Carolyn Davidson

Career Davidson designed the Swoosh in 1971 while a graphic design student at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. She started as a journalism major but switched to design after taking a design course to "fill an empty elective." She attained a bachelor's in graphic design in 1971. Phil Knight, who was teaching an accounting class at the university, overheard Davidson say that she couldn't afford oil painting supplies and asked her to do some work for what was then Blue Ribbon Sports, Inc. (later Nike). Knight offered Davidson a job in creating charts and graphs for his meetings with Japanese footwear executives. Her success with this work led to Davidson designing posters, ads, and flyers for the company. In 1971, Knight and his co-founder needed a logo for a new line of running shoes they were getting ready to introduce. They asked Davidson to design a stripe (industry term for a shoe logo) that "had something to do with movement".

Davidson worked on her ideas by drawing on a piece of tissue over a drawing of a shoe. She gave him five different designs, one of which was the Swoosh which resembles a wing and hints at Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. multiple image

direction = horizontal total_width = 300 perrow = header = caption1 = image2 = Logo NIKE.svg caption2 = footer = (Left): The original logo designed by Davidson for Nike in 1971, for which she was paid $35. For her services, the company paid her $35. Davidson continued working for Blue Ribbon Sports (it officially became Nike, Inc. in 1972) until the design demands of the growing company exceeded one person's capacity. In 1976, the company hired its first external advertising agency, John Brown and Partners, and Davidson went on to work on other clients' needs. Of the gift, Davidson says, "this was something rather special for Phil to do, because I originally billed him and he paid that invoice."

Davidson retired in 2000, and now engages in hobbies and volunteer work, including weekly duties at the Ronald McDonald House at Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center in Oregon.