In addition to featuring the company name, the Maidenform logo is also evocative of the brand’s most known product, the bra.
The history of the brand can be traced back to 1922 when Ida and William Rosenthal in collaboration with Enid Bissett started making brassieres. The original name of the brand was written in two words (Maiden Form). However, the company was incorporated under the name of Enid Manufacturing Company (1925).
The structure was pretty similar to the current logo. There was a large pink “M” paired with the lettering “Maidenform.” This time, however, it was written across the “M” in smaller lowercase sans. The “M” looked heavier and simpler than the current version, while the name of the brand, on the contrary, featured a more elegant type than the current wordmark.
Yet, the most important difference was that the “M” looked just like the “M,” not the bra, which made the old Maidenform logo less meaningful than the current one.
The logo is dominated by a large “M” in magenta. It is not only the “M” but also a stylized depiction of the bra (when you see it from above).
The word “Maidenform” placed below features a light, airy sans. We can add that there is a slight legibility problem. The reason is not the choice of type but rather the fact that the name of the brand is rather long – much longer than an average word.
In logo design, this problem is sometimes resolved by breaking the word down into easier-to-digest parts, for instance with the help of the color, the font (bold and light) or capital letters. And yet, if the design forces behind Maidenform had used one of these approaches, this could have stolen the limelight from the “M.”