| Yes bubble logo | |
| Type: | Logo |
| Producedby: | Roger Dean |
| Introduced: | on the Yes album Close to the Edge |
| Trademarkregistrations: | United States Patent and Trademark Office Registration Number: 1199922 Filing Date: 13 June 1980 Registration Date: 29 June 1982[1] Topographic Music, Inc.(registrant) Jon Anderson, Chris Squire and Alan White (last listed owners) |
The Yes bubble logo,[2] also known simply as the Yes logo, is a logo designed by the English artist Roger Dean for the progressive rock band Yes in 1971.[3] The logo was first used on the Yes album Close to the Edge, when it was first released on 8 September 1972.[4]
The original artwork for the logo is held in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London,[5] and the MAK Austrian Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna.[6] The logo is listed in the NME's 64 of the Most Beautiful Band Logos.[4]
Dean graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1968 and trained as a furniture designer. He went on to design chairs, interiors and houses, including the “retreat pod” featured in the Stanley Kubrick movie A Clockwork Orange, and the seating for the club Upstairs @ Ronnie's at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, although he is best known as an album cover designer.[3] Dean received a commission from Richard Branson to design a new logo for the newly formed Virgin Records in 1970. The Virgin Records logo, also known as the Gemini logo or the Virgin Twins logo, featured Siamese twins sitting by a tree with a long-tailed dragon by their feet.[7] A variation of this logo was also used for Caroline Records, which was a subsidiary company of Virgin Records.[7]
Dean's first work for Yes was to design the album cover for Fragile, that same year he also designed the bubble logo for the band's next studio album, Close to the Edge. Dean came up with the logo without the band's knowledge and before they had started working on Close to the Edge. He sketched it out during a train journey from London to Brighton with the idea that the three letters could be put together "in an interesting way". Upon Dean's arrival in Brighton, he had finished it.[8] [9] He also began designing stage sets for the band in 1972, which mirrored the sleeve design on the album.[3]
The original drawings of the bubble logo were first exhibited in London's Design Centre and since then they have been housed permanently in a collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.[10]
The bubble logo has been recognised by: