Among some of the critically acclaimed logos in the whole world, the Canon logo occupies a place of distinction. Be it the vibrant red color or the unusual C with its inverted edge all the elements of a Canon logo speaks up of cool efficiency and state of the art features.

The origin of today’s world famous brand Canon can be traced in Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory that was established back in 1933. The first set of cameras was manufactured as a part of business trial and these early birds were named Kwanon after the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy. Now this Goddess was the possessor of thousand arms and spitted flames.

The first Canon logo was created by following the imagery of this Goddess with thousand arms and flames. So how did it come to acquire today’s smart and cool look? Let’s go through the evolution of Canon logo.

From the very beginning, the company worked with an ambition of reaching out to the outer world and as such the company wanted to adopt a name that will be acceptable globally. With this intention, the company name was changed from Kwanon to Canon and it was registered as the trademark name of the company in the year 1935.

The name canon has its own significance. In a sense canon means the setting of standard and the company became successful in becoming an industry leader and their products became the yardstick for judging the quality of the others’ products. Thus the naming and the company logo became accurate for a business entity that is engaged in the manufacturing of precision machineries.

It also reflected the company’s vision of becoming the standard in their field of products. Thus from the very beginning, the Canon logo bore the company’s global perspectives.

Starting from 1947, when the Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory became Canon Camera Co., Inc., several versions of the logo were used. It was ultimately in 1953 that a unified version was created. There were a few changes and modifications before the final refinement took place in 1955. Then onward, the Canon logo remained unchanged for nearly half a century.

Today, the Canon logo makes one of the most recognized brands around the globe. With its unique C with a twist inward, the Canon logo was too modern for its time. The unique typeface used in this logo existed nowhere in Europe or North America. Today, the camera giant boasts of world’s one of the distinguished name ad logo that rightly reflect the company’s global ambitions and superior production standard.

Reference: http://www.canon.com/about/mark/transit.html

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