The story of the world-famous Nike Swoosh logo is a great lesson for designers to keep in mind. The designer of the Swoosh, Carolyn Davis, was actually a design student when she created the logo for the company and was only paid $35 for her contribution. This might seem like a cautionary tale for young designers, but at least it has a happy ending—later on, when the business grew, Davis was retroactively compensated for the design with a diamond ring in the Swoosh design and 500 shares of Nike stock. The logo itself was created as a response to the simplicity of the Adidas logo. The Swoosh shape was designed to convey a sense of motion, but it had to be simple enough to compete with Adidas and look good printed on the side of a shoe.
