Pepsi's logo has undergone numerous redesigns throughout its history, including a few complete overhauls. Allow us to lead you through its evolution — from a red cursive script to the minimalistic "Pepsi Globe", which became an inspiration for professional logo designers worldwide.
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Pepsi’s Logo Origin and Its First Overhaul
From its humble origins with a simple script font to its modern, minimalist emblem, the Pepsi logo has continuously adapted to remain relevant to its consumers across the globe.
In 1893, when the brand was still under the "Brad's Drink" name, it got its first-ever logo. While relatively modest, this blue emblem spelled the (original) brand name in a script font style. The letters were enclosed in a rectangular outline with an old-school pattern.
However, as the name changed in 1898, the newly branded "Pepsi-Cola" received a new logo design. While significantly different from its predecessor, the first couple of iterations might have resembled one of its competitors.
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The logos that spanned half of the 20th century all featured red cursive text with emphasized capital letters. These variations featured different text widths and lettering arrangements, but none of them managed to represent the brand's identity.
The original, designed in 1903, featured red cursive lettering with elongated lines and thick ribbons, but it had a clumsy look due to widely spaced letters. In 1904, the logo was refined with bolder, cleaner lines and tighter spacing, giving it a more professional appearance while keeping the red color.
In 1905, the logo adopted a bold red script resembling Coca-Cola's style, with a long-curved tail on the "C" and connected lines creating a double loop pattern. In 1907, Pepsi returned the 1904 design with thicker, more confident characters.
In 1934, a thin "Drink" was written on the tail of the "C", making the logo more solid and dynamic with a slight diagonal placement. The 1950 redesign removed extra lines, resulting in a bolder and cleaner look, marking the latest minimalist red and white version.
Pepsi’s Post-War Era Logo: Enter the Iconic Globe That Captured the Zeitgeist
Significant consumer tastes and design aesthetics shifts occurred in the middle of the 20th century. Naturally, Pepsi-Cola acknowledged the need to update its image and introduced a more streamlined and straightforward logo.
The logo changed as the 1950s emerged, embracing the pop art trend. The logo adopted a circular shape and featured a playful font on a tilted bottle cap. In this period, Pepsi radically broke from conventional design and adopted a more vibrant and youthful look.
In 1965, the design changed from the old-fashioned "Cola" and swirly font to a bold and modern "Pepsi" inscription in all capital letters within a bottle cap placed at a right angle. This is the first time in the brand’s history that we see “PEPSI” standing on its own in a logo.
Browse through other compelling circle logo designs here.
Pepsi’s Logo Enters the New Wave As the Rising Global Giant Era
Pepsi took a significant leap toward modernity in 1969. That year Pepsi introduced the now iconic "Pepsi Globe" emblem with a stylized version of the brand name encased in a red, white, and blue circle, further solidifying the brand's identity on a global scale.
Throughout the following decades, Pepsi Globe underwent several refinements, experimenting with different fonts, proportions, and visual effects.
In 1971, the logo featured a circle with a thick white outline inside a rectangle, framed in white. The left half of the rectangle was red, while the right half was blue, with the circle replicating the bottle cap pattern. Then in 1987, the frame was removed, and the lettering was enlarged. The typeface was updated to a sleeker one with rounded corners on the letter “E.”
By 1991, the nameplate was moved outside the circle, and the logo was restructured. The new design had the inscription at the top, a red horizontally placed rectangle below it, and a “globe” symbol on the right.
1996 saw the introduction of a 3-D effect, giving the logo a sense of depth and dynamism. This evolution culminated in the modern Pepsi Globe, a sleek and recognizable symbol synonymous with the brand.
From the Past to the Present and Beyond: Pepsi’s Logo in All Its Glory
"Pepsi Globe" underwent different changes but has always been a constant element in their logos. This also helped in brand recognition and recall, cementing Pepsi as one of the leading soft drink brands worldwide.
Despite Pepsi Globe's iconic logo status, the design underwent minor changes in the 21st century. In 2003, Pepsi introduced a more dynamic lettering style and an emblem drawn in gradient colors, giving it a glossy and vivid appearance.
2006 brought another change. The wordmark was placed under the emblem and colored in blue with a thick white outline. Additionally, the emblem featured water drops, adding depth and realism to its design.
In 2008, Pepsi underwent one of its most extensive logo modifications. The logo switched to a more straightforward, minimalist style. Although the circular form was still present, its borders and three-dimensional effects were gone while the “globe” was tilted at a dynamic angle. The lowercase wordmark was used to emphasize its modernity and simplicity.
Following this iteration, the 2014 version further refined the design by removing the blue outline that previously encircled the globe, resulting in a cleaner and more streamlined aesthetic.
In 2023, Pepsi introduced a significant update to its logo. The new design retained the minimalist approach but straightened the Pepsi globe and adjusted the proportions of the red and blue sections. Additionally, the wordmark was modified to be bolder and placed in the middle of the Globe, reminiscent of the 1987 logo.
This evolution demonstrates Pepsi's ongoing commitment to balancing its rich heritage with modern design sensibilities, ensuring its logo remains relevant and resonant with each new generation of consumers. Today, we see the Pepsi logo as the brand's dedication to a modern, minimalist aesthetic while maintaining the company's recognizable red, white, and blue color scheme.
