Origin of The Swoosh

Easily one of the most recognizable symbols in the world, the Nike Swoosh was originally designed by Carolyn Davidson, a graphic design student that Phil Knight offered to pay a couple of bucks an hour and see if she could come up with anything interesting for his then small company (Nike was previously called Blue Ribbon Sports, Inc.) According to Davidson, Knight asked for a design that suggested movement— originally disliking the swoosh she submitted, Knight had deadlines to meet and ended up using it saying “I don’t love it, but it will grow on me.” As the story goes, Davidson, the young designer, was paid $35 for the Swoosh design. Luckily, in ’83 they honored her talent with a diamond ring and an envelope containing Nike stock. How much remains a mystery but we, and we’d think all designers, only hope that she’s living off those dividends in style today. Check out the full story on Nikebiz, very interesting.