This list highlights the Top 15 World’s Most Recognizable Symbols and Trademarks in a few different categories. It may be surprising which trademarks made it in the end and which ones didn’t.

Businesses, groups and individuals use trademarks, logos and symbols to generate brand awareness in public forums, in order to make it easier for people to recognize a product, business or individual by simply associating them with their trademark. Symbols have been used for thousands of years all around the world, so for an emblem to have made it onto this most recognizable list, it would have to be associated with people in more than one country.

The most successful logos are best described as being ones where the actual sign doesn’t even need to be specifically noticed, because when people see a product or group they will instantly associate that product or group with their trademark or symbol within their own minds. However, for an emblem to be considered as one of the most recognizable marks, it would have to be easily identifiable by people the world over. While there are millions of symbols being used worldwide, only a handful of them can be considered truly universal and recognizable by individuals from around the world.

CORPORATE TRADEMARKS

Coca-Cola Distinctive Cursive Script Logo

In 1885, Frank Mason Robinson designed the logo and named the world famous soft drink. The red and white Spenserian script Cola-Cola trademark has been distributed worldwide and has become the soft drink of choice in many countries.

McDonald’s Golden Arches

are probably the best-known restaurant trademark in the world. McDonald’s started serving its famous hamburgers and fries in 1954 before the use of their famous Golden Arches trademark. In 1963, McDonald’s introduced yet another recognizable trademark Ronald McDonald a brightly colored clown to greet children during special events and celebrations.

Nike Swoosh Logo

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In 1964, Nike originally known as Blue Ribbon Sports, was founded by partners Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman in order to distribute a line of Japanese track shoes called Onitsuka Tiger, but as this relationship was drawing to an end the company’s name was changed to the world famous Nike. By 1971, Nike was preparing to open its first store baring its new name and the famous Swoosh logo that was designed by J.B. Strasser. Through a well-managed combination of advertising, marketing and endorsement deals, Nike’s Swoosh became known throughout the world as the leader in sport’s apparel and sports equipment the world over.

Google Logo

In 1998, two Ph.D. students at Stanford University founded Google Corporation in a friend’s garage in Menlo Park, California with an initial investment of $1.1 million dollars. Each year since its founding, Google continues to re-invent the way the world searches for information on the Internet, and because of the Google inventions and innovations, the world’s information can be retrieved faster and easier than ever before.

Although, Google only uses the unique combination of blue, red, yellow and green font colors and the occasional variation of additional festive ordination to recognize holidays, the Google logo has became one of the most recognizable logos in the world. As of 2007, Google Search was the most used Internet search engine in the world controlling 50.8% of the market.

Virgin Group Logo

From Richard Branson’s humble beginnings of publishing a magazine called Student Magazine in 1968 to controlling an International Empire consisting of more than 200 enterprises including Virgin Atlantic Airways, the second largest airline in the United Kingdom, Virgin Records and even a Virgin Cola soft drink, Virgin Group has become a worldwide recognized brand. Sir Richard Branson who dropped out of high school at the age of 17, so he could focus on the daily operations of Student Magazine has built his Virgin Group into a multi-billion dollar baby that continues to grow and mature.

ENTERTAINMENT TRADEMARKS

Mickey Mouse

The world’s most famous mouse was introduced in 1928 by Walt Disney and first debuted in Steamboat Willie, although in the beginning Mickey was a black and white version of himself and not the brightly colored red, black, orange and white beloved character that the world admires today.

The Olympic Rings

The Olympic Rings is the most recognizable Olympic trademark in the world. Five different color rings (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow and Black) on a white field was selected so that each participating nation would have at least one of the colors in their national flag, with the rings representing each of the five inhabited continents, with America considered as one continent alone. In 1914, the Olympic Rings were adopted and flown for the first time during the Antwerp Games in 1920.

Michael Jackson’s White Glove

Michael Jackson started his music career as the youngest member of the Jackson 5 and continued his famous career as a very successful solo singer and entertainer. While Michael Jackson is known for his moonwalk and dancing abilities, he is probably best know for wearing a single white and crystal glove throughout the 1980’s, before his physical transformation began to show and overshadow the white glove in the 1990’s.

The Oscars Awards

The Academy Awards is an internationally recognized award show that awards the best movies produced, a gold-plated britannium on a black metal base with a knight holding a sword standing on a reel of film with five spokes. When the Oscars are awarded, an estimated audience of one billion viewers worldwide tunes in to watch the presentations every year.

The WWW Internet Symbol

Probably one of the most understated trademarks in the world is the WWW representing the World Wide Web that much of the world uses to communicate, learn and socialize with other people from all over the world. Many Internet sites include the WWW visibly at the beginning of the address followed by the website name, and an abbreviation : COM, us, gov and/or org. We use it almost everyday and it is universally accepted in most other nations around the world, so this trademark is more than worthy to belong to this list.

RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS

Sometimes in some very remote places on the planet, the only trademarks or symbols that a group of people may recognize is a religious one. While it is understood that there are a few thousand religions that are known throughout the world, only four of these religions are truly deserving members of this list, because of their age, population ratio to believers’ ratio and their popularity (in active members).

Age of the religion matters, because it proves that its message can and has endured through thousand’s of years and its can be used as a controlled measurement, so to measure other religions against. Not saying that one religion is better than another religion, but to weed out cults and homegrown religions that are used to evade taxes by private wealthy citizens. There have been thousands of religions that have come and gone over the past few thousand years, but only 4 have endured. The fifth not mentioned member of this list is Atheist and it is not a religion, because its members do not believe in any religion.

Christian Cross

The cross represents the crucifixion of Jesus and is the most recognizable symbol in the Christian religion. Although there have been several dozen variations used throughout the ages since the crucifixion of Christ, the best known cross is the Latin Cross which has longer extending arms and is the most common among the followers of the faith.

The Jewish Star of David

The Star of David is best known as a Jewish symbol that is used to identify both the Jewish people and the Jewish nation called Israel. The star can also be found on the Jewish Flag and is associated with the birth date of Jesus Christ as a bright star shined over the location where the Christ child was born.

The Crescent of Islam

The Islamic movement and religion is most identified by the Crescent (a half moon-like symbol). The Crescent was used in the Sassanian Empire of Persia {Iran} and after the Arab defeated the Persian Empire in 651 CE the Muslim leadership adopted the Crescent as the uniting symbol for Islam.

The Buddhism Buddha

The Buddha is considered to be a person who discovered the true realities and meanings of life through many lifetimes and investigations, until utter enlightenment could be reached in the body and the mind. The Buddha symbol is that of a man mediating as becoming one with the Universe.

NON-RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS

The Atheist Symbol

While atheists do not consider themselves a religious movement because of the lack of belief in any form of religious practices, it is still worth mentioning that some types of symbols are used to identify individuals’ who are self-proclaimed non-believers in public forums such as the Internet. Even though atheists have not established a universal symbol for atheistism there have been a few symbols used that is most associated with atheistism such as; The Darwin Fish which looks like a fish with feet and The American Atheist Symbol that is an A encircled with what kind of looks like an atom belt encircling the A.

For more information about Atheistic symbols checkout
one more symbol for atheism.

Conclusion

Trademarks have in fact made life a bit easier to live as they can be used to crossover language barriers, just by simply showing the trademark and/or symbol to an individual in order to locate a place, group or business in different countries. The world’s most recognizable trademarks and symbols can be found throughout the world and be just as easily associated with a person, place or thing upon seeing its image.

Personality, I wish to learn more about the various trademarks from around the world and how these trademarks have helped shape the social environments, which they originated from. Trademarks and logos are more than clever advertising and marketing tools; they have become part of the fabric of global communication.