The story behind Apple's first logo

Apple has one of the most popular logos in the tech world. The bitten apple is a real icon of the company led by Tim Cook. However, the image of this company was not always so.

The first logo had the image of Isaac Newton and was designed, in 1976, by Ronald Wayne, one of Apple's founding partners, along with Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. In the image, which was used for barely a year, Newton stood next to the tree with the apple, the name of the company and a phrase that read: “a mind always traveling through the strange seas of thought”.

“I knew I wasn't making a logo for the 20th century at that time, it was a 19th century logo, but it was fun. Everything we did at the beginning was for fun,” said the author of the logo in an interview published by Vice in 2017.

He said that at that time he felt that he was standing in the shadow of giants, alluding to Jobs and Wozniak, who were 20 years younger than him.

“That's how I made this sketch in pen and ink. I was trying to capture Newton and the apple, suddenly a great idea is born. He was essentially an analyst of the natural sciences. He delved into optics and gravity. He built a text on the explanation of mechanics and mathematics, why cannonballs behave the way they do, etc. The direct correlation is Newton and the apple triggers the idea. Woz and Jobs were participants in an amateur group that was reducing commercial computers to personal computers. And Woz focused on an ultra-simple circuit design. Jobs insisted on the word apple and I made the connection with Newton's apple,” Wayne explained.

The design sought to capture the essence of science, which is why he thought of Newton, as a relevant scientist of the subject. He also linked it directly to the apple that was at the center of ideas. The idea was bright and fun but after a year it was decided to completely renew the image and it was replaced by the bitten fruit. Not only did Newton leave the image of Apple, but also the creator of that logo.

In fact, Wayne was only in the company for a few weeks. When he left, he sold 10% of his stake in the company for $800. He later signed a document giving up the right to make any subsequent economic claims. If he had held his stake in Apple today, he would have a few billion dollars under his belt.

How was the current logo arrived

In 1977, graphic designer Rob Janoff was commissioned to create the company's new logo. This is how the bitten apple was born. It was decided that it would have a bite so that it would not be confused with a cherry or tomato.

There is another theory that says it was a metaphor to illustrate the concept of “eating the apple of knowledge”. It is also believed that it was in homage to Alan Turing, a computer genius, that he committed suicide by biting an apple poisoned with cyanide. However, this version was denied several times.

On the other hand, the colors of the logo were to indicate that Apple II computers had color screens. In 1998, when the iMac was released, the logo was no longer displayed in its multicolor version. It was the beginning of the black silhouette that persisted for years and then changed to a pearlescent gray.

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