The American Telephone and Telegraph Company was founded by Alexander Graham Bell in 1885.
1900–1921
This is the first documented use of the "Bell System" branding.
SVG NEEDED
1921–1939
SVG NEEDED
Local versions of the logo included the name of the regional "baby bell" companies at the top of the ring, with the words "American Telephone & Telegraph Co." on the bottom.
1939–1960
SVG NEEDED
The words on the ring from the second logo stayed the same, but the typeface and the hook on the bell were changed. This was used in tandem with the 1939 logo until 1964.
1960–1964
LOGO MISSING
The words "American Telephone and Telegraph Co. and Associated Companies" were removed from the ring.
1964-1966
In 1964, the typeface was changed to Univers Condensed.
AT&T
1966–1969
In 1966, A new wordmark reading the new abbreviated name of the company, AT&T was added to the right of the Bell System logo. The words "and Associated Companies" was added to the bottom of the AT&T wordmark.
This is the final version of the bell logo, designed by Saul Bass. The bell logo used here would continue to be used by the seven "baby bell" companies spun off of AT&T, as well as Western Electric Company.
Saul Bass/Herb Leager Associates Jerry Kuyper Dean Smith
Typography:
Helvetica Bold
Launched:
October 5, 1983
In 1982, when the government breakup of the Bell System forced the company to stop carrying its bell logo, Saul Bass was reenlisted with designing a logo for AT&T. Bass's company Saul Bass/Herb Leager Associates worked with Jerry Kuyper and Dean Smith to design a circle composed of twelve lines that form a smaller, segmented circle, and retain the blue color of its predecessor. The typeface was also bolded. This logo was nicknamed the "Death Star" and became AT&T's logo on October 5, 1983, when it was reincorporated as a smaller company. The original 1983 version was used in tandem with its 1999 revision until 2003.
On November 21, 2005, AT&T received a major redesign to coincide with its merger with SBC. In advertisements of that time, the SBC logo and the previous logo came together to form this new logo, and thus, until February 2009, was branded as "The New AT&T". The typeface was changed and was made lowercase. The globe got a glossy 3D effect, with the globe in white and the stripes in blue, rather than the other way around, and two stripes were removed, reducing it from eight to six. This rebrand was created by Interbrand. In 2011, AT&T's trademark 4-note audio logo was added at the end of its commercials and tutorial videos. This logo still appears on some remaining stores and facilities (as they are gradually being updated to the current logo), as well as on SIM cards and the 404 error page.
In the wake of its then-recent acquision of DirecTV, AT&T modified the 2005 logo on December 13, 2015, by having its colors switch places, making the stripes transparent and the circle blue once again (a motif similar to the 1983 "Death Star" logo); the wordmark was also changed as it reverted back to being in uppercase for the first time since 2005. The 4-note audio logo's key was changed from "D-D'-E'-B" to "G-G'-A'-E'", and at a faster rate. The latest rebrand was also created by Interbrand for the second time.
