George Opperman and the Atari Logo

Warner Communications bought Atari in 1976, and in 1977 they decided to change its image. They commissioned a study of the Atari name and logo, and found that in 1977, Atari had better brand recognition than Mickey Mouse. The iconic symbol of Atari was designed by George Opperman, who created the artwork for coin-op arcade cabinets and pinball games in the first three years of Atari.

Opperman’s first goal in the logo design was to embody the letter “A,” which the outwardly curving lines do nicely, He added the center line to represent the dividing line on the screen between two Pong players; the curved lines of the “A” also represent the two players on either side of the dividing line. Commonly called the “Fuji” logo, it actually has nothing to do with the mountain in Japan.

As a company, Atari has passed through many hands, finally to Infogrames, which has changed its name and adopted the Atari logo to capitalize on Opperman’s elegant and now iconic design. Opperman died on 1985, but his work may last forever.

Graphic adapted from Kotaku.