IBM introduced its eight-bar striped logo in 1972.
The logo was designed by American graphic designer Paul Rand, who had already created IBM’s solid-letter predecessor in 1956. Rand replaced the solid forms with horizontal stripes, giving the initials a sense of speed and technological precision while preserving the company’s distinctive block lettering.
The eight-bar version is one of the best-known examples of corporate identity design from the twentieth century. The stripes are sometimes described as representing computer scanning or electronic signals, but IBM’s central purpose was to create a modern, memorable visual identity rather than encode a literal technical diagram. A common error is to associate the striped mark with the 1956 redesign; the earlier logo used solid letters, while the striped logo dates from 1972.