Garnier logo history: Exploring the Garnier brand
How much do you know about the Garnier logo and the more expansive Garnier brand? One of the most recognizable mass-market cosmetics companies in the world, Garnier actually belongs to the L’Oréal company and is best known for producing a host of hair and skincare products.
Originally launched in France more than 100 years ago, Garnier has emerged as one of the world’s top beauty brands. Currently, the organization is responsible for various product lines, including Olia, Fructis, and Pure Active.
Today, we’ll take a journey through Garnier’s history, exploring everything from where the memorable company began to how it got its compelling logo.
Here’s your guide to the Garnier brand.
Garnier history: How did Garnier get started?
Before we explore the symbol on today’s Garnier products, let’s take a look at where the company came from.
Garnier Founder Alfred Amour Garnier first created the Laboratories Garnier in France in 1904. The company’s first product was patented as the first lotion for hair care derived entirely from natural plant ingredients.
Over the years, Garnier has developed several new products for its line, introducing sun care products in 1939, followed by permanent home hair colors in 1960. Over the decades, Garnier expanded from home hair color and hair color into skincare.
Today, Garnier products are sold worldwide, with specific product lines created for different skin types. For instance, the Fructis line started in 1996, while the Nutrisse hair color line was introduced in 2002.
What does Garnier mean?
The name “Garnier” comes from the name of the founder of the company, Alfred Amour Garnier, who first created his laboratories in 1904.
What is the Garnier tagline?
The Garnier slogan is simply “By Garnier, Naturally.” This replaced the previous well-known slogan of the organization, “Take care, Garnier.”
Which country is Garnier from?
Garnier is originally from France and continues to have a headquarters in France today.
Who is Garnier owned by today?
Garnier belongs to the L’Oréal brand, along with many other cosmetics and beauty brands.
Is Garnier a high-end brand?
Despite focusing on all-natural products and high-end ingredients, Garnier isn’t a high-end brand. Many of the products offered by Garnier are designed to make luxury hair and skincare available to people with any budget.
Garnier logo history through the years
Though the Garnier brand has been present and active in the cosmetics industry for over 100 years, it has made surprisingly few changes to its logo. Throughout the years, Garnier has always focused on creating high-quality natural products.
The logo design chosen for the company intends to convey the simplicity of the ingredients which go into Garnier products and their natural origins.
The first logo for Garnier was a simplistic wordmark, similar to many of the cosmetics logos we’ve seen throughout the years. The design included the word “Garnier” written in a sans-serif font.
All of the letters in this wordmark were in capitals except for the “E,” which was created to look like an upside-down reflection of the initial “G.”
Though surprisingly modern in its minimalist design, the thin type and unusual lettering caused some legibility issues with this logo. Notably, this variation of the brand symbol also included the location of the company, “Paris,” and the word “Laboratories.”
1996
Over 90 years later, Garnier made a significant update to its logo, removing the “Laboratories” section and making the “Paris” defining element much smaller. In this logo variation, the unusual “E” was replaced with a capital letter to match the rest of the wordmark.
This design also relied on a much bolder and more legible font. The thickness of the letters in the “Garnier” emblem here highlights the strength and stability of the brand.
2002
In 2002, Garnier transformed its logo again, returning to some of the elements in the first variation of the wordmark. The Garnier font once again introduced the lowercase “e,” designed to look like a reflection of the capital “G.”
The lettering is thicker in this version of the Garnier logo than the first emblem, but it’s not as bold as the design from the 90s. The image also featured three circles in green, yellow, and pink, all conveying natural imagery, to help highlight the ingredients of the brand’s products.
2009
Garnier introduced the iconic leaf version of its logo for the first time in 2009, and the image has remained with the company since. This design uses a similar typeface to the previous image conceptualized in 2002, though the letters seem slightly closer together.
Instead of grey, Garnier chose a deep green color for its new logo to draw greater attention to the natural world. A much larger green circle also replaces the three roundels, showing the texture of a leaf in the background.
The Garnier brand: Logo colors and fonts
The Garnier brand image is one of global accessibility, modernity, and organic appeal. From day one, the Garnier company rose to fame thanks to its focus on using all-natural products in hair and skincare. The company has worked hard to continue demonstrating this over the years.
The Garnier logo today uses a sans-serif font to make it appear as modern and approachable as possible, with the unique “e” highlighting the brand as a creative force. The green color palette pulls extra attention to the brand’s commitment to using natural ingredients.
The textured green circle in the background of the Garnier logo helps to create a refreshing brand image customers can easily associate with natural ingredients.
Here are some helpful Garnier brand resources if you want to learn more about the company’s image:
What font does the Garnier logo use?
The Garnier logo font is a bold and straightforward sans-serif typeface explicitly created for the brand. This type is unique because it conveys the majority of the letters from the brand name in capital format while the “e” remains in lowercase.
The design of the “E,” where the middle line remains disconnected from the curve of the character, helps it to reflect the initial “G” in the Garnier wordmark.
Though the Garnier font is unique to the company, it does look quite similar to several traditional fonts like Europa Grotesk SB Extd and Heading Pro Ultra-Wide Regular
What color is the Garnier logo?
The Garnier color palette is made up of various shades of green, intended to highlight the natural ingredients in Garnier products.
Some of the colors used in the logo include:
Avocado:
Hex: #407E06
RGB: (64, 126, 6)
CMYK: 0.492, 0, 0.952, 0.505
Dark green:
Hex: #808080
RGB: (4, 43, 25)
CMYK: 0.906, 0, 0.418, 0.831
Acid green:
Hex: #2A2E33
RGB: (188, 207, 17)
CMYK: 0.091, 0, 0.917, 0.188
The various components of the Garnier color palette are taken from the shades from the gradients of the leaf emblem. The use of these colors creates a beautifully balanced image.
Celebrating the Garnier logo today
Despite more than 100 years in the cosmetics and skincare industry, the Garnier logo has only changed a handful of times. Today, the logo variation most of us are familiar with still uses elements of the first Garnier symbol.
Designed to reflect the natural focus of the company and its commitment to using all-organic ingredients, the Garnier logo creates a direct connection with the natural world. The various shades of green and the gradient green leaf make the company look refreshing and authentic.
Remember, you can always learn more about the various cosmetics and beauty logos to define the industry right here on the Fabrik brands blog.
Fabrik: A branding agency for our times.
As Fabrik’s creative director, Stephen oversees complex branding programmes. He advises our clients on their tone of voice, creates logos and visual identities and crafts names for companies, products and services. Writing for Brand Fabrik Stephen reflects his love for logo design and visual identity.
