Who designed Apple’s famous bitten-apple logo in 1977?

Rob Janoff designed Apple’s famous bitten-apple logo in 1977.

Apple commissioned Janoff while preparing the Apple II launch. His design replaced Ronald Wayne’s earlier, highly detailed Isaac Newton illustration with a clean, easily recognizable apple silhouette. The bite was added so the fruit would not be mistaken for a cherry or another small round object, and it also created a useful sense of scale.

The logo’s rainbow bands originally reflected the Apple II’s ability to display color. Apple later used monochrome versions, and in 1998 the company introduced a translucent, modernized treatment. The bite is not generally accepted as a reference to Alan Turing; that popular story is an unconfirmed interpretation rather than the documented design reason.

Janoff’s logo is often confused with the separate Apple wordmark and with the original Newton emblem. The bitten apple, not the word “Apple,” became the company’s most durable visual identifier.