On April 1^st 2019, SAP turned 47 years old since being founded in Germany. As SAP closes in on its 50^th anniversary, this seemed like a perfect a time to evaluate the brand from a marketing standpoint and see the evolution of one of the cornerstones its existence: its logo.

SAP has grown immensely in the past almost five decades, and today they are recognized as one of the leading software providers in the world. Like most brands, SAP has greatly evolved over the course of the past few decades, and one of the things that has changed with it is its logo. We have covered ground on the evolution of the SAP logo – and what a progression that has been! And now that we’re talking about logos, here are some really striking evolutions over the years:

Can you believe the Apple logo evolution? It’s absolutely fascinating to think that the simple, polished silver bitten apple once started out as an entire orchard view. As a marketing agency that supports companies of all sizes, we can’t help but think about these changes and wonder how important is the progression of a logo to the overall success of a company? We’ve worked with companies from the development stages of their branding strategy helping them to create logos, and it’s usually such an important decision for them at a small scale, but now that we’ve seen how logos can vastly change from the original vision, we can steer them clear of their fear and let them know that the logo:

• Won’t make or break their company (unless it’s something truly offensive)
• Can be improved or changed over time
• “It’s never love at first sight” – as stated by CGH graphic design firm in NYC

And that’s the key point we try to drive when meeting with customers either for a first logo draft, or a makeover. The process of falling in love with a logo can take many twists and turns, and another important factor is to remember that the logo needs to be liked by audiences, not necessarily by the founder or company owner. This is something that should be top of mind during the focus group testing phase (if done), when something resonates with outsiders, that’s the direction to move in. The reality is, people end up becoming so familiar with the logos that they remember them subconsciously. Don’t believe us? Then try the logo quiz craze that has been around since the viral app back in 2013.

With all of this in mind, we wanted to take things to the next level with a futuristic outlook and take a bit of a walk on the wild side by brainstorming what SAP’s logo will look like in another few decades. Let’s first do a full walk through memory lane and witness the entire evolution of the logo from the past four decades:

We put some designers to the test, and they came up with a few interesting options to what SAP could end up gravitating towards as a logo in the future. Their idea was to simplify the logo further and open it up towards a world where everything can be connected.

2022 – ?

Do you feel like logos are hugely important and a company needs to get it right from the beginning, or is it ok to look forward to possible evolutions like the ones we saw above? Now that you’ve seen the evolution of the SAP logo and our take on the future changes for it, which of the options we presented do you think SAP might gravitate towards? More an evolutionary, or more of a radically different approach with only traces of its legacy. Let us know in the comments, and feel free to link back to your own logo work if you’re a graphic designer. We love to see new talent!