A lot of thought goes into the details of a company logo to ensure that it's memorable and eye-catching. But how easy are they to identify from close-up? Click or scroll through to test your logo knowledge with these 30 big-name companies.

The founder and owner of this company is on track to be the world’s first trillionaire by 2026, and has a staggering current net worth of almost $180 billion (£143bn)…

In 2019, 4,000 items sold every minute on Amazon in the US alone, and that number has only increased as people have been stuck at home during lockdown. The logo’s yellow tick resembles a smile, which emphasises the company’s focus on customer satisfaction, while linking the letter A to Z symbolises that Amazon sells pretty much everything.

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While the Word featuring in this company’s logo is missing from this close-up, you might still Excel in guessing what it is…

Microsoft’s logo has changed with the times, from a spiralling disco pattern in the 1970s, when the company was founded, to a more corporate design in the early 1980s that was nicknamed “blibbet”. Today’s logo came about in 2012, with each of the four squares representing a colour used in the company’s branding forming a window when put together.

This logo belongs to a company that was given the royal seal of approval back in 1857 by Queen Isabella II of Spain and has since become a global institution worth €35.7 billion ($41.4bn/£32.5bn)…

The Santander Group is the largest bank in Spain and one of the largest in Europe, while also catering for large parts of the Americas, Asia and Australia. The company logo is a flame which, according to Santander, represents fire and evokes “the role it has played in human evolution and prosperity”.

If you like your food by the bucketful, chances are you’re quite familiar with this company…

The most recognisable face in the fast food world, Colonel Sanders has been on the KFC logo since he brought his special blend of 11 herbs and spices to the people of Kentucky in 1952. The portrait’s colours have changed over the years – initially monochrome, the logo turned blue and white in 1991 and was finalised as red and white in 1997.

This logo belongs to a business that went from small condensed milk producers to the largest food and drink company in the world…

German-born Henri Nestlé founded the eponymous food and drink company back in 1867, when he started selling a flour and milk concoction as a nutritional food for babies. This was when the nest symbol was first used as a logo. Fast forward 150 years and the image of birds nesting still represents the company today.

This luxury company has been driving fans mad since it was founded in Stuttgart, Germany in 1926…

The original logo for Mercedes-Benz was a gold star, but in 1909 the sons of co-founder Gottlieb Daimler replaced it with this three-point version, which is what their late father had used to mark family postcards. Until the coronavirus pandemic broke out, the luxury car manufacturer had seen eight years of consistent annual growth in terms of sales, delivering more than 2.3 million cars in 2019. 

This company is owned by the richest family in the world, the Waltons, who had an eye-watering combined wealth of $175.2 billion (£138.8bn) in 2019, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

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Walmart's logo started out with simple lettering when it launched in 1962 with the font chosen by the printer. In fact, many see this as not a true logo. The company switched to a frontier-style logo in 1964 that lasted for 20 years. After a number of tweaks over the years, the current logo with lower-case lettering, rather than all capitals as it had been before, was born in 2008. The yellow 'sparklets' are supposed to represent co-founder Sam Walton’s spark of inspiration to open his first store, and each one stands for one of Walmart’s six key values: customer, respect, integrity, associates, service and excellence.

This company has given a whole new meaning to the word “chill” and had over 192.5 million paid users worldwide by the second quarter of this year...

Netflix is the world’s largest streaming service and has become somewhat of a cultural reference too. The use of red letters with either a black or white background is designed to give the Netflix logo a cinematic feel, as is the arc that shapes the bottom of the wording.

Founded in America(no) in 1971, this company now has over 24,000 stores all over the world…

Inspired by a character in Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick, this coffee chain’s founders came up with the name Starbucks as they were setting up their first shop in the city of Seattle, which inspired them to embrace the sea in their branding. Hence the two-tailed mythical creature on the front of every one of their cups. A lot of thought went into how the Starbucks siren could be enticing but not too perfect, and so designers made her eyes slightly asymmetric so that she would look like less of a cut-out and a bit more human. 

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This global company operates across 79 countries, so you might not need to muster up too much energy to guess the logo…

BP’s logo is the Helios, which is named after the Greek god of the sun. BP implemented the symbol as its logo as it represents the earth’s main energy source. According to the company, the colours represent heat, light and nature.

This Danish company has inspired generations of kids to get building, from the Star Wars Millennium Falcon to the Taj Mahal – just make sure you don’t step on it… 

Starting off as a collection of wooden toys in 1932, LEGO now tops children’s Christmas lists each year without fail. The current logo appeared in 1973; the same year the company kick-started production and manufacturing in the US.

Originating as a playing cards producer, this Japanese company’s name translates as “leave luck to heaven”…

Nintendo’s logo has been everywhere this year as people have sought escapism through games during the coronavirus pandemic. The “racetrack” outline is a signature part of the company’s branding – it first featured in 1972 on the Autoplayer, which played rhythms on the Nintendo Ele-Conga, a small mechanical drum toy.

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This company is looking to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy...

In 2017 Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to explain the meaning behind the logos of his various ventures, and the Tesla “T” is supposed to resemble a cross-section of an electric motor. In 2019, the company delivered nearly 368,000 vehicles – a record for the company – bearing the symbol.

This global energy company has likely kept your car running at some point, from trips to the supermarket to outings at the beach…

The origins of this particular logo are quite obvious, but when Shell was first founded in the late 1800s, a more true-to-life black and white pecten sketch was used in the company’s branding. Red and yellow were later added to the design to add brightness and as a sign of the Spanish heritage of many of California’s residents.

It might not be plane to see close-up, but this logo is iconic in its industry and has existed for over 100 years…

The image of a crane in flight existed as a logo before it was claimed by Lufthansa, and it was originally designed for the German shipping company Deutsche Luft-Reederei. Lufthansa claimed the symbol as its own in 1953.

From 24/7 shifts to playing a starring role in the 2000 Tom Hanks film Castaway, this company really does go the extra mile...

If you look closely at the FedEx logo you’ll see a white arrow in the middle of “Ex” – this is supposed to hint at the company’s speedy delivery service. The combination of purple and orange is said to stand for prosperity and prestige.

Founded in 2004, this company started out as a Harvard campus-based app for comparing pictures of fellow students and rating who was more attractive…

Facebook is now the world’s largest social media platform, with an incredible 2.6 billion monthly active users (as of the first quarter of 2020). Luckily the original “hot or not” format of Facemash fell away pretty quickly and TheFacebook, which would later become just Facebook, was born. The logo hasn’t really changed since the site was founded, and Facebook’s main colour has always been blue because founder Mark Zuckerberg has red-green colour blindness.

After innovating for over 125 years, this company logo has likely made its way into your home at some point…

From smart washing machines to hi-tech ice makers, General Electric specialises in levelling up home appliances to make them more user-friendly and efficient. The swirling font that makes up General Electric’s logo is supposed to resemble a stove burner, which was one of the company’s first products.

This company has been around since 1958, and chances are you’ve tapped or swiped your way through plenty of its products…

There are 3.3 billion Visa cards worldwide, and they can be found in more than 200 countries. The blue and yellow always found on Visa products represent the blue skies and golden hills of California, which is where the founder of the company, Bank of America, is headquartered.

Another company looking to innovate across the globe, this LoGo can be found across all manner of electronics…

The letters “L” and “G” stand for “Life’s Good”, and by placing them in a circle they symbolise the world, technology, future, and health, according to LG. It is stylised to look like a face, which represents the company’s relationship with its customers, while red supposedly represents friendliness and LG’s commitment to delivering the best.

This Czech manufacturer was founded in 1895 and actually started life as an arms manufacturer…

In 1926, Škoda registered the winged arrow logo that it still uses today and it is a symbol of progress and movement into the future. The inspiration for the image is said to be a Native American headdress, but even Škoda itself says that “its origin is veiled in mystery and is a source of many legends”.

This company is the cream of the crop when it comes to ice-cool packaging and jazzy names, so you probably won’t need to phish around for too long to crack this logo…

Ben & Jerry’s has been delighting ice cream lovers with quirky flavours since 1978. The brand’s current look came about in 1998 and can be found across all the company’s products, from the classic Cookie Dough to its vegan and Greek yoghurt ranges.

When it comes to financial services providers, this company is one of the most popular – particularly if you happen to be based in Germany…

Founded in 1890, the original Allianz logo resembled the German imperial eagle with the coats of arms of Berlin and Munich. A more stylised version came along in 1923, with one bigger eagle encompassing three smaller ones, representing the new subsidiaries. Today those three eagle shapes still feature in the logo, albeit more subtly, and they represent the company’s three business areas: insurance, asset management, and retirement provision.

While it may be the basis for this company’s name, you needn’t listen to traditional folklore to work out whose logo this is…

In the Arabian Nights tales, Ali Baba uses the phrase “Open, Sesame!” to unlock a cave full of treasures. Jack Ma, the founder of the e-commerce site, liked the similarities between the story and his new business, and so Alibaba was born. The company logo is an "A" containing the portrait of a satisfied customer, which reflects the intention to create positive relationships between buyers and sellers through the marketplace.

This company is currently a strong contender in the race to find a coronavirus vaccine…

Founded in 1849, Pfizer is the biggest pharmaceutical company in the world in terms of revenue, with annual sales of $51.8 billion (£40.8bn) in 2019. Blue is the most popular logo colour there is, and Pfizer have used it in its pill-shaped company branding. 

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When it comes to international companies, this tech giant has certainly made a lot of noise over the years…

From PlayStations to televisions, Sony is responsible for a lot of the home tech that we use every day, as well as being one of the 'Big Three' record companies. The simple logo used by Sony was designed in 1973 and has remained unchanged in almost 50 years, despite several plans to tweak it.

Originally called “Brad’s Drink” in 1893, this company’s products will likely put a pep in your step…

The name “Pepsi” hails back to the drink’s origins, as “dyspepsia” was another word for indigestion, the ailment that the drink with initially designed to cure. In the 1950s, the red, white and blue colour scheme was first introduced during the wave of US national pride following World War II. The circular shape comes from an earlier logo that was bottle cap-shaped.

Slogans are designed to stick in your mind, and a parodied version of this particular company’s wording even made its way into the 1997 Batman & Robin film…

As Batman takes his credit card in the film, he says that he “never leaves the cave without it”, which is a take on American Express's “Don’t leave home without it” slogan. The first American Express logo was a pit bull terrier with “AM.EX.CO” printed on its coat, symbolising that the credit card company was watching over customers’ money. American Express last updated its logo in 2018, swapping the gradient effect for a solid blue across the square. 

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This company has been producing sweet treats since 1845, and its edible bunnies and bears have become seasonal staples…

Master chocolatier Lindt tried to emulate its product through the logo’s cursive font, which looks like piped chocolate. The image next to the text is a small dragon, which makes up part of the original Lindt family coat of arms. Lindt say the dragon is there to keep an eye on the flowing chocolate to ensure quality.

 

You can bank on the fact that you’ll recognise this company logo if you really put some thought into it…

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is the largest bank in the world, with annual revenues of $110.5 billion (£87bn) in 2018. The shape of the company logo is based on ancient Chinese coins, while “工” is the Chinese character for “work” or “industry” and makes up the first letter of the bank’s abbreviated name “ICBC”.

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