Wendy's

1969-1983


The drawing in the logo is a stylized portrait of Melinda-Lou "Wendy" Thomas, R. David Thomas's daughter, after whom he named the restaurants.

This first logo was rectangle-shaped, the name "Wendy's" and the illustration of Wendy were both inside the red beveled rectangle with Wendy on the right-hand side of "Wendy's", the words "Old Fashioned Hamburgers" was placed below "Wendy's" and the illustration of Wendy, the rest of the logo was yellow, and the letters were slightly wider. It is still in use at a small number of locations that still retain the original signature yellow cubic top panels with outlined red beveled rectangles and on signs of those locations until March 1, 2013, though some renovated locations still carry this logo, again until March 1, 2013.

1983-2012
Second Wendy's logo used form early 1983 until October 2012. It was square-shaped that referenced the chain's signature square patties, and moved the illustration of Wendy to the top center that created a bulging shape that referenced the signature architecture of copper outswept mansard-roofed restaurants (replacing the yellow cubic roof that had beveled rectangles), and the name "Wendy's" and its subphrase "Old Fashioned Hamburgers" traded places and swapped the colors, the illustration of Wendy was simplified, and the lettering became slightly narrower and bolder. This logo was also used on packaging and opaque plastic cups until late 2011, but remained on napkins and cup lips until late 2012. This logo still exists at many locations until March 1, 2013.

Variants
The shorthand logo without the subphrase "Old Fashioned Hamburgers", used as the secondary logo. This variant is primarily used during advertising and as landmarking signs. It was used on translucent plastic cups for Frosties and signature beverages from early 2007 until late 2011, but later returned in early 2012 on Coca-Cola Freestyle labeled cups.



The logo used separately by its name, as the tertiary logo. It appears on the roof of the individual restaurants (with the mascot variant on the right side of it) and on service signs. It also appears on the translucent covers of plastic salad bowls and cream-colored spoons. As of late 2011, it now appears on some packages and on one side of the cups with the phrase "Quality (Real) Food Made Fresh Is Our Recipe".


 * Note that the word "Real" in parentheses indicates that it is used on translucent cups, while opaque ones lack the word "Real".

The logo used separately as an illustration of the chain's mascot Wendy, also as the tertiary logo. This variant always carries the slogan "Quality Is Our Recipe". It appears on the roof of the individual restaurants (with the name variant on the left side of it). An animated version of this variant was seen on the commercials that aired between early 2008 and late 2009 with the slogan "It's waaaay better than fast food. It's Wendy's." As of late 2011, it appears on packaging (aside from the name variant) and on one side of the cups (opposite of the name variant) with variants of "Quality Is Our Recipe", depending upon the packages and sizes of the cups. This variant also appears on the corporate logo for The Wendy's Company.

2012-Present
On October 11, 2012, the chain launched a new logo which is set to premiere on March 1, 2013 to phase out the longtime logo used since 1983. Wendy now has her head and braids peeking out of the circle with her shoulders no longer visible, the bangs have been restyled, the shading has been added to the hair and bows, and outlines around her eyes and lips are now thicker. The frame from the previous logo is removed, and is now simply as the mascot Wendy and the name Wendy's, though the positioning is similar. The font has changed from Egyptienne Bold Condensed (which all previous logos used) to a script-like font, and only the "W" remains in uppercase, as well as the text became red and the background remained white. The previous logos had all letters uppercase, except for the "N". The "Old Fashioned Hamburgers" phrase and the black swirls have been removed, as well as doing away with the yellow that was one of their signature colors prior to this logo. The "Quality Is Our Recipe" slogan has been removed, although it is still their slogan. The mascot's face in this logo bears a heavier resemblance to Wendy Thomas's adulthood from reality and less cartoon-like. This logo has been introduced after the chain introduced four new restaurant designs in mid-2011, including "Ultra Modern", "Urban", "Contemporary", and "Traditional". Earlier restaurants with the new designs used the previous logo. New and renovated restaurants will carry this logo once it premieres. However, some restaurants may update to this logo without renovations.