Playboy

Playboy’s Iconic Logo Utilizes A Clever Shape

We all know the Playboy Bunny logo. It’s clever, creative and mysterious — and it perfectly embodies a brand that is all about sex.

The logo itself is made up of a symbol encased in rich black coloring. The image of a bunny is on full display, its profile standing strong, angular and powerful. It captures a friskiness and an almost taboo nature — even though in actuality, there is nothing taboo about it.

The design shows the basic outline of a bunny’s profile. It’s more often than not seen in black coloring, with its eye colored in white. Around its neck sits a sophisticated little boy tie — this adds sophistication and class but also alludes to the Playboy bunnies who’d more often than not only wear a small item of clothing inside the magazine pages.

The lines that make up this logo are simultaneously soft and strong — there’s a smoothness to the snape but also an angular quality that cuts like a knife. This contrast creates an exciting discrepancy that fosters a sense of urgency, enthusiasm and curiosity.

Beneath this symbol, you will sometimes see the Playboy wordmark, written out in a serif, black font. The word is entirely uppercase and brings with it a playful and iconic edge. The font is instantly recognizable as Playboy — but the beauty of this design comes from the fact that this image can stand alone without any words.

This prestige has come with age, of course. But the brand of such stature needed an iconic and eye-catching logo to complement such a revolutionary concept for the time. It’s bold and in your face and you can’t look away.

This simple, minimal design that plays with basic shapes, geometric styling and hidden meaning, came to the stage long before similar trends became a rule among top logo design companies. On the surface, it’s just a regular bunny, but viewers know the more secretive, seductive and sexy connotations hiding beneath.

The History Of The Playboy Logo

The legendary Playboy logo is made up of a cute little bunny. It’s a sexy and mysterious design that is intricately linked to the brand itself — but did you know it comes with its own unique history?

The Playboy logo is almost as old as the brand itself, coming into being for the second issue of the Playboy magazine. And while Hugh Hefner was the brains behind this organization, with a say in everything from models to content, he wasn’t actually the creator of the iconic symbol.

That honor goes to designer Art Paul, the founding art director of Playboy.

His inspiration came from wanting something frisky, sexy and fun. He wanted to create an image that wasn’t ordinarily something that screamed sex but could in a subtle and sophisticated way.

Now, the use of the bunny seems just right — cute and innocent, yet seductive and devious. And it was an instant hit.

To this day, almost 70 years after it was first seen gracing magazine covers, the logo has remained the same. And there’s a reason for that. It’s the perfect image to represent a brand that oozes sex with just a hint of class, a duality that leading specialists in branding emulate in their projects to this day.

The design is emblematic and now works to encompass the entire adult industry as a whole almost. And considering its simple yet strong design elements, you can understand why.

Hugh Hefner: Playboy’s Legendary Founder

Playboy magazine was founded in 1953 by then 27-year-old Hugh Hefner — who was an inspirational man in and of himself. This men’s lifestyle magazine blossomed as one of the leading brands in the world offering political, sexual and avant-garde content to the world for decades.

The Playboy brand and its founder have had a tremendous impact on the publishing world, revolutionizing printed content and establishing a niche somewhere in between taboo and tasteful:

The first issue of Playboy Magazine, which featured the now famous calendar photo of Marilyn Monroe, was produced on a kitchen table in his south side apartment. On the newsstands in December 1953, it carried no cover date because Hefner was not sure when or if he would be able to produce another. But the first issue sold more than 50,000 copies, enough to pay for the paper and printing costs and to finance another issue. Thereafter, Hefner never doubted that the magazine would be a success.At the start of the new decade, Hefner began to live out the “good life” depicted in the pages of his publication. He hosted the television show Playboy’s Penthouse, purchased the Playboy Mansion, and opened the first Playboy Club in Chicago. Throughout the Sixties, Hefner and Playboy became what Chicago columnist Bob Greene has called “a force of nature.” The magazine became the largest-selling, most influential men’s magazine in the world.

The Playboy name brings with it a host of connotations and brand identities. It’s an organization that changed the face of magazine publishing, infusing politics and sex in an exciting and captivating way. And from the magazine, a number of other entities like television shows, events and more were created.

The Playboy identity is a powerful and impactful one — with icons like the founder himself, Hugh Hefner, the Playboy Mansion and even the Playboy logo standing strong and creating an atmosphere that is hard to ignore. It’s been a strong symbol for years now, but in recent times, the brand has undergone a few facelifts in the form of rebrands.

The Playboy Logo In Marketing

The Playboy brand exploded, and so did its logo. Instead of just sitting on magazines and drawn onto models, the signature Playboy bunny could be seen on posters, t-shirts and hats. It became a symbol of sex in all forms and was used as a promotional tool on a variety of materials.

This logo was iconic, and it was also extremely popular -- which it still is. Whether or not you read a Playboy magazine, you knew the logo and loved it. In the 90s and early 2000s, you could even see teenagers rocking fashion with the seductive bunny on it.

It was impossible to get away from.

And Playboy used this logo to their advantage, profiting greatly from it. Playboy was able to come out with its own product lines stamped with this logo and they’d sell like crazy. It was a great promotional tool and a great choice for the business.

But there was a heart to this logo too — it could also be seen on marketing posters and banners for charities.

Whatever form it took though, the design was everywhere. Get connected with the right branding agency for your project.

Playboy’s Path To Rebranding

In 2015, the brand announced that it was going to be ditching nudity in its magazines in favor of some more impactful and newsworthy content.

Of course, there was still some risque content — with women undressed and on display, but the brand shifted its focus from sex to art. And in March of 2015, the magazine that appeared on doorsteps was much more edgy, modern and sleek than the raunchier versions of Playboy magazine past.

This was in response to dwindling sales and fewer readers. It just seemed that people weren’t in the business of reading raunchy magazines anymore, so the brand decided to do a complete overhaul of its identity — including its magazine and web presence.

But it wasn’t just a shift in imagery — it was an entire redesign. The magazine got rid of its more basic components like centerfolds and cartoons in favor of more rich and impactful content and insights. The brand turned the magazine into an art piece that consumers wouldn’t be happy to learn from as opposed to a magazine that gave them basic satisfaction.

But that lasted for about two years — because in 2017, the CCO announced that nudity was coming back.

This is still in line with the new progressive and modern branding, however. It’s just taken a bit of a different direction. Instead of the objectification that came from earlier versions, this new identity hopes to inspire and empower women and their perceptions of sex.

This magazine and brand will still hold onto that innovative and self-aware voice it had begun rolling out in years prior, but now it will try to come full circle, holding onto the beliefs of its early years while also capturing an empowered, progressive and feminist spirit.

It’s an interesting rebrand — one that definitely threw people for a loop when it was first announced, but it seems to be working. The Playboy brand is still going strong, with a readership and a following that spans the world over. And now it can open itself up to a new, younger and more socially-focused audience that wants the sex, without the guilt.

The Playboy Logo Is A Showstopping And Unique Brand 

The Playboy logo has been around for decades. It’s stood the test of time, standing as a powerful symbol of sex, identity and modernity.

It helped to solidify a brand and transform an industry. And its basic, mysterious shape made it easily transferable across mediums, materials and platforms.

This logo was created to embody sex and spark curiosity. It’s an emblematic symbol that is instantly recognizable and known the world over.

It’s a symbol with a history of its own that complements the history of the brand. And it’s so versatile that it can easily lead the brand through its many rebrandings.

This is one of the best logo designs in history — and it’s one all businesses should learn from.