“I don’t love it,” Phil Knight famously responded when it was first presented to him, “but maybe it will grow on me.” It not only grew on Knight, it grew all over the culture — like kudzu with a profit motive. And this, in fact, is the more compelling reason for this particular logo’s “enduring power”: repetition. You can say all you like about the graphic properties of this commercial symbol or any other, but logos are a distinct category of visual, partly because of their specific relationship with repetition.
I think I forgot to link to this here earlier. My most recent post on Design Observer: Rob Walker: Swoosh. Repeat. : Observers Room: Design Observer
