2NE1 was a South Korean girl group, which, at the peak of its career, was considered one of the most successful and popular girl groups in the country. Also, they had a similarly successful career in Japan.
The group was created by YG Entertainment in 2009, although they were first mentioned by the South Korean press in late 2004. The list of members included four girls: Bom, CL, Dara, and Minzy. It debuted alongside the boy band Big Bang.
While the quartet experimented with their album covers and single covers, you can see that there was one 2NE1 logo that was used most often, while all the others were additional, alternative versions.
The cover of the 2009 single Fire showcases another logo that was used more or less often. There, the name of the band is given in a sans serif all-caps type with a distinctive “E” formed by three parallel horizontal bars. One more distinctive element of this emblem is the five-pointed star on the left. The wordmark is formed by multiple white dots looking like light bulbs.
The wordmark, which was unveiled on the covers of the 2NE1 2009 Extended Play and I Don’t Care single, looks memorable, sleek, and futuristic. The only problem with the wordmark is that it’s confusingly similar to NASA’s “worm” logo.
The “2” glyph seems to have been copied from NASA’s “S” (or, to be more precise, it is its mirror reflection). The “N” from the 2NE1 wordmark is also almost a copy of NASA’s “N.” There is but a slight difference in the shape of the diagonal bar. In the case of the girls’ group’s logo, it is mostly vertical, while NASA’s version has a diagonal fragment.
The glyphs “E” and “I” are, of course, not copied but they can’t boast a unique style, too. Nevertheless, they seamlessly merge with the other glyphs due to their minimalist shape.
We should also mention that there was some variation in this wordmark. You can notice it, for instance, in the shape of “1,” which can be given either with or without the top stroke.
The list of releases featuring this logo on the cover, in addition to the 2009 LP, includes the 2011 LP, the studio album Crush (2014), the singles I Don’t Care (2011), Go Away (2010), I Am the Best (2011), and Do You Love Me (2013), to name just a few.
The cover of the debut studio album, To Anyone (2010), showcases the numbers “2” and “1” in a plain type, while the primary 2NE1 logo (the NASA-inspired one) is given in smaller letters below. The primary logo does not make an appearance on the second album, Collection. Instead, we can see the name of the band in a simple type, half-hidden by the photos of the girls.