Koninklijke Philips N.V., commonly known as Philips, is a Dutch technology company founded in Eindhoven in 1891 by Frederik Philips and his son Gerard, initially manufacturing incandescent lamps.[1] The company’s visual identity today consists of two registered trademarks: the PHILIPS wordmark and the shield emblem.[2] The wordmark, described by Philips as its primary and most recognized logo, is used in blue on a white background.[3]
Design and History
The origins of the Philips identity trace back to 1925, when architect Louis Kalff was appointed artistic director of the company’s advertising department. At the time, the Philips brand mark was being written in more than twenty-five different ways. Kalff introduced the PHILIPS wordmark in bold, distinctive block letters a year later.[4]
Around 1925, wavy lines and star spangles, representing radio waves travelling through the air, first appeared on stationery, advertising materials, and packaging for the Miniwatt radio valve. The number of stars varied widely in this early period. It was not until 1930 that four stars flanking three waves came together within a circle, and this consistent use led to registration as a trademark in the Netherlands in 1934.[5]
When Philips sought trademark registration of the circle emblem in other countries, it encountered a conflict with a similar circular trademark held by ICI, the multinational chemical company. As a result, Philips combined the circle emblem and the company name within a shield. The resulting shield emblem first appeared in 1938 and was registered in 1948.[5] The Philips Museum confirms that in 1938, Kalff combined the circle emblem and the wordmark within a single shield, standardizing the Philips trademark.[4]
In November 2013, Philips launched a new brand positioning with the brand line “innovation and you” and presented a new design of its shield, a visual icon first used in 1934.[6] The redesign was developed in-house by the Philips design team led by Thomas Marzano, Global Head of Brand Design, working in partnership with Interbrand, Ogilvy, and OneVoice.[7] The new logo retained its familiar two waves but accentuated their curves, along with four stars representing lights.[8] The redesign was described as better suited for digital media and mobile channels.[6]
Meaning and Symbolism
The Philips shield emblem depicts a circle representing the world, four stars as a symbol for the evening sky, and waves insinuating radio waves.[1] The shield originally represented how the innovation of radio communication brought people closer together in an unprecedented manner and improved their lives.[6]
Kalff himself described the emblem’s origin as a fortunate coincidence, noting that as an architect he had no idea how a radio worked. When he asked how sound was transmitted, he was told that waves were sent out into the air. He designed packaging for radio lamps featuring a purple background with yellow square stars and a yellow strip with red waves crossing the purple sky.[5]
The Philips brand consists of the shield emblem with stars and waves combined with the unmistakable wordmark of seven blue capital letters.[9]
Typography and Design
Philips corporate identity guidelines from 2008 specify Gill Sans as the main typeface, with Gill Sans Bold, Gill Sans Bold Condensed, Gill Sans Regular, and Gill Sans Light used for headlines and headings.[10]
Around 2008, the Philips wordmark underwent a subtle typographic refinement. According to design publication Gràffica, the most important change was the width of the characters and the space between them, resulting in a larger appearance. The angles of the “S” and “L” were modified to be more distinctive, and the typeface shifted from a purely geometric sans-serif to a more humanist sans-serif with clear contrasts between horizontal and vertical strokes.[11]
Logo Index is an independent educational archive covering logos, visual identities and graphic design history. All trademarks and brand assets remain the property of their respective owners.
