Evolution of logos, all of them have been ironed

Have you ever wondered how the logos of Apple, Microsoft and Google looked like 30 years ago? Did they look the same as they look now? How did they change and most importantly why did they change?

Logo identifies the brand. They are the fundamental to building the company's brand and communicating the audience they target. A company’s brand is a succinct but comprehensive embodiment of everything the company stands for. The best logos are recognizable, memorable and let you know what the company is about with just a glance. But even the biggest companies in the world have to change with the times and grow as their brand grows. While re-branding is an expensive (and sometimes risky) undertaking, these companies have thrown caution to the wind and changed up their logos – and most of them have done it over and over.


Most of the logo now has evolved so much that the evolution has led to a logo with no trace of the original. Some have removed the text moving on, with the sign or symbol they adopted. Some have made it flat with mono-chromatic colors as if they have been ironed like Windows and Chrome. Today, let's take a look at the interesting stories behind the logos of some of the popular brands in the world that we see around.


Apple has an interesting story since they launched. It has one of the most recognizable logos in the world, but the company’s first logo was a complicated mess featuring Isaac Newton sitting under a tree, apple dangling above his head. The too-complex logo was scrapped after less than a year in favor of the iconic rainbow apple with a bite missing. When Steve Jobs returned to the helm of the company in 1997, the old rainbow was ditched in favor of a sleek, stylish monochrome apple which now features prominently on every product the company sells.

Shell back in 1900, when the company was started the logo was a realistic and simple shell which lies flat on the ground. This was a pectin or scallop shell, but today the company has a logo which is bold, colorful and much more simplistic. This has helped the company because this logo is more memorable and recognizable, accountable to the simplicity of the logo. The 1971 logo is still used by the company albeit with minor changes, but it has become so recognizable that it often appears without the company name now.

The logo of BMW or Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (Bavarian Motor Works) itself hasn’t changed a lot during the years, but now has a more stylish look due to the different gradients. The unchanged logo has made it easier for people to remember and has given the company more recognition.

NIKE. As the brand gained recognition, the company name was dropped from the logo, which made it more simplistic and memorable.

IBM or International Business Machines has perhaps simplified the most complex logo over the years.

Cannon. The first camera launched by the company in 1934, was named as Kwanon, after the Buddhist goddess of mercy. The logo included the wordings and a picture of the goddess with 1000 arms and flames. As the years went by, like all other logos we have seen above, the company strived to make the logo as simple and memorable as possible.

Google. The clarity of thought is visible in the company’s logo right from the very beginning.The exclamation mark were added after sometime after getting inspired by the exclamation mark of Yahoo. The name of the search engine is derived from Googol (meaning one followed by 100 zeros). The company now uses the same logo after removing that exclamation.

Chrome. The web browser of Google has also gone a big transformation in the recent years. The different glare and shine has been removed and the logo has been flattened out. The colors are taken from the colors in Google logo.

Microsoft didn't change over the years. The tagline changed after getting mocked by people. The look of the logo has remained pretty much the same. Basically, the company is so well renowned already, that I don’t think the logo needs to change, since people already recognize and connect with it worldwide.

Windows
The operating system of Microsoft had a total makeover once the Windows 8 version was released. Previously it had windows with a floating feel such that it looks like a moving forward and now it is simply a window featured in blue color.

Pepsi has transformed their logo very much over the years. From only the script to crown-script to bottle-cap-script to globe-script. Their current logo have done away with  the script altogether and the globe gained prominence.

LG was formed from two different companies named Lucky (chemical cosmetic company, 1947) and Goldstar (radio manufacturing plant, 1958). Actually, LG is a chaebol (a South Korean conglomerate). These companies all adopted the “Life is Good” tagline you often see alongside its logo. LG denies that their name now stands for Lucky Goldstar. They’re just “LG.”

Mercedes. In 1902, the logo for Mercedes was nothing more than the simple company name. However, it was changed to a 3 pointed star in 1909. The 3 pointed star which represented ‘making vehicles in land water and sky’. Over the years, the symbol has been improved vastly in design and simplicity. It has been recognized as a symbol representing luxury and top tier cars.

‘Nokia’ in Finnish means means a dark, furry animal we now call the Pine Marten weasel. However, this has little to do with the current business and brand image.

Wallmart. The company has tried out various colors and variation of the word Walmart over the years. In 1962, when Sam Walton started, the company, the logo had simply the word spelled in a very basic design. Walmart is probably one of the few companies, who have tried so many logos, but their current logo is more like the original logo, other than any other intermediate logo. The font differs a little from the original and is indeed more stylish, but the ‘Walmart’ word without a break appears for the first time after 1962. They have kept the star from 1992, but moved it to the end.

Audi is a German brand which produces cars and is a part of the Volkswagen Group. In 2009, Audi introduced new logo which is also the current one. The modern Audi logo shows a three-dimensional texture and shadowing, resulting in a polished chrome look. The Audi name is now smaller, has moved away from the center to the bottom left corner, while the font has changed as well.

source - internet - instantshift.com

Then you still have hope

We all know how important is to keep smiling in whatever situation we are in. There's a silver lining behind every cloud. But knowing is one thing and doing is another thing. Life gives us many reasons to smile and and we should be grateful to our creator for the wonderful life HE gave to us and signs which inspire us every now and then. I have not written this poem on my own, neither do I know the author's name, but it is worth sharing.

If you can look at the sunset and smile, and find beauty in the colors of a small flower, then you still have hope.

If you can find pleasure in the movement of a butterfly, and if the smile of a child can still warm your heart, then you still have hope.

If you can see the good in other people, and if the rain breaking on a roof top can still lull you to sleep, then you still have hope.

If the sight of a rainbow still makes you stop and stare in wonder, and if the soft fur of a favoured pet still feels pleasant under your fingertips, then you still have hope.

If you meet new people with a trace of excitement and optimism, and if you give people the benefit of the doubt, then you still have hope.

If you still offer your hand in friendship to others that have touched your life, and if receiving an unexpected card or letter still brings a pleasant surprise, then you still have hope.

If the suffering of others still fills you with pain and frustration, and if you refuse to let a friendship die, or accept that it must end, then you still have hope.

If you look forward to a time or place of quiet and reflection, and if you still watch love stories or want the endings to be happy, then you still have hope.

If you can look to the past and smile, and when faced with the bad, when told everything is futile, you can still look up and end the conversation with the phrase ... 'yes, but ....' Then you still have hope.

Hope is such a marvellous thing. It bends, it twists, it sometimes hides, but rarely does it break. It sustains us when nothing else can. It gives us reason to continue and courage to move ahead, when we tell ourselves we'd rather give in.

Hope puts a smile on our face when the heart cannot manage. Hope puts our feet on the path when our eyes cannot see it. Hope moves us to act when our souls are confused of the direction.

Hope is a wonderful thing, something to be cherished and nurtured and something that will refresh us in return. It can be found in each of us and it can bring light into the darkest of places. So never lose hope.

10/11/12 off we go on a road trip "phiiir"

After spending a year or so in Bangalore I was itching to leave the metropolis and get to a more serene place, away from the hustle-bustle, colored air and the tring pring of the smart phone. It could have been anything from looking for wild animals in the reserve or enjoy the bliss of the tea plantation on top of the hill or the calmness of the sea on the shore. Each one of us wanted an option to retreat that helps them to disconnect from the routine and hence reconnect themselves. Life has been easier Alhumdulillah and I always wanted to explore places which fascinated me. I have always enjoyed the journey more than the destination and this time it was not any different. We all were very excited, more than what I am today writing this travelogue. By the way we were 9 of us and we booked a Purple Chevrolet Tavera for our road trip which we would like to call as "phiiiiiir" which would translate to "Once Again" in English.

Our route as seen by the blue line (click on the image for better view)

Day 1:

The Purple Chevrolet Tavera acted like the Nokia phone's snake game character moving aroung Bangalore and picking each one of us and all the necessary items which was required for a road trip. Our first stop was at Srirangapatna on the outskirt of Mysore which was once used to be the capital of Tipu Sultan. The mausoleum of Tipu Sultan, death place of Tip Sultan, "Sangama" the amalgamation of 3 rivers Kaveri River, Kabini River and Hemavati River, Big Mosque, palace of Tipu were the places of attraction. We covered the places quickly so as to get a peek of the famous Mysore palace. We reached at 7 PM, the palace was closed but we got the chance to see the lightnings of more than 96,000 lights which illuminated the palace for about an hour. While the bulbs glowed there was a narration going on which I think was of the history of how and what happened in palace but because of language barrier we had to just make use of our eyes (ears took rest). Night fell and we had to eat and sleep at some place but because this trip was completely a road trip finding such place was very difficult. Fortunately on driving some few kilometers we found a place near Gundlupet and you shouldn't be surprised when I say it was a bus stop. The plan was to stay very near to Bandipur forest reserve so as to reach there early morning for the Safari. At the bus stop we made our dinner, it was scary not beacuse of fear of ghosts or spirits but because it was highway and anyone could question us for our activities. Anyhow some kept eye on the road, some helped each other to cook food. An interesting phase went by and within an hour a delicious food was ready for us to devour. After the food we found a Masjid were we stretched our legs a bit, had rest till Fajr (morning prayer) and then left for Bandipur National Park.

Mausoleum of Tipu Sultan

The gateway to that Mausoleum

After the lightning show at Mysore Palace

Day 2:

Early mornig at Bandipur National Park. The place was very calm and quite with more monkeys than humans. We got the first surprise of our life when we got into the safari (a bus), surveyed the forest for an hour or so and did not even see a single tiger or lion. The only wild we saw was a hen or cow. It was shocker to us because we spent some 300 bucks for that 1 hour safari . When we demanded an explanation for that deception we were told that we were nothing but unfortunate. We gathered our hopes and energy and started to our trip again, this time on our way out of forest we did see some elephants and deers (smile came back). One lesson learnt if at all you go to Bandipur National Park don't pay for the safari just drive your vehicle through the forest you will be able to see more animals for free than you can see after paying Rs. 300. From there we started to climb the hills, our next destination  was Ooty. On the way we stopped at Masinagudi and we bought a rabbit, quails and a hen for the lunch. We knew that were to have a tiring time ahead before lunch and we were ready for that. The fortune of him who is sitting sits, it rises when he rises...it sleeps when he sleeps...it moves when he moves... Keeping these things in mind we kept twirling around the hair-pin bend of the hill. It took us some time after reaching Ooty to find a place where we could cook our food without a disturbance. Most of us never tasted a rabbit in his life, got a chance to have a taste, the quail was barbequed and rice boiled. No rest was taken after the lunch and we packed our things and went to see how Ooty looks. Ooty has been commercialized in recent times, a proper tourist place; fun parks, boating parks, tea planataions, etc. etc. We had fun while paddling the boat towards victory, watching handsome horses, shopping and collecting souveniors, eating carrots, cherries and chocolates. The temperature changed drastically when evening fell and we had to take out our warm clothes. All wrapped up we went downhill twirling again through the bends of the hill. It happened so that some chocolates tried to have fun inside the stomachs of some of us and as soon as we came to the plains, 3 of us had to puke. We decided to halt for some time so as to cook food and have dinner. This was fun because a hotel closed down at 11 PM and we took over them as soon as the left. All lights were off and we had to depend on the lights of our phone. Our food never tasted better because all were tired and hungry as wolf. After the dinner, the night was spent inside the moving car. All slept except the two drivers who took the command of the vehicle.

something to see at Bandipur National Park

Deers as seen from the roadside of Bandipur Nation Park

At Ooty Water Park

Day 3:

The next day, early morning we saw to the surprise of our eye, the beauties of the hills, the fog, dew on the grasses , waterfalls which were close and and far from us tempting us to stop and have a more detailed look at them. We couldn't but stop and basked in the glory of nature, really Allah is the greatest no one else but HE could have made such a thing. We were now headed to the best part of our trip, it was one of the places near Munnar where we got to see a football ground, a tree with a shade, a small stream flowing just by the side of the ground and we guessed that there must be a waterfall nearby. We stood there, ahead of us was the most beautiful scene which we could have only imagined in our dreams. We played football, bathe at the river, cried Azan, called for Namaz and prayed Zohar (afternoon prayer) and then left for other sight seeing in Munnar. The trip was nearing end as sun decided to set and we had a long route back to Bangalore. It was decided unanimously that we will cover the roads at night and will see what the next morning holds for us.

One of the better images taken

Just fooling around, the beauty of Allah (swt) can be seen behind us, as displayed by nature

The ground discovered and played upon by us

Something which shouldn't have happened

Should have been censored

Another nicely captured image

Day 4:

The owner of the car who was also driving it had already decided to take us back home. When we all opened our eyes at around 5 AM we were already nearer to Bangalore by 50 kms. We were surprised as, discussions and grumbling started but the driver cool as a cucumber didn't pay heed to us and we were moving nearer and nearer to Bangalore. When the patience crossed the limits it was then when we decided that whatever happens we won't let the mood spoil. "Let's go to any place in Bangalore itself", "Wonderla!" somebody cried out. "Nandi Hills!!!!" 2-3 shouted. For most of us it would have been the first time in Nandi Hills except for the driver which made us even more wanting to go to Nandi Hills so that we can irritate him since he has already started by not listening to us. Time for another hill, a small one this time; Nandi Hill is an ancient hill fortress famously known as the summer palace for Tipu Sultan. Nothing so extravagant about it but any place with friends is always a money to spend on. Even the monkeys belonging to the place become a piece to play with when friends are there to give you company.

On top of Nandi Hill

Just as the sun rose and we had breakfast. This image clearly shows how lively and how fresh we are even at the end of our journey

The illustrious tour would end so abruptly, I  would have never imagined. I imagined that we all would take rest and discuss about our journey but no that was not to happen, The Tavera dropped each one of us one by one to our house for us to take rest on our own. I came back home tired but full of vigor and many stories to tell. The trip was after all the first proper road trip of my life with all the things from cooking, eating, sleeping, having adventure all happening on the road without booking any room. Well what was ought to happen had happened and it took me a while to write it down. A couple of month passed without even publishing the stories to the world, I took my time, describing the journey by each day and here it is for you to read and enjoy (it wouldn't matter to you until you were a part of this)

2 things to remember:
1. You shouldn't visit Bandipur Reserve.... Our Rs. 300 per head got wasted. We expected lions, tigers and bears and what not but to our shock it was wild cat, hens, cows and all those animals which we could have seen without even going that far.
2. As we scrolled out of Bandipur Reserve there we saw a bamboo erected toll and a person standing in a policeman's uniform. The trucks and other small vehicles were let go without stopping them. But that as seen policeman stopped us and asked for Rs. 20 and send us off without giving us the required ticket or chalaan. Don't know what to say but we were very shocked to the injustice we faced and we vowed to tell this to the world.

The toll as it can been seen

All thanks to Allah who blessed us with this eventful and enjoyable journey without whom this wouldn't have been possible. HE made the journey easier, fed us and made us meet people who would help us.

Not all about our dreams

Blind People Dream

Who become blind after birth can see images in their dreams. People who are born blind do not see any images, but have dreams equally vivid involving their other senses of sound, smell, touch and emotion. It is hard for a seeing person to imagine, but the body need for sleep is so strong that it is able to handle virtually all physical situations to make it happen.

 

You Forget 90% of your Dreams

Within 5 minutes of waking, half of your dream if forgotten. Within 10, 90% is gone.
Curiously, Robert Louis Stevenson came up with the story of Doctor Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde whilst he was dreaming.

Everybody Dreams

 
Every human being dreams (except in cases of extreme psychological disorder) but men and women have different dreams and different physical reactions. Men tend to dream more about other men, while women tend to dream equally about men and women. In addition, both men and women experience sexually related physical reactions to their dreams regardless of whether the dream is sexual in nature; males experience *****ions and females experience increased vaginal blood flow.

Dreams Prevent Psychosis

In a recent sleep study, students who were awakened at the beginning of each dream, but still allowed their 8 hours of sleep, all experienced difficulty in concentration, irritability, hallucinations, and signs of psychosis after only 3 days. When finally allowed their REM sleep the student brains made up for lost time by greatly increasing the percentage of sleep spent in the REM stage

We Only Dream of What We Know

Our dreams are frequently full of strangers who play out certain parts - did you know that your mind is not inventing those faces - they are real faces of real people that you have seen during your life but may not know or remember? The evil killer in your latest dream may be the guy who pumped petrol in to your Dad car when you were just a little kid. We have all seen hundreds of thousands of faces through our lives, so we have an endless supply of characters for our brain to utilize during our dreams.

 

 

Not Everyone Dreams in Color

A full 12% of sighted people dream exclusively in black and white. The remaining number dream in full color. People also tend to have common themes in dreams, which are situations relating to school, being chased, running slowly/in place, sexual experiences, falling, arriving too late, a person now alive being dead, teeth falling out, flying, failing an examination, or a car accident. It is unknown whether the impact of a dream relating to violence or death is more emotionally charged for a person who dreams in color than one who dreams in black and white.

Dreams are not about what they are about

 

If you dream about some particular subject it is not often that the dream is about that. Dreams speak in a deeply symbolic language. The unconscious mind tries to compare your dream to something else, which is similar. Its like writing a poem and saying that a group of ants were like machines that never stop. But you would never compare something to itself, for example: That beautiful sunset was like a beautiful sunset. So whatever symbol your dream picks on it is most unlikely to be a symbol for itself

Quitters have more vivid dreams

People who have smoked cigarettes for a long time who stop, have reported much more vivid dreams than they would normally experience. Additionally, according to the Journal of Abnormal Psychology: Among 293 smokers abstinent for between 1 and 4 weeks, 33% reported having at least 1 dream about smoking. In most dreams, subjects caught themselves smoking and felt strong negative emotions, such as panic and guilt. Dreams about smoking were the result of tobacco withdrawal, as 97% of subjects did not have them while smoking, and their occurrence was significantly related to the duration of abstinence. They were rated as more vivid than the usual dreams and were as common as most major tobacco withdrawal symptoms.

External Stimuli Invade our Dreams

This is called Dream Incorporation and it is the experience that most of us have had where a sound from reality is heard in our dream and incorporated in some way. A similar (though less external) example would be when you are physically thirsty and your mind incorporates that feeling in to your dream. My own experience of this includes repeatedly drinking a large glass of water in the dream which satisfies me, only to find the thirst returning shortly after - this thirst… drink¦ thirst¦ loop often recurs until I wake up and have a real drink. The famous painting above (Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening) by Salvador Dali, depicts this concept.

You are paralyzed while you sleep

Believe it or not, your body is virtually paralyzed during your sleep - most likely to prevent your body from acting out aspects of your dreams. According to the Wikipedia article on dreaming, Glands begin to secrete a hormone that helps induce sleep and neurons send signals to the spinal cord which cause the body to relax and later become essentially paralyzed.

 source - Internet

 

My first year in Mu Sigma

You might to want to read this first > My first two months in Mu-Sigma

There are two traffic signals on my way to Office. There's not a single day when my bus do not get stuck in the traffic jam, because of which the 15 minutes of journey often takes 40 minutes. So this was one particular day when sitting on the window seat I saw the signal, it was green and as if to please me the vehicles were moving smoothly but just as my bus came over the zebra line the signal turned red and lots of tut tut started to go around. Sitting near the window I started to look around to find something to interest me. There were people moving around in hurry to reach office on time. On one side of the road I saw some early employees of Big Bazar who were half heartedly opening their mega store. On other buses I could see people trying to pass their time by listening to the early morning radios. Smart phones have changed our life to a very well extent, games, musics, apps are enough to keep ourself occupied without even noticing who is sitting beside us. But then there was one person on the middle of the footpath towards the left side of the road. He was kind of short, in formals, a bag pack behind and holding some pamphlet in his hand. Nothing new in people distributing pamphlets to the commuters, but since I had nothing to do I tried to notice his activities. And for those 90 seconds I came to realise how different and difficult but very much similar his job is. He had to take desicions as quickly as he can like he has to decide where to stand so as to cover all the passers by. At one point I saw him to get to the edge of the footpath so that he can also cover those who were walking below the footpath. Many of them were refusing his pamphlet, but I could see him getting over the failure of rejection in a very quick time. I couldn't see what was there in the pamphlet but from the kind of energy he showed while distributing it one could easily be decieved there was something very important one needed to know and so he was trying hard to distribute it.

My first year experience in Mu Sigma is not less than the story of that person on the footpath at the signal. This was not a merry go round for me rather a roller coaster ride. I have seen the company growing with me (obviously with not the same pace :-P). In one of the article by Business Standard, India's analytics market will become $1.15 bn by 2015 and Mu Sigma features as the leading pure-play analytics organization. Excerpt from the article: Among the pure-play analytics vendors, Sequoia Capital and General Atlantic-invested Mu Sigma is said to be the biggest in this space. In another article which states - Decision Sciences Firm Mu Sigma Makes Inc. 5000 List of America's Fastest-Growing Private Companies for Third Consecutive Year. I also saw Mu Sigma CEO Dhiraj Rajaram winning 2012 Gold Stevie Award for Executive of the Year while Mu Sigma Takes Bronze for Company of the Year.

The number of Offices in Bangalore have increased. Mu Sigma started with shifting some teams to one of the most illustrious Tech Park in Bangalore which is SEZ ITPL, Whitefield, the vision is to have a huge building to accomodate more than 5000 employees but that is future let's not go in there.

With Client count increasing, I saw the employee count being doubled in the 1st year of my stay. Mu Sigma covered more Colleges this time around(2012) in the recruitment process thereby making people more inquisitive about the company. The way I was recruited one year ago and the process fresher needs to follow now is very different. I will be unable to answer correctly if asked "what kind of questions one is asked in the interview ?" or "How many rounds of recruitment process are there?" It's very different now after just one year. Training courses have also changed. Freshers are taught new topics too. Mu Sigma believes in constant learning, renewing your knowledge from time to time and hence they have started providing courses to people who have spent some time in the company as well. Work process and solutions providing has also changed a bit. Many new technologies came in apart from the traditional MS Office and SAS.

Apart from work fun is the integral part of Mu Sigma. "Do the Math" is the tagline as all of you must be knowing by now. Math is the fun in Mu Sigma, as stated by one of the article in Deccan Herald. With most of the Mu Sigmans in their 20s, fun is bound to be there, either in Office or out of Office. We have come a long way of playing Dumbcharade, Pictionary among others to play Volleyball, Football, Uno, Zenga, Treasure Hunt, etc.; and the USP is we have involved CEO too in one of these events.

Life is sometimes tough in Mu Sigma. Margin of error is very low. As in every other company you are expected to perform. But here the things are different, it's all because of the mindset. Freshers come in here with a view that they do not have to do coding but ultimately they do have to put in their programming skills to work with data so as to get the required results as they would have wanted. Most of the freshers do not have their say with their likings on the work, they got to do what their managers tell them which is not wrong in a way, they get to learn but it's kind of tough because they may not like the work so it is a "make-break" thing for them. I am not saying that staying late is tough for Mu Sigmans but we definitely hate and would like to avoid it but since it occurs once in a while and that too because of our own issue, erros and negligence, it's a learning period for all of us. Team mates are always there for help and support, so toughness are smoothened out (Others may not be as lucky as me, they may have counterview to this point).

This is a journey this does not have an end, well it may have but when that will come I do not know. Let's hope for the best because Allah knows the best!!!