Last updated on January 31st, 2024
The Puma logo is among the most iconic symbols in the world of sports apparel and footwear. From a simple design to its current outstanding design, the logo has lured audiences and helped the brand establish a solid footprint in the global market. However, it took decades to evolve into the impressive and unique design it is today. Let’s delve into the intriguing journey of its evolution.
As a company grows, it ventures into a broader market targeting different customers. So, a global brand’s logo should reflect its ambitions to target more significant markets. Most businesses, scaling up worldwide, often tweak or redesign their logos.
The Puma logo is an emblem of Puma SE, a German multinational corporation. The global giant designs and manufactures athletic and casual footwear. It also is known for making sports-related apparel and accessories.
With the growth of the company’s business, its logo also had to go through an evolutionary phase to look today as a refined brand symbol. Its logo design is now consistent and has appeared almost the same for years on its sports shoes, shirts, and other apparel. The emblem is inseparable from the company’s branding and marketing campaigns.
A Brief Puma Logo History
Puma is a global brand, and it would be interesting to know how the brand and its emblem grew and evolved over the decade. So, here is the brief Puma logo history.
The Puma label was registered in October 1948 as the company’s trademark. According to the company’s official page, “PUMA has relentlessly pushed sport and culture forward by creating fast products for the world’s fastest athletes. For more than 70 years, we draw strength and credibility from our heritage in sports.”
The company’s founder Rudolf Dassler had first named it ‘RUDA’, the mix of his name’s first two letters. The company dismissed that idea later and adopted the brand name PUMA.
This is because, as per the company’s Facebook page: “Rudolf’s vision was that all of his products would embody the characteristics of a Puma cat: speed, strength, suppleness, endurance, and agility — the same attributes that a successful athlete needs as well.”
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1948: The ‘D’ Logo
The shoe manufacturing company launched its logo first in 1948. It was a design of a leaping Puma cat. Its chief feature was the puma jumping across the large but thinly spaced letter D. The letter stood for the company’s founder Rudolf Dassler.
1959: The Form Strip Logo
But it was in 1968 that the company came up with a logo that conveyed Rudolf’s vision to some extent. It combined a wordmark and picture. This was also when the famous white form strip appeared on shoes and became part of the logo.
1968: The Leaping Puma
In 1968, the company brought its Puma icon back in black, making it a central visual identity of the brand. It was a cleaner design with a sleek, sophisticated leaping puma cat.
During the ‘70s, a bold and enlarged wordmark accompanied the leaping cat. The brand name was in a custom sans serif typeface.
1974: Wordmark And The Cat
In 1974, a slightly different version of the insignia appeared. The leaping Puma cat was on one side of the wordmark this time.
1980 – 1982: The Cat Alone Logo
In 1980, the company removed the wordmark from the remarkable logo. The Puma cat alone represented the brand. Also, it is noticeable that the company uses the cat-alone logo alternatively even today.
1982 – 1988: The Wordmark Is Back With The Cat
The sports shoes and apparel manufacturing giant brought back the wordmark with a slight twist in the 1982 logo. The wordmark had the shade of the famous form strip in white. So, the logo redesign was again a combination of the brand name and the leaping cat. The company kept this mark for eight long years.
1988 To Today: Aesthetically Designed Logo
In 1988, the company removed the white form strip from the wordmark. So, it was the same emblem with the brand name and the leaping cat but minus the form strip in 1988. It continues to be the company’s core brand identity.
After this brief Puma logo history, you would like to learn some lesser-known but interesting facts about the Puma logo.
5 Things To Know About The Puma Logo
Most iconic global brands are known for their uniquely designed, impressive logo. People recognize and align them with a brand. The Puma logo is an emblem that people know for high-quality shoes, such as Puma cricket shoes and sports apparel. But the emblem has its evolutionary history.
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Here are five facts that you will find interesting about the Puma logo:
01. The First Puma Logo Had ‘D’ In The Upper Case
The first Puma logo was launched in 1948 and looked much different from the present-day logo. At that time, the logo featured the letter ‘D’, with the puma cat jumping through the letter. The D letter represented the company’s founder Rudolf Dassler. In later years, the symbol had the word Puma added to it.
This monochrome image was not a great design but it successfully drove people’s attention. The Puma symbol with the cat jumping through the letter D also appeared in a different version within a hexagonal box.
02.The Logo Conveys Agility And Prowess
The leaping puma cat conveys prowess and agility. Therefore, the puma becomes a natural symbol of prowess in sports. In this way, the silhouette becomes the brand’s visual identity, and the cat symbolizes agility, grace, and strength.
So, the logo aligns with Puma’s mission statement: “to be the Fastest Sports Brand in the world.” The leaping Puma cat conveys that the brand intends to be ahead of its competitors in the sports goods and apparel manufacturing industry.
03. Once, People Mistook The Form Strip For The Logo
Besides the leaping Puma logo, the form strip was also a famous element of the company’s brand. It was so popular and familiar that people once considered it the company’s real logo.
But the form strip was there for a purpose. In the 1950s, manufacturers started using lightweight materials to make sports shoes. But the players could not gain much control of their feet movements due to the light material of the shoes. They had to run, kick, and perform various actions on the field.
So, during the 1958 World Cup, Puma launched boots with the form strip. It was a leather strip on the shoe’s side to support the players’ feet to help them move quickly.
At that time, the company gave a description of the form strip on the shoe. Its description said, “A form strip shoe cradles the foot securely while not compromising the range of motion and without adding too much pressure. It also prevents twisting the ankle or stretching the leather too much to the side or towards the heel.”
04.The Puma Logo Is Officially In Black
The official color of the Puma logo is still black, though the symbol appears in red and white colors. But the company has experimented with multiple colors in the past to keep the audience engaged and also to convey a brand message. Still, the company continued to keep the color black officially.
A reason behind keeping the black color is that on any other background, black background is an excellent transparent overlay. The company also developed inverted logo versions with a white base on multiple silhouettes.
An intention behind keeping the black color was to make the logo memorable as it would look sleek and simple. Black also is the color of power, strength, and authority.
05. The Logo Is Known As The ‘No. 1 Logo’
Another fact you should know about the Puma logo is that in 1968, the company introduced it as the ”No. 1 Logo.” The logo featured the cat jumping the wordmark.
Since then, the company has kept the design the same. Instead, only minor changes, such as removing the eye and nuzzle, and ears are more prominent now.
Design Elements Of The Puma Logo
People can instantly recognize the Puma logo for its unique but simple design. It has just one typeface, a picture, and color, making it a memorable symbol of excellence in sports goods markets. Here is how we can describe the emblem’s design elements.
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Font
The wordmark used in the Puma logo is the company’s name in big capital letters. So, the sports shoes and apparel maker company conveys its brand personality with such a wordmark. Also, the new Puma logo typeface is sans-serif, and the letters have slightly rounded edges to make the brand look friendlier.
Pinpointing a particular typeface is difficult in the case of the Puma logo, as the company has yet to reveal it. But experts think the logo probably uses Quandor Regular or FF Softsoul Std Bold. The typeface used currently is slightly altered from what it looked initially.
Color
The Puma logo typically appears in black since it is the brand’s official color. Black evokes authority, power, and strength. So, the company chose black to convey the agility and power required in a sports field to compete hard.
Still, sometimes, the company uses a different color depending on the context. That is why the logo on some of its products is in white lines with solid red background. It also appears in a white and dark navy color palette.
These are the key things you might find interesting in the iconic Puma logo. The design is the result of its long evolutionary history. Also, the logo grew to reflect the company’s business and global ambitions.
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Wrapping Up
The Puma logo is an iconic global symbol of excellence in the shorts, shoes, and apparel markets. It conveys sports people’s ambition of being faster and more competitive. But the logo design went through its many evolutionary phases, with the company tweaking and redesigning it before getting the current logo.
