Clever designers often create logos with hidden meanings in them. Most of the time it’s something that relates to the product or service the logo represents.
I’ve searched the internet far and wide to bring you 73 examples of the best logos with hidden meanings in them.
Some of the hidden images are very subtle, some not so much. The question is, can you spot them all?
1. Continental
The tyre company Continental has a hidden image in it. Can you spot it? Look closely at the C. It’s a tire.
2. Puppy logo
The designer of this logo mark really had some fun. We all love dogs right? Especially puppies. Check out the bottom half of the P and Y in this logo for the hidden image of you guessed it, a puppy.
3. Carrefour
The name of this French supermarket chain means “crossroads” in English, so their logo features arrows pointing in opposite directions. Also, if you focus on the negative space of the logo, you’ll be able to also spot the letter C.
4. Firefox
Now, when you look at the Firefox logo you think it’s a fox right? No. Turns out it’s a panda, the name of the panda is Firefox. Who knew?!
5. Museum Of London
The Museum of London has an interesting, organic look. The shapes of color actually represent something, though, and aren’t just abstracted blobs of color. They show the geography of London and how it has changed over time, representing the constant change of London and its people in the past, the present, and looking towards the future.
6. Grill logo
Another great example of a designer getting crafty. Using the word and icon they have created the word grill. Nice.
7. BMW
BMW used to make engines for planes. See those white 1/4 sections? They represent a spinning propellor. Neat huh.
8. Flight Finder
A very clever examples of logos with hidden meanings. This one for Flight Finder has both a plane and the letter’s F and F – for Flight Finder. A very cool logo indeed.
9. Mister Cutts Barber Shop
Gotta love barbershop logos with with hidden meanings. This one makes great use of the pair of scissors forming some glasses and a moustache. The perfect image for a barber shop and it’s clients.
10. Dominos Pizza
When Domino’s first opened, the founders didn’t expect the pizza chain to get so huge, and so they intended to add a dot to the dominos in the logo every time a new location opened. However, the company quickly grew too big to do such a thing, and so today the three dots in the logo represent the three original locations. Another great example of logos with hidden meanings.
11. Beats
The Beats logo may seem simple enough. But it has a hidden meaning. The round circle is actually mean to represent a persons head. The b represents, you guessed it – a set of headphones. Clever stuff.
12. Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium
Look closely at the tree in this logo for Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium, can you see the hidden image? Yes, there it is, a baboon and a lion hiding in plain sight! Very cool.
13. Imposter logo
Oh I love this one! It’s one of my favourites. When you first look at it, you everything is in order. But then you spot the imposter! Yes the ‘a’ is upside down. Bravo logo designer.
14. New Man
Another very cool logo with a hidden message. This logo for New Man can actually be read upside down. No matter which way you look at it, the words spell out the word ‘New’.
15. Blade logo
logos with hidden meanings don’t come any better then this. Look closely at the ‘a’ and you’ll see a hidden blade.
16. Spartan Golf Club
A very cool logo. It’s not often you see logos this complicated feature hidden messages. Have you spotted it yet? Yes, that’s it. There’s an image of a Spartan man’s head hidden in the logo for Spartan Golf Club.
17. Wine logo
Wine! Who knew you could create such a cool, simple and clever logo for wine. This designer has. Hidden there is plain sight between the I and N is you guessed it! A bottle of wine.
18. LG
LG had a bit of fun with their logo. Take a close look at the red circle. It hides both the letters ‘L’ and ‘G’ and a smiley face!
19. Yoga Australia
This logo for Yoga Australia is a real gem. The leg and arm of the lady form a map of Australia. They did miss out poor old Tasmania in this one though.
20. Shift logo
A very cool use of arrows up and down form the ‘H’ in this shift logo.
21. The Guild Of Food Writers
This beautiful logo has a subtle hidden image. Yes, that’s right, it’s a spoon within a writing nib. Bravo design team.
22. Sony Vaio
This Sony computer brand was clever with their abstract logo design, but the average onlooker would probably miss the reference. The ‘V’ and ‘A’ together represent an analog wave, while the ‘I’ and ‘O’ are reminiscent of digital signal (through the binary numbers 1 and 0). Another example of logos with hidden meanings.
23. Levis
This modern Levi’s logo represents the shape of a pocket featured on every pair of Levi jeans. Very smart.
24. Fedex
Look closely between the E and the X of the FedEx logo. Can you spot the forward arrow. Neat huh.
25. Magic Coffee
Gotta love coffee and hey magic is pretty cool too right? They’ve combined both a hat and a coffee cup in this great example of a hidden image in a logo.
26. Jazz logo
Did someone say trombone? Yes, hidden in the J of this jazz logo is a jazz instrument. Very cool indeed.
27. Unilever
Unilever makes a ton of products, and to showcase that they created a ‘U’ out of a variety of icons symbolizing some of their core products. It’s a fun way to show they have their hands in a variety of areas, and gives the viewer something to piece together.
28. Bearhanded
This interesting brand combines a bear, and guess what there’s also a hand in there! Perfect logo design.
29. Ed’s Electric
Ed’s Electric must have been happy when the designer slid this one across the table. A beautiful example of the letter E being combined with some power sockets. Outstanding logo design.
30. Eighty 20
Logos with hidden meaning don’t come any better then this one! The logo has 14 squares in total. 4 of the squares are a different color. That’s a ratio of 80% to 20%. Boom you got it!
31. Night Golf
Logos with hidden images like this one make me smile. A very cool example of a golf ball being made into a moon. Joy.
32. Tour De France
A top contender in the logos with hidden messages category is this one. The Tour De France logo. The letters O, U, R and the orange circle make up a cyclist! A very cool logo design.
33. NBC
Why are their so many colors in this peacock-shaped logo? Well, the logo was created at the same time as colour televisions, and NBC wanted to emphasize their stake in the market. The six feathers represent each division of the network, and the peacock was to remind customers that the network was “proud as a peacock” of their colour programming.
34. Paramount
Paramount’s original logo had 24 stars, symbolizing the number of contracted movie stars it had at the time of the logo’s creation. The logo has only had 22 stars since the 1970s, though no one is entirely sure where the other two stars went or why.
35. Frankenstein Films
Logos with hidden messages like this one are such fun. The combination of the Frankenstein and the old film are such a triumph.
36. Newcastle Food & Wine Festival
Newcastle Food & Wine Festival have nailed it with this logo. The fork is a lovely combination representing food and wine. Well done.
37. Horror Films logo
Logos with hidden images don’t get any simpler than this! It’s the perfect combination of a scared face and a film reel. A very cool logo.
38. Twins logo
No, not a Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito movie. It’s a logo with a hidden meaning. Did you spot the ‘2’ in the ‘N’? Well done.
39. London Symphony Orchestra
This whimsical masterpiece of a logo for the London Symphony Orchestra hides a conductor in it… can you see it?
40. Wolf logo
This powerful word mark features a hidden image. Can you see the wolf at the bottom of the ‘W’ and the ‘O’?
41. Evernote
The Evernote logo has a number of hidden images and messages. First up, there’s the elephant. The elephant is known for its great memory. The purpose of Evernote is not to forget things. Secondly, the ear on the elephant is curled over like a post it note.
42. 90 Percent
A very simple example of a dual meaning in a logo. This example above features the digits ’90’ and also make a percentage symbol.
43. Cisco
The Cisco logo has a hidden image. The dark lines above the image actually represent the lines of the Golden Gate Bridge in SanFrancisco.
44. Circus of Magazines
Everyone loves the circus! Well this logo features both an image of a magazine and a circus tent. One of many examples of logos with hidden images.
45. Amazon
The everything store has pretty much everything right? Well its logo points out that it has the whole alphabet of products, from A to Z.
46. Sun Microsystems
The Sun logo is a very cool example of a logo with hidden images. Look closely at the square mark on the left of the logo. No matter what angle you look at it, it reads ‘SUN’.
47. Audi
Did you know? The four circles that make up the Audi logo represent the four companies that made up the Auto-Union Consortium in 1932: DKW, Horch, Wanderer, and Audi.
48. Freedom logo
This beautifully executed logo demonstrates its meaning in a lovely manner. The ‘M’ takes flight in the form of a bird, flying to freedom.
49. Hershey’s Kisses
Ah chocolate. What’s not to like. But there is actually 3 Hershey Kisses in this image. Hidden between the ‘K’ and the ‘I’ is the shape of a Hershey Kiss.
50. Baskin Robbins
Baskin Robbin’s sells a lot of ice cream. How many flavours you may ask? They serve 31. 31 is also hidden in this logo between the ‘B’ and the ‘R’.
51. Kolner Zoo
The Kolner Zoo love their animals. So much so they hid 3 of them in their logo. Hidden in this logo is an elephant, a rhino and a giraffe.
52. Racoon logo
This racoon logo is very cheeky. Did you spot the racoons eyes? Yes, there they are in between the ‘C’ and the ‘N’.
53. Picasa
Picasa is all about photos. Now back in the day before digital photos came along, there was a thing called a shutter. Hidden in the logo mark in the Picasa logo is an old school SLR camera shutter.
54. Hartford Whalers
The former NHL team the Hartford Whalers has some hidden images. The ‘H’ can be spotted in grey between the green and blue, while the ‘W’ is formed in green at the bottom of the logo. Also visible in blue is the recognizable tail of a whale.
55. Sony Ericsson
This very cool, futuristic logo for Sony Ericsson hides the letters ‘e’ and ‘s’ in it’s ball like logo.
56. Hyundai
Embedded within the widely-recognized Hyundai symbol on cars around the world is a secret. The “H” that everyone assumes stands for “Hyundai” also symbolizes two individuals meeting in the middle with a firm handshake. This represents the satisfying bond between brand and customer.
57. Patek Philippe
The world-renowned watchmaker’s logo is a cross made of four fleurs-de-lis. This is the symbol of an order known as the Knights of Calatrava.
They fought in the crusades during the 12th century, taking vows to wear their armor at all times so they would be constantly battle-ready.
For Patek founder Antoine Norbert de Patek, the cross was a symbol of his Catholic faith and his efforts to re-establish Catholic rule in his homeland of Poland.
He saw the constant readiness of historic crusaders as a model for his loyalty to God and his country.
Patek himself was knighted in 1865 for his service to the Holy See. He often engraved the symbol by hand on the watches he sold.
58. XNA
XNA from the house of Microsoft is a developer tool for games. The logo is rather special as it contains a combination of the Morse code for XNA.”— · · —” represents X, “— ·” means N, and “· —” stands for A. Quite intuitive!
59. Horse logo
This horse logo makes fantastic use of the letter ‘R’ to make a neat picture of a horses head.
60. The Bronx Zoo
The Bronx Zoo logo features some lovely giraffes and some birds. But did you spot the buildings in there?
61. Wendy’s
We all love our mum, or mom depending on where you’re from. Wendy’s does too. Hidden in the girls collar is the letters ‘M’ ‘O’ ‘M’. Very cheeky guys.
62. Hope For African Children Initiative
This super simple logo for the Hope For African Children Initiative has two figures hidden in the logo. Can you see the parent and the child?
63. Toblerone
This is one of my favorite examples of logos with hidden images. Bern, Switzerland—where Toblerone was founded—is often referred to as the City of Bears. So, right here hidden in the mountain is a bear.
64. Pinterest
Pinterest is all about pinning things right? So it makes sense they use a pin in their logo. The ‘P’ is shaped like a thumbtack.
65. Eight
It’s all about 8 in this logo. Every single letter is made up of the 8 digit. Very well done.
66. Panda logo
Pandas are such cute animals. Hidden in this panda logo is a panda. So cute.
67. Pirate logo
Another really simple example of logos with hidden images. This pirate logo has a peg leg. Check out the letter ‘R’.
68. Shelter
The charity Shelter really gets it’s message out there with this hidden logo design. Hidden in the letter ‘H’ is a roof representing shelter.
69. Northwest Airlines
North West Airlines got craft with their logo mark. Hidden in the circle you can see the shape of the letter ‘N’.
70. Chick-fil-a
Chick-fil-A really get the message out there with their logo. Hidden in their logo is a chicken. It’s right there in the letter ‘C’.
71. Lacoste
There’s an interesting story behind “the crocodile”. It came from a bet Lacoste made with the captain of the French Davis Cup team. The captain said he’d give Lacoste a crocodile skin suitcase if he won that match.
Lacoste didn’t win the suitcase but he did get a nickname out of it – referencing both the distinctive flair of his dressing and his fierceness as a competitor.
When Lacoste launched his apparel brand, he made the logo a crocodile so it would be recognizable to his fans.
72. My Fonts
I must admit. I didn’t spot this one until someone pointed it out. Hidden in the My Fonts logo is a hand. There it is in the ‘M’ and the ‘Y’ – hard to spot right?
73. Tostitos
Finally making up this epic post of logos with hidden meanings is the Tostitos logo. Yes, right there in the middle is two people sharing a corn chip over a bowl of salsa.
Besides having grown up in the design Industry, Christiaan has advised some of the world’s largest companies on their branding & packaging designs. Has been the resident judge for design awards, and has spoken at numerous global design & marketing events. Christiaan founded the London office of the award-winning Cartils agency, and has founded the DesignBro.com platform.
