What's Missing? 10 Incomplete Logos That Will Drive You Crazy

The bite!

Fun fact: Without the bite, Apple's logo would just be a regular apple silhouette — and could easily be mistaken for a cherry or a plum. Rob Janoff, the designer, added the bite for scale (so people would know it was an apple, not another fruit) and as a playful nod to computing: "bite" sounds like "byte." The bite size and position have been precisely maintained through every Apple logo update since 1977.

Nothing recognizable! The entire Nike Swoosh IS the curve.

Fun fact: The Nike Swoosh is one of the simplest logos in the world — it's a single curved checkmark shape with no text, no additional elements. That simplicity is its genius. Carolyn Davidson designed it to represent the wing of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. The shape suggests movement and speed. Phil Knight initially said "I don't love it" but approved it because they were on a deadline. It's now worth an estimated $26 billion.

The crown!

Fun fact: The Starbucks siren wears a star-shaped crown that's a key identifying feature. Without it, the siren would look like any generic mermaid illustration. The crown was part of the original 15th-century Norse woodcut that inspired the logo. Through four redesigns (1971, 1987, 1992, 2011), the crown has remained constant — even as the rest of the siren was progressively cropped, simplified, and "covered up."

The three stripes!

Fun fact: Adidas founder Adi Dassler added three stripes to his shoes originally for structural support, not branding. He purchased the rights to the three-stripe design from Finnish sports brand Karhu for the equivalent of two bottles of whiskey and $1,600 in the 1950s. That trade is now considered one of the greatest bargains in business history, as the three stripes became worth billions as a brand identifier.

The inner circle (bullseye dot)!

Fun fact: Without the inner circle, Target's logo would just be a red ring — unrecognizable. The bullseye design has been Target's identifier since 1962. It's so recognizable that in 2007, Target began using just the bullseye symbol without the company name in advertising — joining the elite club of brands (Apple, Nike, McDonald's) whose logos need no text. Target's brand red is Pantone 186 C.

The second arch — the "M" shape requires both!

Fun fact: The original McDonald's restaurants had a single golden arch on each side of the building. Architect Stanley Meston designed them as part of the building structure in 1953. When viewed from the front, the two arches overlapped to form the "M" shape. Jim Schindler, a design consultant, suggested making the double arch the official logo in 1962. The golden color was chosen because it's visible from the greatest distance.

Two of the three points of the star!

Fun fact: The three-pointed star represents Mercedes-Benz's ambition to dominate on land, sea, and air. The symbol originated from a postcard Gottlieb Daimler once sent to his wife, on which he marked a star over their home and wrote that one day this star would shine over his factory. The circle was added in 1926 when Daimler and Benz merged. With only one point, it would just be an arrow.

Just a plain circle split into red and blue halves!

Fun fact: The white wave (or "smile") in the Pepsi globe is what gives the logo its distinctive character. Without it, the logo would be unrecognizably generic. The current wave design has been tweaked numerous times. The 2008 redesign's agency document reportedly linked the wave's curves to the golden ratio, the Parthenon, and even the Earth's magnetic field — a design justification so elaborate it became legendary in the branding world.

Two of the four interlocking rings!

Fun fact: Each of the four rings represents one of the four companies that merged to form Audi in 1932: Audi, DKW, Horch, and Wanderer (collectively called the Auto Union). The rings are interlocked to symbolize the inseparable nature of the merger. With only two rings, you'd lose the reference to this history entirely. The Olympic rings were actually designed first (1913), but the two logos have no connection.

The "W" — you'd only see the "V"!

Fun fact: The VW logo is simply the letters V and W stacked vertically inside a circle. The V sits on top of the W, creating a clean, geometric monogram. "Volkswagen" means "people's car" in German. The logo was designed in 1937 by Franz Xavier Reimspiess during a company competition, for which he was reportedly paid just 100 Reichsmarks (about $400 today). The design has remained essentially unchanged for nearly 90 years.