Hi MLE,

Well today I am having a look at the birth of one of the most liked logos of all time: the Penguin Books logo. I do not know of anyone who does not like it. 

At the time, Albatross Books based in Hamburg was very successful. See one of their book covers above. So what did Allen Lane do to for his newly formed publishing company? He called it Penguin and has a little penguin drawn up by the 21-year old production editor and designer Edward Young.  

Over the years, the little penguin has been tweaked a lot by various people.  During the forties alone, it was changed nine times by Young, as you can see above. The famous typographer Jan Tschichold changed it in 1949, so at least it stopped trying to do that little waddle!  

Today’s logo looks like Tschichold’s 1949 logo, which in turn looks very similar to Young’s second ever logo, designed in 1938.  Well, except with improved feet.

Suzan