Sure, you’ll find articles on the interwebs about the best logo. Maybe even the worst logo. But how about the most sinister logo? Only here at The Factor will you find that award, doled out to the Sherwin Williams Paint Company for their Cover the World design (left). Dripping (quite literally) with Spectre like imagery, it’s highly unlikely that such a concept would get off the ground today, let alone become the graphic representation of a major corporation. World domination isn’t exactly the type of theme that big wig companies like to be linked to (even if the plan is – bwahaha – knocked about during board meetings). That kind of stuff is best left to advertising apocalyptic sci-fi movies like War of The Worlds (right) to which the logo bears more than a passing resemblance. Designed by advertising manager George Ford in 1895, the Cover the World design replaced the original Sherman Williams idea – a paint-covered chameleon – and became the company logo and trademark in 1905. You can read more about the company, and the genesis of the design at the American Heritage. And yes, the Earth in the logo has been knocked off its axis. Allows the can to pour paint directly onto Cleveland, Ohio – Sherwin Williams’ corporate HQ.
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Oh please….nothing “sinister” was intended back when the Sherwin Williams logo was originally designed. The only folks it would bother today are the shallow minded politically correct think-green dweebs who obviously have no real grasp on historical graphics. Gimmie a break…
Was hoping that you’d have realized the post was titled in jest. Must have been a slow news day I suppose. In terms of grasping the importance of historical graphics, that’s kinda why I wrote about the history of this important graphic. You know, about its history and all.