Sysco Corporation specializes in marketing and distributing food products, smallwares, kitchen equipment, etc. Its customer base consists primarily of restaurants, schools, and universities, as well as hotels. The corporation also sells its products to companies offering food service. Sysco is based in Houston, Texas.
The centerpiece of the Sysco logo has always been the name of the company. The version introduced in 2008 looks more meaningful and simple than its predecessor. Let’s compare the two versions and see how the designers managed to tell more by using fewer elements.
The original logo combined the word “Sysco” with a cube emblem.
The wordmark was set in a rather bold serif typeface, where thick and thin strokes were mixed. Today, such typefaces look dated.
The emblem, which was placed to the right side, featured a 3D cube. On the top side, there was a symbol consisting of a circle and a curve. Each of the two lower sides contained the letter “S.” As a result, the letters on the cube could also be interpreted as the name of the company (double “S” and “Co”).
The design combined a dark shade of blue with white. This combination looks serious and business-like, although it lacks a unique touch. We can’t say it’s very meaningful, either.
On the whole, it would be unfair to say that the original logo explained a lot about the company, its values, and its mission. It still did a decent job in representing the company as a business, in the form of a “default” design solution
The Sysco logo was redrawn becoming more modern and stylish.
The serif type was replaced by a clean, dynamic sans. While the thickness of the lines and curves still varied a little, the font didn’t look dated anymore.
More importantly, the glyph “y” now incorporated a stylized leaf. It was very simple, and yet, it was enough to understand that it’s exactly a leaf, not an abstract shape. It was partly due to the fact that it was positioned like a leaf on a twig. The vivid color looked very natural and brought some life to the rather calm logo.
What is Sysco
Sysco is often named the largest broadline food distributor in the world. It sells food products and kitchen equipment to over 600,000 clients and works in more than 90 countries. It was established in 1969.
The most notable thing about this version is the way it has incorporated the pictorial part (the leaf) in the wordmark. This carries more than one benefit. Firstly, due to this, the design is sleeker, easier to grasp at a single glance. This matters a lot as we typically don’t have the time and the desire to stare at logos trying to figure out their meaning.
The choice of colors plays an important part in the design. The dominating color is a light shade of blue. When artists want to depict clean water, they often pick a color that is close to this shade. It sends a subconscious message promising purity. For a company dealing with food such connotations are highly valuable and are probably the reason why blue was included.
The accent color, green, is also used for a reason. Green connotes nature and all things natural. By using it, the brand emphasizes that its products are made out of plants or use some natural technologies. It’s just another question whether this message reflects the reality, of course.
The choice of typeface places the Sysco logo in line with successful modern logotypes. On the one hand, there is nothing unnecessary here. On the other hand, the type is perfectly legible.