The $35 Swoosh: Inside the Surprising Creation of Nike's Iconic Logo

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In 1971, Phil Knight was working as a professor and also starting Blue Ribbon Sports on the side. This would later become Nike.

He needed a logo fast, so when he heard a design student named Caroline Davidson was looking for some extra work, he asked her to put together a few options.

Davidson’s best idea was ‘A swoosh’ which was designed to feel like “movement” while also representing a wing of the Greek Goddess of Victory named Nike.

Phil Knight didn’t even like it at first! But because of a rushed deadline he said “It’ll grow on me” and moved forward.

The craziest part of this story is that Knight only paid Davidson $35 dollars for the logo. Can you imagine getting paid $35 dollars for creating a multi-billion dollar brand identity!?

Thankfully, the story doesn’t end there. After Nike went public, Knight surprised Davidson with Nike stock which today would be worth around $4 million dollars and she even continued to work with the brand for decades to come.

In the end, everybody won.