Samsonite is an American brand of luggage design and fabricating company, which was founded in 1910. Today the company has several brands of items that are distributed all over the world and are reckoned to be the most popular in its segment.
The brand, named after a biblical hero, Samson, used one and the same emblem during almost the whole company’s life. The Samsonite logo, called “a bagel”, is composed of a wordmark with a delicate yet instantly recognizable graphical element inside.
The wordmark is written in a distinct futuristic sans-serif typeface, which is very similar to Magistral. The smooth limes, horizontally elongated, rounded angles and the absence of the dot above “I” make the nameplate look stylish and modern.
The first Samsonite logo was their name, written in a black, bold serif style. It was one of the regular fonts with all capital letters.
Next up, they adopted a slightly different, more uniform serif font. The letters were slimmer, not exclusively uppercase, but the rest of the design choices stayed.
The 70s logo uses the same wordmark, but with a yet another font. The letters were linear and abrupt, which created a futuristic feel about the design.
In 1973, they also introduced an emblem next to the wordmark. It’s essentially two oval chain rings linked into a bizarre knot.
In 1996, they repositioned the emblem directly above the wordmark, as well as enlarged it.
The “bagel” emblem replaces the letter “O” of the brand’s name and is sometimes used on its own. The symbol became iconic and recognizable and doesn’t need any lettering to represent the brand.
The calm blue and white color palette of the Samsonite logo is a reflection of a stable and professional company, which values quality and design and aims to provide their clientele with the best products possible.