LogoShop Part 9: Coca-Cola
Tuning up the brand identity of America’s favorite soda.
This is part of a blog series on logo design. Read additional articles on DC Comics, the Justice League, Superman, LexCorp, Nightwing, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Punisher, Pepsi, and Adidas.
Coca-Cola, the king of sodas. The brand is a true piece of Americana, with ad campaigns that define our cultural history, and that are etched in our collective memories.
Coca-Cola’s logo is iconic, making use of a script font that ties the brand to its 19th century origins. It’s classic, sophisticated, and has a glaring mistake that begs to be fixed.
So let’s do that.
Disclaimer: LogoShop is a blog series designed to reimagine popular brands, revealing the nuance that goes in to crafting a lasting brand identity. This project is strictly speculative, and has not been solicited or endorsed by any of the brands I discuss.
The Background
The drink that would become Coca-Cola was invented by John Pemberton, a Confederate Colonel and a Civil War veteran, who was attempting to create a substitute for morphine. The formula was re-worked into a nonalcoholic drink, first sold to the public in 1886.
A long series of corporate maneuverings ensued, which eventually led to the creation of the Coca-Cola Company in 1892. At this point, the original formula and its many variants were brought under a single name.
Coca-Cola’s branding and ubiquitous ad campaigns would go on to be a staple of 20th century American culture, becoming the de facto soft drink of the United States.
The Coca-Cola logo was originally designed by Pemberton’s bookkeeper, Frank Mason Robinson, in 1885. Robinson made use of a version of Spencerian script to create the logo, which was the dominant form of cursive handwriting at the time. The mark was officially trademarked in 1893, with the words “Trade mark” added to the tail of the first “C.”
In 1941, the entire Coca-Cola logo was refined, with more consistent styling and an adjustment to the the tail of the first “C.” Although this version of the logo appeared in various contexts and styles, its basic shape has remained largely unchanged to this day. In contrast to nearly every other brand with this much longevity, Coca-Cola has been remarkably consistent.
The Problem
The issue with the Coca-Cola logo goes back to its roots. Handwritten fonts, especially script fonts, often use embellishments and flourishes to create a sense of balance and cohesion.
Roll the clock back a hundred years before Coca-Cola’s invention to the US Declaration of Independence, and you’ll see a variety of tactics used to ensure the document was fully justified against its left and right margins. A common trick was to extend the tail of the final letter in a word to fill the negative space.
Coca-Cola’s logo uses this principle in the capital “C’s,” the first of which underlines the word “Coca,” and the second creates a bridge with the “L” in “Cola.”
The end result is a pretty glaring typographic error, with two distinct baselines in a single line of text. And maybe that idiosyncrasy is part of its old-fashioned charm.
But that charm doesn’t work on me.
The Solution
Trying to fix the baseline on the Coca-Cola logo was like trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube; every time I fixed one issue, I created another. In the end, the simplest solution prevailed.
I started by pulling up the “-ola” in “Cola,” putting them on the same baseline as the “-oca” in “Coca.” Naturally, I had to shorten the “L” ascender to accomplish this. The problem this created was that it opened up a space beneath the word “Cola,” throwing off the visual balance of the logo as a whole.
From there, I explored different ways to even out the logo. Ultimately, this amounted to either extending the tail of the first “C,” or adding a stand-alone flourish beneath “Cola.”
In the end, I was left with two strong solutions, both of which solved the issue.
But, a decision had to be made. In comparing the finalists side-by-side, the extra long tail on the first “C” just seemed to add too much bulk to the overall mark. The simple underline kept the lockup tight, and could more easily fit on a label. So that option won out.
And as a final touch, I took extra care to match the angles of the first and second “C’s,” which isn’t the case in the current logo. (See the before and after below.)
There you have it. One of the most recognizable brands in the world with a subtle but significant adjustment, one that pairs the style of the original with typographic consistency.
Now you’ll never see the Coca-Cola logo the same way again. You’re welcome. To help you cope, here’s a set of desktop wallpapers from this article.
That’s it for this installment. Join me next time where I pick apart the logo of Coca-Cola’s distinguished competition, Pepsi.
Hi, I’m Daniel Beadle, writer, artist, and design consultant. Follow me and my work at DanielBeadle.com.
