At Nixon, we're always talking about the watches. Why we made them, who we made them for, how they've evolved... there are countless blogs on Nixon.com and emails in your inbox that dive deep into the timepieces that are part of the Nixon story.
But one part of the Nixon story that can be easy to overlook (yet, ironically, one that is always staring us right in the face) is the Nixon logo.
If you've ever wondered what the heck the "Nixon wings" are, you're in the right place.
In this blog post, we'll pull back the curtain on the Nixon logo and go into how it was made, what it means and more.
Origins of the Nixon Logo
Once they knew the brand's name, they next needed a logo.
Before anything was on paper, the co-founders Andy Laats and Chad DiNenna knew the logo had practical needs. It needed to be something that would work in small environments, like the crown of the watch. They also wanted it to be easy to convert to things like stickers for boards.
On a more meaningful level, given that the watch world is flooded with references to time, the founders decided to take a much different approach. They set off to create a logo that was not about time, but timeless.
They solicited help from some friends they had worked with before in designing snowboard graphics, Dan Sharp, Kirk James, and John Phemeister of the newly formed Cinco Design group in Portland. These guys had serious graphic design chops and they had been involved in Action Sports for years.
After a few months and hundreds of variations, the answer became clear and the Nixon Wings logo was finalized.
Chad weighed in on what meaning they intended to convey with the logo:
"We wanted it to represent motion and wanted it to be as timeless as watches, which throughout history are passed down from generation to generation. The idea was that the Nixon mark could be different things related to time but timeless in its form. In the logo, we see a connection to things like the eternal flame, the pendulum marking time and music, an hourglass measuring time or, more abstractly, the wings of time."
The Nixon Logo Today
While the Nixon wordmark has evolved, undergoing a redesign in 2009, the actual Nixon wings logo has remained the same.
Andy explained:
“Our goal was, and still is, to create products you’ve never seen before but have always wanted. Anything we make needs to strive for that and it’s not until we are totally satisfied with the product’s character and quality that it can get the Nixon word mark. Some companies believe that a logo makes a product special. We believe that the product doesn’t get the logo UNLESS it’s special.”
The Nixon mark, back in 1998, stood for the “team-designed, custom built” ethos. The Nixon mark today has expanded from that singular meaning to more.
When it’s seen today, be it a sticker on a rider’s board, a flag at a comp, a well placed tag on a local landmark, or even as a few hard core fans have done with a tattoo on their body, you feel the connection to other Nixon fans. You know.
