Logo and identity designer Emanuele Abrate recently conducted a very curious experiment. He decided to recreate some of the most famous logos on earth–from Adidas to Red Bull–by replacing each brand name with the typeface used in each logo. Put down your Freight Sans Black frappuccino and ponder the results above.
When I look at some of his mock-ups, I don’t even notice the brand name is missing. Bebas Neue is still obviously Netflix. Klavika is obviously Facebook. My brain is so trained by the context of the logo mark, the color, and the typeface itself, that the “Futura” above the Nike Swoosh logo doesn’t even register as out of place.
You can follow Abrate’s work on Klavika, Billabong, and Behance.