In the span of a century, IBM evolved from a small manufacturer of scales, time clocks and tabulating machines into a globally integrated enterprise with billions in revenue, hundreds of thousands of employees, dozens of products and services, and one of the world’s most valuable brands. The standard-bearer for that brand is the instantly recognizable “8-bar,” an iconic logo created by the legendary designer Paul Rand.
The 8-bar has proven remarkably resilient over the decades, remaining unchanged since 1972. But the path to its emergence comprised several twists and turns that reflected the company’s shifting ambitions, evolving product line, and the growth of its addressable market. Perhaps the only constant throughout the logo’s history has been IBM’s unrelenting commitment to the power of design.
Understanding the evolution of the IBM logo requires a crash course in the company itself. IBM began as a merger of three manufacturing businesses, which collectively became the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (C-T-R). Like each of its parents, C-T-R demonstrated a deliberate, artful approach to its logo: The letters “C-T-R” were rendered in strong, sinuous lines and whiplash curves in a white typeface set in a black square.
When Thomas J. Watson Sr. became president of C-T-R in 1915, he turned the company’s attention to engineering and research with a focus on massive growth. Under his direction, C-T-R quickly expanded around the world, acquired subsidiaries and hired thousands of employees. In 1924, C-T-R changed its name to International Business Machines to mirror Watson’s global ambitions.
Watson scuttled the ornate, rococo letters of C-T-R’s logo in favor of more modern Art Deco iconography. The words “Business Machines” were written in a simple, sans serif font in the shape of a globe with the word “International” belted around the middle. The Art Deco style expressed an affinity and admiration for modernity and machines — values that aligned with IBM's vision.
Two decades after its inception, IBM shifted from punched card tabulating machines to computers. To mark the shift, Watson decided to overhaul the brand image too. The familiar and more elaborate globe was replaced with something simple — “IBM” in a typeface called Beton Bold. It debuted on the masthead of the January 1, 1947, issue of the in-house publication Business Machines. The new look reflected the company’s product line and fit into the modernism movement, which focused on societal progress.
In 1956, Thomas J. Watson Jr. — who had taken over IBM from his father, coined the phrase “good design is good business” and created IBM’s first Design Program — hired noted graphic designer Paul Rand to create a logo that would herald a new era of IBM while also communicating continuity. Replacing the former Beton Bold typography with City Medium, the letters “IBM” took on a more solid, grounded and balanced appearance with a few unconventional elements — the square contours of the B, for instance, and asymmetrical serifs of the M.
The new logo brought IBM through a decade and a half of growth, which culminated in a new way of selling technology. Rather than exclusively bundling hardware, services and software, the company began selling the components individually, signifying the beginnings of the multibillion-dollar software and services industries.
By the 1970s, IBM had invented several important pieces of technology, including the floppy disk, the supermarket checkout station and an early form of the ATM. Watson again commissioned Rand. Aiming for a streamlined and dynamic redesign, Rand created IBM’s now instantly recognizable 8-bar logo in 1972 — the three letters of the company name rendered in eight (and sometimes 13) horizontal lines, which usually appear in black, gray, white or “IBM Blue,” which is at the core of the official color palette, identified as Pantone PMS 2718C. This logo is now considered to be among the company’s most valuable assets.
Although the design has fundamentally remained constant in recent decades, tweaks in color, imagery and context have been employed at various times to signal growth and change. Some renditions have been as successful as the original. In 1981, Rand designed the IBM rebus poster, which featured pictograms of an eye and a bee in place of the I and B. This playful approach served to humanize the tech giant and was so successful that it is still used today. Now, the rebus is an iconic part of IBM’s visual history and is in the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
As IBM’s image has spread, its logo has become ingrained in popular culture and grown to symbolize the frontier of scientific discovery. The simple, iconic 8-bar logo has even made it to the moon, serving as a symbol of IBM’s far-reaching ambition to advance humanity through technology.
The different iterations of the IBM logo over the years
Released 1888
Released 1891
Released 1911
Released 1924
Released 1947
Released 1957
Released 1972
Released 1981
By focusing on people, IBM has designed products, spaces and solutions that harmonize industry and art
IBM’s core values, philosophies and culture date back to the merger of three companies at the turn of the 20th century
One of IBM’s chief lines of business once entailed helping clients accurately measure and record the passage of time