AB Electrolux Logos & History

[kevin]

Here is a timeline of AB Electrolux (Sweden) logos & wordmarks from its history page of the 2011 Annual Report (http://annualreports.electrolux.com/2011/en/operations/thehistoryofelectro/the-story-of-electr.html) The page includes a nice photo of Axel Wenner-Gren, who initiated the production of Electrolux vacuum cleaners with his 1908 vision.

It is interesting to note that the first version of the familiar logo (that resembles a power nozzle) has been in use since 1962 (although I don't think machines carried it until 1967). The logo readily identifies the Swedish Electrolux products from its vintage US counterparts.

 

[kevin]

Electrolux Corporation & Electrolux (Canada) Limited Info.

Canada's original logo was the ornamental cursive, globe, and rays (like Sweden's and the US's). Its later wordmarks were mainly sans serif capitals followed by its version of the US's "boat-shaped" logo with sans serif capitals in the 1960s, a fancy cursive wordmark in the 1970s, and rounded sans serif capitals wordmark followed by bold serif capital wordmark in the 1980s. In fact, one can tell which 1980s cleaners--tanks, uprights, shampooer/polishers--and manuals were made/sold in Canada and assembled/sold in the US just by the wordmark or logo. Doug Smith or someone else--feel free to correct me as these are only my observations.

Here is a collage of Electrolux Corporation (USA) logos and wordmarks from a page of Charles Lester's website (http://1377731.com/lux/luxlall.html)

My observations would put the general years of usage as (some were used concurrently):
*in collage

*1924-37: Ornamental Cursive, Globe and Rays (on cleaners)/Ornamental Cursive (on attachments)
*1937-54: Sans Serif Caps with circle and 3 line segments (on floor cleaner, rug brush, upholstery cleaner, and dusting brush)
*1937-66: Sans Serif Caps with circle and 3 line segments (on narrow space cleaner)
*1949-62: Sans Serif Caps with circle and 3 line segments (on white wall brush)
*1949-78: Sans Serif Caps with circle and 3 line segments (on white dusting brush)
*1954-94: Sans Serif Caps with circle and 3 line segments (on dusting brush/upholstery cleaner)
*1937-41; 1945-54: Sans serif caps (Model XXs and Model XXXs)
*1947-60: Serif Italicized Caps/Electrolux Man Line Drawing w/cursive wordmark (on packaging and containers)
*1950-54: Scribbled cursive (on Model XXX manuals)
*1952-68: Rounded cursive (on documents and packaging)
1962-68: Rounded cursive in fleur-de-lis (on packaging and containers)
*1954-68: Flattened cursive (on vacuum cleaners)
*1962-99: Boat-shaped logo w/serif caps (62-87--Rug Washers, 62-99--Commercial Canisters, 62-78--white wall brushes, 64-99--manuals, 68-00--Vacuum Cleaners & 83-99--Floor Pros)
*1967-02: Boat-shaped logo w/serif caps (narrow space cleaners)
*1994-02: Boat-shaped logo w/serif caps (dusting brush/upholstery tool)
1959-62: Sans serif caps--B-7s and B-8s
1962-83: Serif caps--B-8s
2000-02: Revised boat-shaped logo with 6 line segments and flattened cursive letters (on machines)
*2000-01: Revised flattened cursive Electrolux wordmark (on power nozzles)
2001-05: Revised flattened cursive Lux wordmark (on machines with numbers and power nozzles)
2002- : Aerus sans serif caps in orange air element logo (machines)
2005-09: Italicized Lux orange sans serif caps wordmark w/Aerus logo (machines and power nozzles)
2009- : Orange Lux sans serif caps with the sweeping crossbar on the x (machines & power nozzles) w/black text "The Original Since 1924"

Note: Aerus attachments have not been marked with its logo, because they are shared with TriStar cleaners.

 

[ronni]

Check this vid out with the updated 2015 logo:



Background on the 1962 version from Electrolux Group's website:

"In 1959, Electrolux had the Design Laboratory in Chicago carry out a major study of its logo’s identification value. The results showed that the Electrolux globe trademark no longer lived up to the day’s demands on a logo and a brand. People found it difficult to distinguish and remember the basic features of the trademark, nor could they easily describe the impression it made on them. The study therefore concluded that a new corporate symbol and trademark should be designed. It should communicate the positive qualities of Electrolux and its products more effectively.

"A contest was held in Switzerland and it involved a great deal of graphic design expertise. Carlo L. Vivarelli won the competition with his "Sun/globe concave/convex" which was best-loved by the Elecxtrolux representatives. The new logo was deemed to be an original, attractive design with all the properties needed to ensure high identification value. For trademark protection reasons, the patent department had requested from the start that the components of the previous logo be included in the new. In Vivarelli’s proposal, the sun or globe could be discerned in the circle enclosed by the ”E” shape. The new trademark was successively phased in throughout the Electrolux Group in 1962."