The FDA is invisibly present in the daily life of every American. It is responsible for the safety of food, cosmetics, drugs, and medical equipment, as well as some types of household appliances. In addition, the agency controls animal feed and drugs used in veterinary medicine. The FDA also ensures that all products are labeled properly and that the labels contain information that ensures their correct use. The activities of the agency are regulated by legislative acts. The FDA is considered the standard for government control of the quality of food, drugs, and medical devices.
Meaning and History
The history of the FDA is as dramatic as it is comical. The agency was founded in 1906 due to a scandal involving the sale of rotten and contaminated meat at slaughterhouses in the Meat Packing District in the Hudson region. On June 30, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt issued the Pure Food and Drug Act, regulating the circulation of food and drugs. The FDA was created in accordance with this law. Thus, more than 100 years ago, one scandal served as a pretext for the creation of an entire structure for food quality control. The FDA’s area of responsibility has steadily expanded and has gone far beyond the “supervision of food and drug quality” mentioned in the organization’s name.
What is FDA?
The FDA is one of the oldest and most reliable consumer protection services in America. The employees of the agency control the production, import, transportation, storage, and sale of goods, the total cost of which is approximately $1 trillion annually. The activities of the FDA are based on the results of research carried out by over 2,000 scientists working in 40 laboratories in different cities of the country.
19?? – 19??
This logo features the abbreviated name printed using an extra bold, geometric font without serifs. The letter “F” is made larger, so the horizontal bars go above the rest of the letters. Underneath, it has “Consumer Protection” printed using a basic, finer sans-serif font. This inscription is the same width as the abbreviation above it. The logo looks quite basic but carries the message across.
19?? – 2016
An intricate and bold custom design has been presented later on. It has just the abbreviated name, which shows the expanding responsibilities of the organization. The letters touch and as if flow one into the other. They are formed from double black lines with white space between them. The overall design is very impressive and striking and perfectly reflects the power and authority of the FDA.
2016 – Today
The new design incorporates the previous logo. It is placed across the upper half of a vertical blue rectangle. The full name “U.S. Food & Drug Administration” is printed to the right using a sans-serif font and all caps. The last word is placed on a second line and uses a finer, smaller font size. The inscription is also done in blue.
Font and Color
The logo used before 2016 features bold, geometric letterforms with a distinct inline design. The custom font is similar in style to Oskar Inline One Bold font. It is also featured in the next logo along with a bold, sans-serif font with a condensed width. The latter resembles Aaux Next Cond Black font and Akzidenz-Grotesk Next Cond Bold font.
Originally, the logos were done in a classic black-and-white color palette. It looks professional and strong. The color scheme of a logo introduced in 2016 incorporates a light shade of blue, which conveys a sense of trust and authority.