being cut down, which is too on the

Source: Marketplace

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