How the Deal Made For Ringo Starr’s New Drum Kit Ultimately Led to the Design of The Beatles’ Iconic Logo

Eric Callero of Vinyl Rewind tells the fascinating and rather amusing story about how The Beatles got their iconic logo. Callero explains that while Paul McCartney had doodled a couple of designs, the logo actually came about through a deal made between manager Brian Epstein and Ivor Arbiter, the Ludwig dealer who was fitting Ringo Starr with a new kit.

Depending on who you ask you’ll get a different account but here’s the gist. Brian didn’t want to pay for the kit but Drum City’s owner Ivor Arbiter didn’t want to give it away either. So the two of them struck a deal …they would get two new drum set with the stipulation that the Ludlow logo stay on the bass drum head. …Brian asked for the Beatles name to be on the front as well. Arbiter drew up a couple of different designs, with Brian’s only instruction is that it needed to emphasize the word ‘beat’ in their name. Arbiter did this by making the B much larger than the rest of the letters and accentuating the tail of the T.

Et voilà.

via Fast Company