Wilhelm Deffke: Modern Mark Maker - Steven Heller

This article is about Wilhelm Deffke and the modern corporate logos.
Wilhelm Deffke was the person who made "the era's most impressive symbols for commerce and government, not the least of which became the most charged logo of the twentieth century, the Hakenkreuz (the hooked cross or swastika) — prior to its adoption by the Nazis." However, he never thought that the design used as a political symbol. He actually redefined a representation of the acient Germanic sun. The symbol swastika was taken by Nazis and never paid for.

In Deffke's essays — sermons to businessmen on the value of branding — he says,
"These trademarks and factory seals deserve our attention as a means of improving the public taste, and because of their extraordinary economic significance, ...Their value is in the millions and it would be a irreplaceable loss to the national wealth of any country, should they cease to be."

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