Many things in our everyday lives are given abbreviations, paraphrases or nicknames – much of which can be found in our everyday language. But: Did you know that even company names can have funny nicknames? It’s true: There is a large German company whose well-known logo is affectionately known as “Keks”. But: Which company is it – and why is that?
Deutsche Bahn, Audi, Telekom: Which company logo is affectionately called a cookie?
We see many company and brand logos immediately in our mind’s eye when we just imagine the companies or the corresponding products. But: Did you also know that there is a company in Germany whose well-known logo is affectionately known as a “biscuit”? Which could it be? Is it the Deutsche Telekom logo – in a capital T with several dots that are almost reminiscent of a trail of crumbs? Or is it the logo of the car manufacturer Audi, the four interlocking rings that look a bit like an oversized pretzel with too many twists?
It is none of these – the Deutsche Bahn logo is affectionately referred to as a “biscuit”! The reason: The company’s logo consists of the two large letters “D” and “B”, which are framed by a square with rounded corners. The whole thing looks simple and compact – like a square cookie. Both railway employees and railway fans are familiar with the term biscuit for the transport company’s logo.
The Deutsche Bahn logo is affectionately called a cookie. It consists of the letters D and B and a bold, square frame.Tobias Schwarz/AFP
The Deutsche Bahn cookie: This is how the company’s famous logo came about
The railway even reports on it itself – the “cookie story” is told on the company’s website. It says here that the logo was designed by the graphic artist and illustrator Eduard Ege, who was born in 1893 – during the time of the Federal Railway. “In 1954, the Bundesbahn announced a competition in which it was looking for a new logo,” it says on the Deutsche Bahn website. “This should contain the Hermes shoe, a wing, a wheel as well as the characters D and B.”
But that was too “horrible and ridiculous” for graphic designer Ege, he said, according to Bahn. He had already designed the Bavarian state coat of arms, which is still known today – and prevailed with his version of the railway logo, the D and the B in a bold frame. “The simple DB signet by Eduard Ege corresponded exactly to the taste of the time and developed into a valuable trademark that identified all printed matter from 1955 and then gradually also vehicles and buildings,” writes Deutsche Bahn. “In 1973, its awareness level was 94 percent, putting it at the top of a comparative brand survey.” And it even has an extremely sweet nickname, “Cookie”… ■