I Created Famous Logos with CSS

Logos are a vital part of branding. They serve as the visual representation of a company's identity and are often one of the first things people notice about a business

Technology Apr 18, 2025 30 Add to Reading List

Logos are a vital part of branding. They serve as the visual representation of a company's identity and are often one of the first things people notice about a business. But have you ever thought about how you could recreate famous logos using nothing but CSS?

In this blog post, I’m going to walk you through the fun and creative process of reimagining iconic logos using CSS. This challenge not only pushes the boundaries of design and creativity but also sharpens technology content your skills in working with CSS, animations, and shapes.

Here’s a quick look at some of the famous logos I created entirely with CSS, showcasing the beauty of minimalist design and code.

The Challenge: Why CSS Logos?

While the world of logos is dominated by graphic design software like Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, it’s an interesting and rewarding challenge to recreate these logos using just CSS. Why? Because CSS offers powerful tools to manipulate shapes, colors, and animations directly in the browser. By understanding how CSS works, you can harness it to create stunning designs without needing any images.

CSS lets you experiment with shapes and effects using simple properties such as border-radius, box-shadow, transform, and keyframes. With a bit of creativity, you can create intricate logos and animations purely through code.

Let’s dive into how I recreated some famous logos using CSS!

1. Apple Logo: A Sleek and Simple Design

The Apple logo is one of the most recognizable logos in the world. Its clean, sleek design makes it perfect for recreating with CSS.

HTML Structure:

CSS Code:

css

.apple-logo {
  position: relative;
  width: 200px;
  height: 250px;
  background-color: #333;
  border-radius: 50% 50% 40% 40%;
  box-shadow: inset 0 0 40px rgba(0,0,0,0.6);
}

.apple-body {
  position: absolute;
  top: 50px;
  left: 30px;
  width: 140px;
  height: 160px;
  background-color: #333;
  border-radius: 50%;
}

.apple-leaf {
  position: absolute;
  top: 10px;
  left: 80px;
  width: 40px;
  height: 40px;
  background-color: #333;
  border-radius: 50%;
  transform: rotate(-45deg);
}

Explanation:

The apple body is made with a circular shape and slightly elongated.
The leaf is created as a small oval shape positioned at the top, rotated to mimic the tilt in the logo.

This simple design took only a few lines of CSS but still captures the essence of the Apple logo's sleek minimalism.

2. Nike Logo: A Dynamic, Sweeping Swoosh

The Nike Swoosh is a curved line that represents speed, movement, and victory. It's simple, yet powerful—perfect for showcasing CSS’s ability to create smooth, flowing shapes.

HTML Structure:

CSS Code:

Explanation:

The swoosh is simply a div with a border-radius to make it elliptical.
A slight rotation with the transform property helps give it the iconic swoosh appearance.

While it may look simple, this design is a great example of how CSS properties such as border-radius and transform can create elegant shapes.

3. Twitter Logo: A Modern, Tweeting Bird

The Twitter logo is another iconic design featuring a bird in flight. Its minimalism and use of clean curves made it a perfect candidate for a CSS recreation.

HTML Structure:

CSS Code:

css

.twitter-logo {
  position: relative;
  width: 150px;
  height: 150px;
  background-color: #1DA1F2;
  border-radius: 50%;
  display: flex;
  justify-content: center;
  align-items: center;
}

.bird {
  width: 50px;
  height: 50px;
  background-color: #fff;
  border-radius: 50%;
  position: relative;
}

.bird::before {
  content: "";
  position: absolute;
  top: -20px;
  left: 0;
  width: 20px;
  height: 30px;
  background-color: #fff;
  border-radius: 50%;
  transform: rotate(45deg);
}

Explanation:

The bird is created by a circular div (.bird) with a small "wing" added using the ::before pseudo-element.
The overall logo is set on a circular background with the Twitter blue color.

The Twitter logo relies on the clean and simple use of circular shapes and clever positioning. Using CSS transforms and pseudo-elements, we can replicate this iconic logo with ease.

4. Google Logo: The Power of Color

The Google logo is known for its colorful and playful design, with each letter in a different color. While it's challenging to recreate the letters precisely with CSS, I created an abstract version of the Google logo using colorful blobs.

HTML Structure:

CSS Code:

css

.google-logo {
  display: flex;
  justify-content: space-between;
  width: 250px;
  height: 80px;
}

.google-circle {
  width: 60px;
  height: 60px;
  background-color: #4285F4;
  border-radius: 50%;
  animation: colorChange 2s infinite ease-in-out;
}

.google-circle:nth-child(2) {
  background-color: #EA4335;
}

.google-circle:nth-child(3) {
  background-color: #FBBC05;
}

.google-circle:nth-child(4) {
  background-color: #34A853;
}

@keyframes colorChange {
  0% {
    background-color: #4285F4;
  }
  50% {
    background-color: #EA4335;
  }
  100% {
    background-color: #FBBC05;
  }
}

Explanation:

Instead of creating the letters, I used circular elements to mimic the different colors in the Google logo.
A CSS animation is used to transition between the colors to make the logo dynamic.

This showcases how you can manipulate multiple elements and colors with CSS to create a dynamic representation of the Google logo.

5. Instagram Logo: A Camera Lens Icon

The Instagram logo is another well-known design, with its camera lens and gradient color scheme. Here's a simple version of the logo created using CSS.

HTML Structure:

CSS Code:

Explanation:

The circular background uses a linear gradient to represent the colors of the Instagram logo.
The camera lens and small circle are positioned using absolute positioning and made using border-radius to create the circular shapes.

Conclusion

Creating famous logos using CSS is not only a fun and creative challenge but also an excellent exercise for improving your CSS skills. By experimenting with shapes, animations, and clever positioning, you can replicate some of the most recognizable logos on the web without the need for image files or graphic design software.

In this article, we’ve looked at how to recreate logos like Apple, Nike, Twitter, Google, and Instagram using simple CSS techniques. Whether you’re looking to improve your CSS knowledge or just have fun, recreating logos with CSS is a rewarding challenge that showcases the power and versatility of web design.