I received a lot of great questions for my topic on Friday, my topic being Nike Shocks. One question that I would like to focus on is how Nike came up with their name and logo. I found a lot of great information.
NIKE, pronounced NI-KEY, is the winged goddess of victory according to Greek mythology. She sat at the side of Zeus, the ruler of the Olympic pantheon, in Olympus. A mystical presence, symbolizing victorious encounters, NIKE presided over history's earliest battlefields. A Greek would say, "When we go to battle and win, we say it is NIKE." Synonymous with honored conquest, NIKE is the twentieth century footwear that lifts the world's greatest athletes to new levels of mastery and achievement. The NIKE 'swoosh' embodies the spirit of the winged goddess who inspired the most courageous and chivalrous warriors at the dawn of civilization.
The SWOOSH logo is a graphic design created by Caroline Davidson in 1971. It represents the wing of the Greek Goddess NIKE. Caroline Davidson was a student at Portland State University in advertising. She met Phil Knight while he was teaching accounting classes and she started doing some freelance work for his company. Phil Knight asked Caroline to design a logo that could be placed on the side of a shoe. She handed him the SWOOSH, he handed her $35.00. In spring of 1972, the first shoe with the NIKE SWOOSH was introduced.....the rest is history!
The majority of this information was found at: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CLASS/am483_97/projects/hincker/nikhist.html
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Ah, I am partial to Adidas, but Nike has its role. I like the historical view you've taken on the subject. It certainly has a rich mythology based history. My favorite soccerball that I have is Nike. The investment of $35 for the swoosh was a great one.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea about the Nike swoosh logo was the winged goddess of victory. I like how you found out some really cool research and history. The story about who drew the logo is very interesting. I can't believe she only received thirty-five dollars for it! I wonder what she thinks of the logo now that Nike is so popular; she must see the logo everywhere.
ReplyDelete