Evolution of the Barbie logo

The Barbie brand is part of the Mattel, Inc. company that was created in the late 1950s by Ruth Handler, the wife of the co-founder of Mattel, Inc. It is the leading brand in toy dolls, but in recent years it has faced many changes. What began as a brand that reflected femininity had to adapt to new social representations, as well as eliminate barriers that they themselves had raised regarding stereotyping of women.

The Barbie logo maintains certain characteristics despite the modifications it has had throughout its existence. The main aspects that it still preserves today are that it is made up of (mostly) handwritten typography and with the distinctive original pink color from the 50s.

The first logo was registered in 1958 and presented in March 1959 at the New York Toy Show, and was a cursive, handwritten font that represented the signature of the doll itself, which added humanity to the toy. A tone of Mexican pink was chosen that is soft, sweet, young, feminine and optimistic, which lasts to this day and has even become an emblem of the brand.

The modifications have given a drastic change to the logo, although they retain the characteristics, except for the second logo, the one from 1975 to 1990, which uses a volume with white filling and three-dimensionality in pink.

From 1990 to 1999 the logo retained the design of the previous one, but eliminating the filling.

From 1999 to 2004 the logo reduced the width of the letters, returning to handwritten and italic, in addition to tilting them upwards.

On the other hand, in 2004, instead of the logo being calligraphic, it changed to separate and block letters, although it kept the italics and returned to the horizontal plane, as a curious detail they added a flower at the point of the “ Yo".

From 2005 to 2009, the previous design was resumed, but eliminating the flower they had added, so they could enlarge it a little.

Currently, and on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary, Mattel decided to reuse the first handwritten and cursive logo that came out in 1959.