The Rise and Fall of the Swoosh Logo

Intel killed their iconic swoosh, and with it, one of the last living titans of this logo cliché. So where did it come from, and is it really dead?

0:00 Intel has killed the swoosh
0:30 Non-cliché swooshes: Nike to NASA
1:17 The new breed
1:31 Factor 1) Desktop publishing
2:20 Factor 2) The dot com bubble
3:07 Enter: The Millennium Swoosh
4:10 Good swoosh: Amazon
6:10 Bad swoosh: Capital One
7:47 The death of the swoosh?
9:30 Outro (Easter Egg)

Further reading:

Logo Hell by Steven Lekowicz

#swoosh #logo #design

Music from Streambeats and Epidemic Sound

[indyvids]

Finally. Now that I have finally convinced Intel to kill the last swoosh, I can add a swoosh to my own logo, and appear original by default. It's all coming to place.

[ZhoRZh]

If you give it enough time, every logo will eventually become a sans serif text in pastel shades.

[TheLegitAlpha]

Minimalist logos will inevitably fall out of favor at some point.

Yes, PepsiCo still uses a swoosh.

[Thirdeariespace]

And just a few months later, Burger King dropped their swoosh. While Head and Shoulders have now apparently combined the most cliché trends of the 00s and the 10s by having a single colour, flat swoosh logo...

[khazermashkes]

I would love to hear about current overused trends!

[IanZainea]

I'm over the super minimalist logos that are all the rage now. It was cool 10 years ago when it started. But now everything is monotone and boring. I want some character back! Lol. Also, juicy fruit still has a swoosh. But it's also a smile.

[pigeon]

Really enjoyable video! I’d love to see a similar rise/fall of 3D effect/gradient logos that were really prevalent in early smartphones!

[plixplop]

The bottom curve of the Amazon "Z" also helps reinforce the smirky smile, like it is altogether being scrunched up slightly. Great video!

[rajavlitra]

Didnt even notice that was a thing.

Intel just sticking to its wordmark is a bad idea imo. Made it less visuslly striking. (Do you think brands doing the wordmark thing is a growing trend?)

[Panzer_Runner]

McLaren still has the swoosh, very big car company and has a lot of history and heritage.

[MattAndImprov]

I think the swoosh also needs to be linked to coffee cup rings, something late 90s that was a popular design element that yelled workplace, casual, and deconstructed/messy.

[oscarcabrera]

5:55 What?? I actually believe Nike's swoosh is super meaningful. It is dynamic and well branded but also a great concept: as most of you know, the wings of the victory, the godess Nike (Nique. I don't know exactly how it's spelled in english).

[jeff__w]

When I think about it, I think the swoosh has its predecessor in the boomerang of the mid-1950s to mid-1960s, as mentioned in Thomas Hine’s 1986 book _Populuxe._ As the _NYT_ book review noted at the time:

_One of the most pervasive images was the boomerang shape (an acute angle turned on its side), a “symbol of dynamism and of flight” that turned up in the old Chrysler Corporation logo, on Speedo bathing suits—and modified, somewhat, in butterfly chairs, McDonald's arches and assorted World's Fair pavilions._

You could find it in Formica’s _Skylark_ pattern and Eero Saarinen’s TWA terminal. Even logo for _The Jetsons_ had a swoosh-like _J_ with the name superimposed over a very Populuxe aqua blue boomerang. The shape felt “dynamic” and “forward moving” but it also felt “space age” and “futuristic.”

[aitor.online]

maybe its because i am a zoomer or maybe its because graphic design is only a hobby for me but i quite like the swoosh. To me its kind of retro, almost like vaporwave in a way where it reminds me of a time where people were super optimistic about tech, its such an iconic symbol from when i was a kid. It was used in so many things that its been permanetly etched into my brain lmao

[rubiesncreme]

I always assumed the swoosh for Nike was also related to the wings of the company's namesake goddess.

[christophstahl]

The swoosh logo had it's meaning back in the 90's. You can see it clearly in the video on the "e business solutions". We got a new letter associated with the internet: @. Basicly a lowercase a with a swoosh, so designers put the swoosh around other letters aswell - and words - and everything else. Back then you had the easy connection to that mysterious world of "being online". Then came the addition of dots to logos or even adding ".com" to logos. This was often used for online companies of course but also other brands started to add that to seem more modern. Most swoosh logos were bad when they got made, but today they are so much worse. The amazon logo however is fantastic. That is quality work. It conveys so much. you got the arrow, the a -> z and on top of that you get the smile. It is one of the early friendly (and cute) logos that we see so many today.

[hamzahsajjad]

This is crazy specific and I am ALL FOR IT

[creatinotionchannel]

I came to your channel for the Papyrus video. I stayed for the clipart and other great videos. I love them. You have become one of my favorite channels in this past week. Keep up the great work. It so accessible and gives great overviews.

[Nick-kzdg]

*Designer:* "So what can I do for you?"
*AAA:* "Give us the exact same logo but with a swoosh."

[dinamitemaster]

Can't wait for the day when you'll be able to make "the rise and fall of minimalist logos"