A great logo does two things at once: it’s immediately recognisable, and it rewards a second look.
Hidden symbols in logo design are one of the oldest tricks in the branding playbook — and for good reason. A logo with a visual double meaning becomes a conversation starter. People share it, talk about it, remember it. That’s rarely an accident. It’s usually a decision.
We’ve pulled together 50 logos that do exactly this — each one hiding a symbol, a shape, or a second idea that most people walk right past. From the arrow inside the FedEx wordmark to the bear carved into the Toblerone mountain, these logos show that the best brand identity work tends to have more going on beneath the surface than it first lets on.
If you’re a designer, a brand strategist, or just someone who loves a good “wait, I never noticed that” moment — you’ll want to go through these slowly.
1. Spartan Golf Club
A golfer + the profile of a Spartan wearing a helmet
2. Le Tour de France
The letters O, U, and R create the shape of a cyclist. The orange circle is the front wheel.
3. Yoga Australia
The hand and leg enclosure forms the map of Australia
4. Flight Finder
5. Coffee Night
6. Lion Bird
7. Black Cat
8. CodeFish
9. Shift
10. The Bronx Zoo
The negative spaces between the legs form the buildings of the Bronx
11. Magic Coffee
12. Horror Films
13. BarCode
14. Boundary
15. Bearhanded
16. Art Sharks
17. Freedom
18. HACI
19. Baskin Robbins
Baskin Robbins has 31 flavours – check the ‘B’ & the ‘R’
20. Sony VAIO
21. Goodwill Industries
22. Continental
The ‘C’ and the ‘o’ form a tyre
23. Eight
24. FedEx
Ever noticed the arrow in the negative space between the ‘E’ and the ‘x’?
25. Formula One
The number ‘1’ can be seen between the white ‘F’ and the red waves
26. Kölner Zoo
27. Amazon
From ‘a’ to ‘z’, Amazon has it all…and a smile.
28. Mister Cutts
29. The Guild of Food Writers
A spoon between the nib of a fountain pen
30. London Symphony Orchestra
LSO + a conductor with a baton
31. NBC
NBC’s peacock logo was introduced in 1956 to highlight the network’s color programming. The six feathers of the peacock represent the network’s six divisions – news, sports, entertainment, stations, network, and productions.
32. Northwest Airlines
The ‘N’ is also a ‘W’ with an arrow pointing north-west
33. Pittsburgh Zoo
34. Portrait Photos
35. Sun Microsystems
The chip forms the word SUN in all directions
36. Toblerone
Ever noticed the bear between the mountain?
37. Newcastle Food & Wine Festival
38. Twins
39. Elefont
40. New Man
One of the first commercially designed ambigram/reversible logos (1969)
If we had to pick three, Spartan Golf Club, Yoga Australia and London Symphony Orchestra would be our choices. What about you? Share this post and join the discussion below.
Just as cleverly designed logos reveal deeper stories, the vast collection at Depositphotos offers myriad visuals that can add layers of meaning to your creative projects. Uncover the perfect images for your designs at Depositphotos.
Much like hidden meanings enrich a logo’s impact, custom Logo Stickers can transform your brand’s emblem into a portable piece of art. Celebrate your design ingenuity with this collection of Logo Stickers.
Once a logo direction is finalized, many founders use services like Spaceship Domains to secure matching domain names as part of building out their brand presence.
And if all this logo inspiration has you thinking about creating one of your own, you can even experiment with an AI logo generator to craft unique designs that tell a story—just like the ones in this article.
