Target - What Everyone is Aiming For

By now, the Target bullseye logo is synonymous with a good, clean, simple design. The logo has been voted as a top design numerous times, and routinely is used as an example for what all logo designs should target (pun intended).
You can almost picture a stamp of this logo, that's how simple it is. Without needing any words, or even the company name, this logo immediately tells a consumer what store they are entering.

What I never realized was that this design was actually a simplified version of an original, bigger logo which was used until 1968 (pictured to the right). This is where you can see the genius of the Target Corporation. The original logo is much to big..too many circles and too complicated. By simplifying things and removing the two outer red circles, the logo becomes cleaner and easier to copy. This is a logo which a kindergartner can easily draw, something which cannot be said by many companies. By moving to the current logo, the company ensured that everyone is capable of instantly not only understanding the logo, but also that anyone can easily replicate it.

Proof of the success of the design: Fortune magazine compared 16 of the top logo designs in a tournament to decide which was the top logo design. In the final, Target was able to win over he CBS eye logo. Fortune described the logo as an event, containing witty simplicity, and as being more distinct. If you want to check out the final 16, you can click here.