In 1998 we took a brief from Jeff Bezos. His Amazon brand had become hugely successful at selling books. But now it was going to sell everything. So we created an icon that encapsulated everything from A-Z. It’s now one of the most recognisable logos in the world.
Everything Amazon sells is delivered with ease, so we took their existing frown and turned it upside down. The once generic line became a simple arrow curved into the shape of a smile. This was distinctive, worked at any scale, and gave a human face to a corporate giant. The letters A and Z appeared in the name and provided a gift. The smile of the arrow could show, quite literally, that they sold everything from A to Z.
We were only asked to design a logo but saw a considerable packaging opportunity. Adding the icon to Amazon’s shipping boxes put a huge and unmistakable smile on approximately 23 million packages every week.
— Jeff Bezos — Amazon, CEO“Anyone who doesn’t like this logo doesn’t like puppies!”
The smile keeps on growing. Amazon is now a trillion-dollar company and has become far more than a retail business. But wherever Amazon goes, the logo we designed all those years ago remains at the heart of the brand. Across Amazon Prime, Prime Video, Amazon Gaming and Alexa, the smile is an integral part of one of the world’s most multi-faceted brands.
