Meaning and history
The visual identity of Royal Crown has had several redesigns throughout the brand’s history, which had two main periods — the beginning of the company, which started in 1905, and the second, RC Cola period, from 1989 until today.
1905 – 1930
The very first logo, created for Royal Crown Cola, was introduced in 1905 and fea-tured a rectangular badge, horizontally divided into red and yellow parts, with a black square in the middle. The upper part comprised arched yellow “Royal Crown” inscription in a narrowed sans-serif, while the bottom part had the “Cola” lettering in it. It was written in a bolder and sharper sans-serif, in red. The black square was a background for a yellow “RC” monogram.
1930 – 1969
In 1939 the logo was redrawn. Now it was a white inscription with a delicate white emblem, placed inside a solid red rhombus, which was slightly horizontally stretched. The wordmark in a title case was executed in a very simple and clean sans-serif font, and the geometrically-sharp crown with several triangular peaks perfectly balanced the rounded letters of the nameplate.
1969 – 1989
The new logo was designed in 1969 and boasted a completely different style. This badge became a basis for all the following emblems. Two bold and sleek “RC” let-ters in scarlet-red were placed inside a thick blue oval frame and had a delicate sans-serif “Royal Crown Cola” inscription in all capitals above it. The thickness of the lines and softened angles made the logo look professional and friendly, show-ing the company’s fundamental approach and loyalty.
1982 – 1985
The 1982 logo uses the same ‘RC’ emblem from before. In this version, it’s skewed and given a turquoise-blue trail sticking out of its left end. In addition, there’s ‘Royal Crown Cola’ written in blue thin letters alongside the red emblem’s top.
1989 – 1998
The brand was renamed to RC Cola in 1989, and the new logo was introduced in the same year. It was a custom “RC” lettering in a sharp and modern font, executed in bright red color with a distinct white outline. The lettering was underlined by a thick red element and placed on a blue background. Under the emblem, a thin cur-sive “Cola” in white was located. The most patriotic American color combination worked as an eye-catcher.
1998 – 2009
The redesign of 1998 made the “RC” wordmark sharper and more modern. It also changed its color to gradient white, which added volume and energy. The red un-derline became smoother and had its sharp peak pointing to the right resembling an arrow. The blue of the background became a bit calmer, which created a stronger contrast between all the elements of the visual identity.
2009 – Today
The RC Cola logo we all can see today was introduced in 2009 and I based on the previous version, but with some visible modifications. The typeface became wider and bolder, and its lines — cleaner and more geometric, white the underline got its contouring removed, yet its body was now executed in two shades of red. The “Co-la” tagline was again added to the logo, but now it was written in a bold lowercase sans-serif.
2018 – Today (secondary)
The 2018 logo uses a lot from the old 1982 design, including the emblem and the full name written in blue above it. This one, however, has no trail, isn’t skewed and instead put inside a white circle. For its part, it sits in a middle of a dark blue oval.