Mountain Dew is a brand of beverage, produced by PepsiCo since 1940. The drink is well-Known across the globe and is distributed worldwide.
Meaning and history
Mountain Dew was invented in Knoxville, Tennessee back in the 1940s, and for over a century it has been considered the most sought-after beverage.
Mountain Dew was first created by the Ming family in Virginia in 1948.
Before Mountain Dew was born, this name was used to refer to homemade or moonshine. When the citrus beverage began to be sold in Tennessee, the bottles and advertisements featured pictures of ordinary mountain men with rifles driving tax collectors off their land.
The recipe for the drink was invented back in the first half of the nineteenth century. Strong carbonated “Mountain Dew” is produced by the world-famous American company Pepsi. A distinctive feature of the product is its interesting yellow-green color and the simplest, healthiest composition.
The main components are sugar, distilled water, caffeine, citric acid, and seaweed extract. In addition, the manufacturers added ascorbic acid, various minerals, and nutrients to boost the immune system.
What is Mountain Dew?
Mountain Dew carbonated soft drink, a trademark of the American company PepsiCo, founded in the 1940s. Mountain Dew is known to differ from other carbonated beverages in that it contains real orange juice. In addition to the original drink, there are several varieties, including diet and caffeine-free.
1948 – 1969
The Mountain Dew visual identity was always text-based and used green color as its main one. The very first logo was created in 1948 and stayed with the brand for more than twenty years. It was a simple white wordmark on a green background. The lettering was executed in a smooth handwritten sans-serif typeface, which was slightly narrowed.
1969 (February – May)
In the beginning of 1969, the Mountain Dew logo was redrawn in a black-and-white color palette, with the same style of the lettering, but bolder bars, which created a more confident and professional image of the brand. The logo only stayed active for several months and was replaced by somewhat closer to the badge we all know today already in May 1969.
1969 – 1980
In 1969 red color appears on the Mountain Dew logo. The typeface is modernized and now looks artsy and contemporary. The green color of the “Mountain” is prevailing on the emblem, but the red “Dew”, placed under it, makes a bright accent.
1980 – 1991
The redesign of 1980 brought a more vivid and delightful color palette to the Mountain Dew logo, making both red and green lighter and fresher. The lines of the letters were also refined, becoming stronger and straighter. The massive inscription gained more confidence and style by removing some curved lines.
1991 – 1996
The lettering got narrowed in 1991, though all lines became taller, and the whole inscription started looking more elegant and lightweight. The shades of green and red were switched again, green now gained a grass-tone, which looked more natural and evokes a sense of reliability and quality of a brand’s product.
1996 – 1998
In 1996 the Mountain Dew logo gains a sharp white framing, this was the start of a chain of redesigns, that led to the current logo.
1998 – 2005
In 1999 the frame was refined and the green shadow was added, while the font of the wordmark became more confident and strong.
2005 – Today
The bold green outline was replaced by a thin lime one in 2005. Now the frame is composed of several thin smooth lines, which add vitality and energy to the whole composition, and their new shade added freshness to the image. As for the main element of the emblem, the lettering, it got its contours arched, which created a playful and modern feeling, showing the beverage as a cool one and pointing to its young audience.
2009 – 2017
In 2009, the brand created a new logo, with the bold two-colored frame and enlarged lettering of red “Dew”. It looks energetic and powerful due to the sharp distinct angles of the emblem. It was also in 2009 when the brand started shortening its name to “MNT Dew”.
2016 – Today
The packaging with the new lanes was in use only in the USA until 2016.
The current Mountain Dew logo is a sharp black and green framing of a white background and green and red nameplate on it. The modern bold typeface of the lettering looks dynamic and masculine, evoking a sense of strength and excitement.
2025 (tentative)
At the end of 2024, a new design option for the famous drink brand was introduced, and it will be used starting in March 2025. The shades of green, yellow, and red got deeper and smoother, creating a professional and serious image, but keeping the strength and edginess, recognizable by all the Mountain Dew lovers. The inscription was rewritten with thicker lines and square cuts of the bars, accompanied by short and sharp triangular serifs on some of the characters.
Font and color
The bold and bright lettering from the primary Mountain Dew badge is set in a mixed-case, with the custom contours of the characters. The clean straight lines of the glyphs flew to their ends, making up pretty massive serifs. The bars of the “M” and the “W” is diagonally elongated.
As for the color palette of the Mountain Dew visual identity, it is composed of two shades of green, red and white, a combination, which makes it look eye-catching and intense, reflecting the strength of the brand and the professional approach to manufacturing.