Nike's "Swoosh" logo turns 40-years-old on 18 August, and while it may now be one of the most recognised symbols across the world, it was initially purchased for just £20.
It was in the late 1960s when Portland State University graphic design student Carolyn Davidson was approached by a professor and asked to create a stripe logo for a footwear venture he was working on.
Professor Phil Knight - who later went on to be co-founder and chairman of Nike - wanted Carolyn to draw him a "creative stripe" which conveyed an energetic feeling, but looked nothing like the Adidas stripes or Puma silhouette.
"I remember being in my studio working on it. I drew a picture of a shoe and then I drew (logos) on tissue," Carolyn told the Oregonian.
"I'd lay it over. And then I'd (makes crumpled paper motion), because it has to look good on a shoe."
The design student was paid the equivalent of £1.12 for her efforts which took her around 18 hours in total before she was happy enough to present her creations to Knight.
"Well, I don,t love it," Carolyn recalls Knight saying. "But maybe it will grow on me." We're guessing the fact it eventually made him the 43rd richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of £11 billion, means he's learned to come to terms with it.
After the founders became richer than rich they decided Carolyn needed a little more recognition than just the £20 she'd initially received.
So what did they do to rectify the situation? Threw a surprise party in Washington in her honour and presented her with a gold ring shaped like her "Swoosh" design - an item she wears every day and admits to being overcome with emotion nearly every time she gazes down at it.
"I like it," Carolyn says today of the Swoosh. "I really do. I never get tired of looking at it."
Source: Elite Daily