The Marvel Logo Artifact from The Comic Books & Cinematic Universe

The artifact that I have chosen to discuss is the Marvel logo. I will be exploring the Marvel logos from both the comic books and from the cinematic universe. The current logo for the Marvel comic books, is recognized widely by its bright white letters set into a vivid red background. After comparing different shades of red, the color almost appears be a candy apple red. The colors are matte, they are not shiny. The overall shape of the logo is a rectangular background with letters set into it. The letters are in all caps. The letters are in a bold font that is sans serifs.

The font is very angular, sharp, and blocky. The letter all appear to be connected to each other at one point, except for the l, which stands alone. I tried to identify the font used by noting the appearances of the letters and entering these observations into a website called identifont.com. My observations about the font are as follows.

The center vertex of the capital “M” extends all the way to the bottom (or baseline). The letter “M” also has parallel vertical lines. The capital “R” has a straight leg. The center bar of the “R” meets the vertical line. The letter “A” has tapered (meeting at a point) vertical lines. The letters are not sloped, they are upright. The letter capital “E” has a normal letter shape, it is not rounded or simply drawn as three separate lines. The vertices of the “M” are flat on the top and bottom. The leg of the “R” is separated from the vertices by a distinct horizontal section. The shape of the bar in the letter “A” is a single horizontal line. The letters all have flat stroke ends. All of the letters in the logo are taller than they are wide, which suggest they may have a compressed font. Based on these observations the fonts that I found to be most similar are AG Old Face and Benton Sans. After conducting a search, I found that the font is in fact Benton Sans Extra Comp Black. The dimensions of the Marvel logo differ depending on where it is used, for example, clothing, poster, or comic books.

The dimensions of the logo is 1.77 inches in height by 4.3 inches in width. The letter “M” is 1.53 inches in height by 0.93 inches in width. The letter “A” is 1.53 inches in height by 0.71 inches in width. The letter “R” is 1.53 inches in height by 0.71 inches in width. The letter “V” is 1.53 inches in height by 0.72 inches in width. The letter “E” is 1.53 inches in height by 0.50 inches in width. The letter “L” is 1.53 inches in height by 0.50 inches in width. The next logo is a current Marvel Cinematic Universe Logo, it can be seen in figure 2. The letters in the word Marvel in this logo are a sangria red. The top third of the rectangle surrounding Marvel and the top third of the letters in the word Studios are a light silver that almost looks white. The middle section of the rectangle surrounding Marvel and the letters in the word Studios are a medium grey, like pewter grey.

The bottom third of the rectangle surrounding Marvel and the letters in the word Studios are a dark grey, like iron grey. The colors descend from the light silver color at the top of the logo to the dark grey at the bottom of the logo. This color descension gives the logo a metallic look. The shape of the first half of the logo is the same as that of the Marvel comic book logo. It is a rectangle with letters set into it. The second half of the logo is the word Studios free floating between two silver parallel lines against a sangria red and burgundy background. The background that the logo sits in front of appears to be a mix of a sangria red that gradually darkens to a burgundy red. The font in the first half of the logo used in the word Marvel appears to be the same as the font used in the Marvel comic book logo. The font is bold, sharp, san serifs, very angular, and blocky.

The font used is Benton Sans Extra Comp Black. The font in the word Studios appears to be a bold, sharp, sans serifs, and angular as well. It appears to be bold too, but not as bold as the word Marvel. The word Studios is in all caps like the word Marvel. The letter “U” does not have a stem or serifs. The letter “I” is plain, it does not have any horizontal bars or serifs. The letters are upright, they are not sloped to either side. The letters all have flat stroke ends. Based on the observations I listed above I believe that the word Studios in this logo are in the Dharma Gothic font.

The dimensions of the logo in its entirety including the background are 3.6 inches in height by 6.5 inches in width. The dimensions of the logo without the background are 1.21 inches in height by 5.43 inches in width. The dimensions of the letters in Marvel are as follows. The letter “M” is 0.9 inches in height by 0.54 inches in width. The letter “A” is 0.9 inches in height by 0.44 inches in width. The letter “R” is 0.9 inches in height by 0.44 inches in width. The letter “V” is 0.9 inches in height by 0.44 inches in width. The letter “E” is 0.9 inches in height by 0.29 inches in width. Letter “L” is 0.9 inches in height by 0.29 inches in width. The dimensions of the letters in Studios are as follows. The letter “S” is 0.9 inches in height by 0.4 inches in width. The letter “T” is 0.9 inches in height by 0.4 inches in width. The letter “U” is 0.9 inches in height by 0.4 inches in width. The letter “D” is 0.9 inches in height by 0.4 inches in width. The letter “I” is 0.9 inches in height by 0.13 inches in width. The letter “O” is 0.9 inches in height by 0.4 inches in width. The letter “S” is 0.9 inches in height by 0.4 inches in width.

The logo 3 is a variation on the current Marvel Cinematic Universe logo. This logo is set against a pitch-black background. The Marvel portion of the logo looks like the Marvel Comics logo. It is a vivid, matte, almost candy apple red rectangle with bright white letters set into it. The font for Marvel appears to be Benton Sans Extra Comp Black. The studio portion of the logo appears to be similar to the original Marvel Cinematic Universe logo, except the letters are a bright white; instead of varying shades of grey. The font for Studios also appears to be the Dharma Gothic font. The dimensions of this particular logo are 3.66 inches height by 6.5 inches width. The dimensions of the logo without the background are 0.91 inches height by 4.78 inches width. The dimensions of the letters in Marvel are as follows. The letter “M” is 0.67 inches in height by 0.49 inches in width. The letters “A,” “R,” and “V” are 0.67 inches in height by 0.38 inches in width. The letters “E” and “L” are 0.67 inches in height by 0.28 inches width.

The logo 4 is also a variation on the current Marvel Cinematic Universe logo. It was release for the 10th anniversary of the existence of the cinematic universe. This logo is very similar to the logo in figure 3. The main differences are that the “I” in Studios was converted to a “1,” and the “O” in Studios now represented as zero. The “10” in Studios is in a fire engine red color. The other difference is that underneath the Marvel Studios it says “The first ten years” in a bright white. The ten in Studios appears to be in the Dharma Gothic font. The letters in “The first ten years” are san serif, sharp, angular, and bold. The leg on the letter “R” is straight. The strokes on the letter “Y” are all separate. The letter “I” has no horizontal bars or serifs. The center bar of the letter “R” meets the vertical line. There are tapered verticals in the letter “A.” All of the letters are upright. The letter “E” has the normal e letter shape. The leg of the letter “R” is separated from the vertical line by a distinct horizontal section. The bar of the letter “H” is vertically central. The “O” has straight vertical lines as opposed to rounded lines. The “O” is also taller than it is wide. The vertices of the letter “N” are flat on the top and bottom. The stroke ends are all flat. The center bar of the letter “E” meets the vertical line.

Based on these observations I believe the font for “The first ten years” is Bank Gothic font. The dimensions of this logo with the background are 2.49 inches in height by 6.5 inches in width. The dimensions of the logo without the background are 1.43 inches in height by 5.27 inches in width. The dimensions of the word Marvel are as follows. The dimensions of the letter “M” are 0.85 inches in height by 0.53 inches in width. The dimensions of the letters “A,” “R,” and “V” are 0.85 inches in height by 0.42 inches in width. The dimensions of the letters “E” and “L” are 0.85 inches in height by 0.28 inches in width. The dimensions of the word Studios are as follows. The dimensions of the letters “S,” “T,” “U,” “D,” and “O” are 0.85 inches in height by 0.36 inches in width. The dimensions of the number “1” are 0.85 inches in height by 0.17 inches in width. The dimensions of the words “The first ten years” are as follows. The dimensions of the letters “T,” “E,” “F,” “S,” and “N” are 0.18 inches in height by 0.20 inches in width. The dimensions of the letters “H” and “R” are 0.18 inches in height by 0.23 inches in width. The dimensions of the letter “I” are 0.18 inches in height by 0.05 inches in width. The dimensions of the letters “Y” and “A” are 0.18 inches in height by 0.25 inches in width.

The logo in figure 5 is a variation on the logo in figure 2. This is the newest variation that has been made for the 10-year anniversary of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A major difference in the logos are that the “IO” in Studios has been changed to a 10. Another difference is that rectangle that Marvel is laid in and the letters in Studio are a light gold color that graduates to a dark gold at the edges. The “10” appears to be a light silver color. The letters in Marvel are in a pitch-black color. The logo over all is set against a pitch-black background. The word Marvel is in the Benton Sans Extra Comp Black font. The word Studios is in the Dharma Gothic font.

The dimensions of the logo with the background are 3.65 inches in height by 6.5 inches in width. The dimensions of the logo without the background are 1.04 inches in height by 4.68 inches in width. The dimensions of the letters in the word Marvel are as follows. The dimensions of the letter “M” are 0.77 inches in height by 0.47 inches in width. The dimensions of the letters “A,” “R,” and “V” are 0.77 inches in height by 0.38 inches in width. The letters “E” and “L” are 0.77 inches in height by 0.23 inches in width. The dimensions in the word Studios are as follows. The dimensions of the letters “S,” “T,” “U,” “D,” and “O” are 0.77 inches in height by 0.35 inches in width. The dimensions of the number “1” are 0.77 inches in height by 0.16 inches in width.

The Marvel logo is distributed to its audiences in many ways. The Marvel comic book logo (figure 1) can be found in and on comic books, on merchandise (such as clothing, toys, etc.), on video game packaging, on television series produced by the company, on posters, and on websites (such as marvel.com). A study that was conducted showed the Marvel logo appeared “on average, 11.9 times (SD=3.48) in a single Marvel comic book.” The Marvel Cinematic Universe logo can be found on movie covers and title screens produced by the company, merchandise related to these movies, and movie posters. For a logo to be created there must be an idea in place, next designers make preliminary sketches of the logo, and then they present the idea to other team members at Marvel for either approval or for rejection. If rejected, they must revise the idea. Once the idea is approved the designer draws up a final sketch of the logo. When they are satisfied with the final sketch, they can use illustrating programs to create a digital version of the logo.

The designer may make revisions to the digital logo using programs such as Photoshop. The completed logo can be uploaded to websites, it can be screen-printed on clothing and accessories, it can be printed onto toy boxes, it can be printed onto comic book or movies covers, and it can be printed on to movie posters.

Bibliography:

1. Forbes, Emily. “Everything you didn’t know about the Marvel logo design history.” March 14, 2018. http://thetechnews.com/2018/03/14/know-marvel-logo-design-history/.
2. “Make Your Voice Heard.” Accessed September 26, 2018. https://www.funko.com/marvel10. “Marvel Studios Logo Gets a Gold Makeover in ‘Captain Marvel’ Trailer.” September 19, 2018. https://comicbook.com/marvel/2018/09/18/marvel-studios-logo-new-captain-marvel-trailer-mcu/.
3. “Marvel Studios Releases Wave 1 Of 10th Anniversary Posters In Lead Up to Avengers Infinity War with Avengers & Guardians of the Galaxy Focus.” Accessed September 26, 2018. https://insidepulse.com/2018/03/02/marvel-studios-releases-wave-1-of-10th-anniversary-posters-in-lead-up-to-avengers-infinity-war-with-avengers-guardians-of-the-galaxy-focus/.
4. “The Complete Chronological Viewing Order of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.” August 19, 2018. https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/2018/06/05/mcu-viewing-order-chronological-marvel/#5.
5. Van den Anker, Marinus J.J., and Verhoeven, Piet. “Corporate communication: Analyzing Marvel and DC.” Studies in Comics 5, no. 1 (April 2014): 117-129. https://doi.org/10.1386/stic.5.1.117_1.
6. Von Excite, Paul. “The Marvel Logo- An Insight Into My Process.” September 26, 2017. https://blog.marvelapp.com/marvel-logo-insight-process/.