The Amazon logo: a history – how the retail giant got its smile

the old Amazon logo with a river running through an 'a' next to the new amazon logo which has an arrow going from the 'a' to the 'z'
(Image credit: Amazon/Joe Foley)

In the cutthroat world of retail, one curved line has changed everything. Amazon's logo, now as ubiquitous as the cardboard boxes piling up on doorsteps worldwide, tells a story of ambition, growth, and marketing genius. When Jeff Bezos launched "Earth's Biggest Bookstore" in 1994, few could have predicted that a simple online bookseller would revolutionise shopping as we know it.

Amazon is now 30 years old, and to track its progress from bookseller to retail giant, here, we take a look at how its logo has grown and evolved over three decades. For more on logos, see our best logos list or series on logo histories and for how the retailer can help you save money, see our Apple Amazon Prime Day deals page.

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Patrick Llewellyn
CEO, 99designs by Vista

Patrick Llewellyn is CEO of 99designs by Vista, the global creative platform that makes it easy for small businesses to work with professional freelance designers around the world. 99designs has paid out more than US$400m to its creative community to date, working across brand and logo design, packaging, web design and more. 

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