The apple as a symbol in existing logos or brands
- Valentina Natileva
- Mar 21, 2017
- 3 min read
The apple can take a number of meanings. Whether they come from Greek, Norse, Celtic or other local myths, generally speaking, the apple is known to symbolize the following:
Knowledge/Wisdom (“the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” or Newton’s apple story.)
Health (The famous saying: “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”.)
Beauty/Temptation (“apple of discord”)
Abundance
Life
Purity
Knowing all these, let’s take a look at what kind of companies have the symbol of an apple fruit included in their logo design.
Technology
Starting with the most obvious example, here we get to see the apple used as a symbol of knowledge, progress. In case you don’t already know, the “bite” at the right of the fruit was designed so as not to be confused with other round fruits, like cherries.
Now, I can’t be sure if the company’s name was something different from the name of the fruit, they would still have used this symbol.
Food industry
Starting with a company which precisely produces apples, there are also other companies which are not focused only on producing or/and merchandising apples, but other fruits and vegetables as well. Here, the apple comes as a symbol of abundance and freshness. Just as the lion is thought to be the king of the beasts, so does the apple take the role of the fruits and vegetables’ icon.
Home rental agency
Here we have an example of an apple used as a logo for a rental agency. It suggests life, joyfulness.
Travel agency
For a travel agency, an apple can suggest a healthy and happy trip.
Cosmetics
Used as a symbol of beauty, youth and temptation, the apple gets its presence in the cosmetics industry too.
Health magazines and websites
Well, although, in practice, just an apple a day can’t guarantee you steady general health (recent studies say you actually need about 10 helpings of apples a day to make that miracle more possible), the apple keeps its symbol of a healthy living.
Treatment
As a symbol of health, the apple makes its appearance in a physical therapy company as well.
Education
You’ve probably seen a lot the association between a book and an apple (eventually with a friendly, smart looking worm) as an icon for libraries or college and universities. When I was a kid I thought that maybe people who read in a library get hungry at times, but not willing to get off reading, they got themselves an apple.
Now, I know that the apple was used in those circumstances because it symbolizes wisdom and knowledge.
Here is an example of a logo for a supplies for schools program.
Design
Graphic design companies can have the symbol of apple too. It can suggest a freshness of ideas.
As a conclusion to this case study, the apple appears in various business domains, but mostly because the company’s name also suggests that. In fact, those who are focused on education and fruits/vegetables got that symbol without being directly related to the name of the business.
As you probably already noticed, all images are linked to their websites of origin, so you can see that those were logos used for real companies. I chose to talk about them because you can easily find apple symbols and icons for logos all over the internet, but when it comes to real businesses it’s not so easy. Seeing what kind of businesses approved to have an apple in their logo can be a source of inspiration, in case you’re a graphic designer.
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