Subway Logo PNG
Whatever changes Subway logo has gone through, it has always retained its distinctive feature: the arrows at the ends of the letters “S” and “Y”.
Meaning and history
The Subway visual identity as we know it today was set in 1968, and got only slightly modernized by now, though there was also an original version, designed for the company in 1965 when it was founded under the name “Pete’s Super Submarines”.
What is Subway?
Subway is the world’s largest chain of fast-food restaurants, which was established in the United States in 1965, and by today has opened almost 37 locations in more than 100 countries worldwide. The chain has sandwiches and wraps as the basis of its menu, but also serves salads and beverages.
1965 – 1967
The very first banner for the brand was composed of bright and vivid lettering in light blue and red, placed on a white background. The left part of the emblem comprised an enlarged “Pete’s” in a traditional and bold sans-serif typeface, while the right part was set in two levels with its capitalized red inscription executed in a handwritten font with clean lines and distinct edges.
1967 – 1968
In 1967 the color palette of the badge was changed to minimalistic black-and-white, and the composition was slightly changed. First of all, the font of “Pete’s” became stronger and more geometric, unlike the playful type from the previous badge. Secondly, the additional lettering was now set in three levels, making up three stairs, and looking more balanced and compact.
1968 – 1970
The redesign of 1968 introduced a badge that was a combination of two previous versions: a playful main wordmark in black, and the rewritten additional text, which was now shortened to just “Subs”, and grew larger, almost reaching the size of the “Pete’s”. However. The font of the additional lettering was slightly different, with narrowed characters.
1970 – 1972
Another version of the brand’s badge was introduced in 1989 and this was the first time the iconic Subway logo prototype saw the light. The uppercase lettering with arrow details was written under “Pete’s”, which was set in the same style as on the badge from 1968. Both parts of the inscription were set in plain black.
1972 – 1973
The redesign of 1972 removed the “Pete’s” part from the logo, keeping just the black-and-white “Subway” insignia, where the “Sub” was written in solid strokes and the “Way” — in contoured ones. The first and last characters of the wordmark were decorated by two arrows.
1973 – 1976
With the rename of the brand into Subway in 1972, the new logo was introduced. This time it was a stylized yellow “Subway” inscription executed in a smooth and modern sans-serif typeface with the tails of “S” and “Y” elongated and curved, having thin and delicate arrow-heads in their ends. All the following versions of the Subway visual identity will be based on this emblem, which only was in use for one year.
1976 – 1982
In 1976 the second part of the lettering got contoured again, as on the version from 1972. But this was not the only change. Now the yellow lettering was written against a solid black horizontally stretched banner with rounded ends. This version of the Subway logo stayed active for half a decade.
1981 – 1984
The version of the Subway logo from 1981 repeated the previous one, with a single modification — a thin yellow outline was added to the internal part of the black rounded banner. This also made the lettering slightly reduce in size for a better balance.
1984 – 1988
The redesign of 1984 has removed the thin yellow outline from the Subway logo, emboldened the main yellow lettering, and added a simple title case tagline “Sandwiches & Salads” in yellow to the bottom line of the composition. The badge looked slightly overweighted with yellow details, but the brand was still in search of its perfect combo.
1988 – 2002
In 1988 the lines of the logotype were thickened and the color palette was changed to white and yellow, visually splitting the brand’s name into two parts. The new inscription was placed in a solid black banner which was horizontally stretched and had its sides rounded. A bit later the company introduced two more color scheme options for the badge: white and yellow wordmark on a green background, and green and yellow lettering set in white.
2002 – 2016
The redesign of 2002 changes the typeface of the Subway logotype to a bold and italicized sans-serif with its letters glued to teach others. The wordmark was still executed in white and yellow, but now instead of a dark background, the letters gained a thin yet confident green outline.
2015 – 2016
The version, created for the brand in 2015 featured the same style of the typeface as on the previous logo, but with its letters in green having their lines thinner and gaining some space between the symbols. It was a friendly and bright image evoking a sense of joy and happiness.
2016 – Today
The logo, designed for Subway in 2016, is a modernized version of all the previous emblems, where the inscription is set in a bold and rounded sans-serif typeface with its left part in solid yellow, and the right one — is green. The arrows on the ends of “S” and “Y” became a bit more massive and sharp, which added some progressiveness and strength to the overall image of the company.
Font
Since 1965, numerous amendments have been made to the shape and proportions of the letters. In addition to “Y” and “S”, one of the most characteristic letters in the wordmark is “W”. For most of the company’s history, the letter had somewhat unusual curvy lines. The sharp angled version was in use from 2002 to 2017.
Color
The Subway logo, in its current appearance, is a combination of yellow and green. Although the colors are rather vivid, we cannot say that they are excessively bright or intrusive.
