“Shrek” is a popular animated film franchise. The film blends humor, adventure, and heartfelt moments, making it appealing to both children and adults. Once upon a time, in a fairy-tale kingdom, there lived a big green giant named Shrek. He lived in proud solitude in the forest, in a swamp that he considered his own. One day, an evil shorty, Lord Farquaad, the ruler of the magical kingdom, mercilessly drove all the fairy-tale inhabitants to Shrek’s swamp. The carefree life of the green giant came to an end. Lord Farquaad, though, promised to return the swamp to Shrek if the giant would get him the beautiful princess Fiona, who was suffering in a tower guarded by a fire-breathing dragon.
Meaning and History
The first film, titled “Shrek,” was released in 2001 and is based on a 1990 fairy tale picture book by William Steig. “Shrek” was groundbreaking for its use of computer animation and its irreverent take on traditional fairy tales. Several sequels, including “Shrek 2” (2004), “Shrek the Third” (2007), and “Shrek Forever After” (2010), as well as a spin-off film centered on the character Puss in Boots, were since created.
What is Shrek?
“Shrek” is a highly popular computer-animated film produced by DreamWorks. The film features a mix of humor, adventure, and heart, with themes of acceptance, friendship, and the idea that appearances can be deceiving.
1996
The original logo looks like a handwritten version of the name. It features all capitalized characters as well as bracketed serifs. The latter adds a professional touch to the overall look. A yellow and green gradient is used for the inscription. It reminds of the color of the main character and the swamp and the forest he lived in. This prototype was never used officially.
2000
This prototype acquired volume and a rounder shape to better resemble the Shrek character. Moreover, they have a slightly uneven or cartoonish appearance to match the animated style of the films. The “S” in “Shrek” is stylized in a way that resembles Shrek’s ears. All the letters are connected and set on a shared light green background. Although the idea was good, the inscription turned out ambiguous and hard to read.
2000 – 2001
The logo was designed to be fun, eye-catching, and representative of the beloved ogre’s adventurous spirit. The name is done in red using all caps. The first character, though, is enlarged and has “Shreck’s ears”. To add a unique touch, the letter “E” was printed slightly above the baseline, while the “K” had an elongated leg. The characters had a textured finish of a light green color with a darker shade giving them volume. Above the name, the logo has the iconic DreamWorks logo with a boy sitting on a moon and holding a fishing pole.
2010
The updated logo looks almost identical to the one designed ten years earlier. The designer has made the color palette darker and more vivid. The DreamWorks logo is no longer there.
Font and Color
The color palette of all the logos features various shades of green. The color is supposed to represent a green, fearsome ogre that the movie is centered around. There is also a little bit of yellow gradient, which is supposed to represent Princess Fiona.
Several different fonts have been used in logo prototypes and final versions. All they tried to reflect the fun, cartoonish style of the animated film. The fonts are custom, but one can use Shreck font by Kevin Wilson to replicate the inscription.