Graphic Designer Replaces Wordmarks In 32 Popular Logos With The Fonts They Use
Every famous logo has a typeface quietly doing the heavy lifting, yet most of us recognize the brand without ever noticing the font behind it. Italian graphic designer Emanuele Abrate brings those hidden choices to the surface with Logofonts, a clever typography project that replaces the wordmarks in popular logos with the names of the fonts they use. The result is a fun, eye-opening look at the fonts used in famous logos, and at how much a single typeface shapes the way we see a brand.
The brand name goes, the font name takes its place. Everything else stays true to the original: the colors, the icons, and the overall layout. Cisco’s red wordmark now reads “Futura.” Bing’s yellow type spells out “Segoe.” Benetton’s green box says “Gill Sans Regular,” and Black+Decker becomes, rather neatly, “Black+Avenir.”
Some of the swaps are pure fun. Caterpillar turns into “Helveticat,” with the brand’s yellow triangle still tucked under the A. The North Face becomes “The Helvetica,” stacked neatly beside its half dome, while Kickstarter’s two-tone wordmark splits perfectly into “Frankfurter.” That kind of wordplay only works when the designer respects the original visual identity, and Abrate clearly does.
It’s also a surprisingly useful type lesson. Helvetica alone powers six of the 32 logos in the series, from Target and Jeep to Scotch and Energizer. Avant Garde turns up in four, including Nutella and Calvin Klein, while Futura carries everything from Omega to Supreme. For all the money brands spend on identity, many of the world’s most recognizable logos rely on the same handful of classic typefaces.
Some of these fonts might surprise you. Scroll down to see all 32 famous logos from the series, each shown alongside its original, and discover the typefaces hiding behind brands you see every day.
