The Target logo is one of the most recognized retail brand marks in the United States. It is a red and white bullseye, usually paired today with a lowercase red “target” wordmark. The idea dates to the chain’s launch in 1962, and the simplified bullseye shoppers know now has been around since 1968. Few retail symbols reach this level of instant recognition across age groups and demographics.
Within American retail branding history, Target’s bullseye sits alongside a short list of marks that work without any text at all. The shape alone is enough. That kind of brand recognition takes decades to build, and Target has had just that.
What Is the Target Logo?
The Target logo is a red bullseye, with a center dot and one outer ring separated by white, often shown above a lowercase “target” wordmark. Stewart K. Widdess, publicity director at the Dayton Company, came up with the original in 1962. The simplified bullseye dates from 1968.
| Symbol | Bullseye: red center dot, white ring, red outer ring |
| Designer/agency | Stewart K. Widdess (1962 concept); the 1968 redesign is not officially credited by Target |
| Current version since | Bullseye since 1968, refined in the mid-1970s; lowercase wordmark since about 2018 |
| Colors (hex) | Red, approx. #CC0000 (widely cited, not published by Target); white #FFFFFF |
| Typeface | Helvetica-style bold sans-serif, not officially named; close free alternative: Arimo |
| Previous major version | 2004-2018: bullseye above an all-caps red TARGET |
How Has the Target Logo Evolved Over Time?
The bullseye itself has had one big change: the 1968 simplification, followed by a mid-1970s refinement that Target says produced the logo used today. Most of the other changes happened to the wordmark. Target’s own history covers the bullseye dates. The wordmark dates below come from logo reference sites, so treat them as a guide rather than an official record.
Old Target Logo (1962-1968)
What it looked like: The first logo had the name “Target” in heavy black italic lettering laid across a red and white bullseye. Target describes it as a bullseye with three rings. MPR News counts three red circles and two white circles.
Who made it: Stewart K. Widdess, Dayton’s director of publicity, and his staff considered about 200 names before choosing Target and immediately pictured a bullseye. Widdess said the store would aim for the center of what shoppers wanted, the way a marksman aims for the bull’s-eye. MPR reports that bullet holes were considered and rejected as wrong for a family store.
Context: It arrived with the first store, which opened on May 1, 1962, in Roseville, Minnesota.
Simplified Bullseye (1968-Present)
In 1968 one red circle came off and the name was dropped from the symbol, leaving a red center, a white circle and a red circle. Company histories describe it as a move to a more modern look, made as the chain expanded beyond Minnesota to St. Louis.
A logo wiki credits Eugene Bellini of Unimark International for this version, but no Target or Unimark record confirming it turned up, so treat it as an unverified attribution. This is also the point where the brand’s visual unity started to rest on the symbol.
Outlined Wordmark Logos (1968-1973)
Reference sites show a separate all-caps italic wordmark from 1968 to about 1972, drawn in outline. In the early 1970s the bullseye was placed beside it, first small at the right of the name and then larger at the left.
Black Wordmark Logo (1973-2004)
The outline gave way to a solid black, bold all-caps TARGET to the right of the red bullseye. This is the old Target logo many shoppers remember from the 1980s and 1990s.
Red Stacked Logo (2004-2018)
The name turned red and moved below the bullseye in much smaller all-caps letters, which made the symbol the clear lead. Reference sites date this to 2004. No designer or agency has been publicly credited for it.
Current Lowercase Logo (2018-Present)
The current lockup keeps the bullseye and sets the name in lowercase red letters. Reference sites treat it as a change of case rather than a redesign, and in many settings Target uses the bullseye alone.
What Do the Design Elements of the Target Logo Mean?
The bullseye communicates aim and purpose. It is a direct, literal translation of the brand name into a visual form. That kind of one-to-one connection between name and symbol is rare, and it is a big part of why the logo works so well.
The repeating circles create rhythm and draw the eye naturally to the center.
The red and white color contrast keeps it readable on anything from a store sign to a mobile app icon.
What Does the Bullseye Symbol Represent?
The bullseye is a direct reference to the brand name. Widdess tied it to hitting the mark for customers, which is the only meaning with a documented source.
Circular shapes in logo design are often read as complete and stable, though that is design commentary rather than a Target statement.
The centered dot creates a natural focal point that holds attention without any added complexity.
What Are the Target Logo Colors?
The logo uses red and white. Target does not publish a public color specification, so every code you see online is an outside estimate. #CC0000 is the most widely cited value (RGB 204, 0, 0), and it matches the logo file on this page when sampled. The swatch above shows a brighter estimate, #E50024, which is a reminder of how much these figures vary.
This article leaves out Pantone and CMYK numbers because sources disagree and none comes from Target. The same goes for any official RGB build.
Why red? Target has not explained the choice. Color psychology links red with energy and attention, and it is common among red retail logos, but that is interpretation, not company history. White supplies the contrast that makes the rings readable.
What Font Does the Target Logo Use?
Target has not publicly named the font. The wordmark is a bold sans-serif with tight letter spacing, and design sites describe it as Helvetica Neue Bold or as custom lettering very close to Helvetica.
For a free look-alike, Arimo is the usual suggestion because it shares Helvetica’s proportions. The original 1962 logo was different: a heavy black italic with serifs.
Check the license before using any look-alike commercially. Copying the wordmark itself is a trademark matter, not a font question.
What Are the Hidden Meanings in the Target Logo?
There is no documented hidden message here, which is actually part of what makes it work. What you see is what you get.
The bullseye is the brand name made visual. That directness is the design.
The move from the busier 1962 rings to the simpler 1968 form is the one change with a clear visual effect: less noise, more recognition.
How Does the Target Logo Compare to Competitor Logos?
Among major US retailers, Target’s logo is the most symbol-driven. Walmart uses a wordmark with a spark icon. Costco and Kroger rely almost entirely on lettering. Target’s bullseye is the one most able to work without the brand name attached.
Compare it to the Walmart logo, which leans on its yellow spark to add energy to the wordmark.
The Costco logo takes a no-frills approach, relying on color and heavy italic type.
The Kroger logo is a blue wordmark that feels warm but has no standalone symbol to fall back on.
Target wins on instant recall. That is a real practical advantage for a brand operating across digital platforms, physical stores, and product packaging simultaneously.
Within the broader grocery and retail logo space, Target’s mark stands out for being shape-first rather than type-first. That is a riskier strategy that paid off.
What Cultural Impact Has the Target Logo Had?
The Target bullseye is one of a small group of retail logos that crossed into pop culture. It turns up in fashion, TV shows, memes, and product collaborations. Not many discount retail brands achieve that kind of cultural status.
The “Tar-zhay” nickname, a mock-French pronunciation that jokes about shopping at Target feeling fancy, stuck for a reason. The logo played a part. Clean, red, minimal. It did not look like a budget store.
That fits the company’s roots. John Geisse developed the idea of upscale discount retailing while working for the Dayton Company, and Target built on it with designer partnerships. Michael Graves came first in 1999, followed by names such as Isaac Mizrahi (2003-2009) and Missoni (2011). Target counts more than 175 partnerships. That is not something the Walmart logo or Kroger logo has ever pulled off.
Bullseye the dog, a white bull terrier with the logo drawn around one eye, joined in 1999 and extended the brand’s reach into advertising, turning a flat graphic into a living symbol. Target lists the Bullseye Design and Bullseye Dog as trademarks of Target Brands, Inc.
Among fast food and retail brands that use red prominently, Target’s mark is one of the easiest to draw from memory, which says a lot about how far it has spread.
How Does the Target Logo Fit Into the Overall Brand Identity?
The bullseye is not just a logo. It is the organizing idea behind the Target brand, showing up on stores, ads, the app and the dog mascot. The parent company even took the name: Dayton-Hudson Corporation, formed from the 1969 merger of the Dayton Company and J.L. Hudson, was renamed Target Corporation in 2000, after the discount chain had become its top revenue producer back in 1975.
People often search for Target’s brand guidelines, but no public official version turned up in research for this article. Documents circulating online under that name are not Target publications, so don’t rely on them for rules or color codes.
Bold, plain lettering creates a clear visual hierarchy in how Target presents information, with the symbol doing the identifying.
The red and white color palette runs through its marketing, and it makes for one of the more disciplined two-color identities in retail.
How Should the Target Logo Be Used?
This is general advice for anyone using a trademarked logo, not a set of rules published by Target.
- Editorial use: News, commentary and design analysis commonly show logos as they are, but check the rules that apply where you publish.
- Commercial use: Putting the bullseye on merchandise, packaging or ads, or implying a partnership, needs permission from the owner.
- Files: A vector file stays sharp at any size. A JPEG or PNG depends on its pixel size and, for print, its DPI.
- Appearance: Don’t stretch, recolor or redraw the mark in editorial use, since that misrepresents it.
FAQ on the Target Logo
What Does the Target Logo Look Like?
It is a red and white bullseye: a red center dot, a white ring and a red outer ring, often with a lowercase red “target” wordmark below.
The design is flat and minimal. No gradients, no effects, just a circle and a name.
When Was the Target Logo First Introduced?
The original bullseye arrived in 1962 with the first Target store, which opened May 1 in Roseville, Minnesota.
The simplified version followed in 1968, and the symbol has kept that basic form since.
What Did the Old Target Logo Look Like?
The 1962 logo had more circles, with Target describing three rings, and the name in black italic lettering across the middle.
Later old versions paired the bullseye with an outlined or solid black all-caps TARGET, which reference sites date from 1968 to 2004.
Who Designed the Target Logo?
Stewart K. Widdess, the Dayton Company’s publicity director, came up with the name and the original bullseye in 1962 with his staff.
A logo wiki credits Eugene Bellini of Unimark International for the 1968 version, but no Target record confirming it turned up.
What Font Does the Target Logo Use?
Target has not named it. The wordmark is a bold sans-serif font that design sites describe as Helvetica Neue Bold or custom lettering close to Helvetica.
Arimo is a close free alternative, and that typeface works across print and screen.
What Colors Are in the Target Logo?
Red and white. The red is most often listed as #CC0000 and white is #FFFFFF.
Target does not publish its color codes publicly, so treat any hex, Pantone or CMYK value as an outside estimate.
Has the Target Logo Ever Changed?
Yes. The bullseye was simplified in 1968 and refined in the mid-1970s.
The wordmark changed more often, from outlined italics to black capitals, then red capitals in 2004 and lowercase letters around 2018.
Why Is the Target Logo a Bullseye?
It turns the brand name into a picture. Widdess compared the store’s aim to a marksman trying to hit the center of a target.
Circles also suggest visual balance, and the centered dot gives the eye an obvious place to land.
Is the Target Logo Trademarked?
Yes. Target lists the Target name, the Bullseye Design and the Bullseye Dog as trademarks of Target Brands, Inc.
Commercial use needs permission from the owner. Editorial use is treated differently, but the rules vary by country.
How Does the Target Logo Compare to Other Retail Logos?
It is more symbol-driven than most. The bullseye works without text, which few retail brand marks can claim.
Competitors like Walmart and Safeway lean more on their names, while Target’s brand recognition comes largely from shape.
Conclusion
The Target logo is a case study in what happens when a brand commits to one idea and holds it for decades.
One dot, one ring, one color. The red bullseye symbol has outlasted countless retail rebrands and still feels current.
Its strength comes from simplicity. The concentric circles design works on a store sign, a shopping app, a tote bag, and a TV commercial with very little adjustment.
Target Corporation built a visual identity that carries real weight in American retail branding history, and the bullseye icon is the core reason why.
Sources
- Target Corporate, Cheers to 60 Years! Flash Back to 1962 and the Opening of Target’s First Store – https://corporate.target.com/article/2022/05/60th-anniversary
- Target Corporate, Target Celebrates 20 Years of Designer Partnership – https://corporate.target.com/press/release/2019/08/target-celebrates-20-years-of-designer-partnership
- Target Corporate, Purpose and History – https://corporate.target.com/about/purpose-history
- MPR News, Your logo here: How a logo becomes an icon – https://www.mprnews.org/story/2012/07/22/your-logo-here-how-a-logo-becomes-an-icon
- Wikipedia, History of Target Corporation – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Target_Corporation
- 1000 Logos, Target Logo – https://1000logos.net/target-logo/
- Design Pieces, Target Color Palette (Hex and RGB) – https://www.designpieces.com/palette/target-color-palette-hex-and-rgb
- Secure Your Trademark, Trademarked Colors: Target Red – https://secureyourtrademark.com/blog/target-red/
Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients.
His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8.
He also wrote in the past years on sites like Design Your Way, WebDesignerDepot, WPDean, Designmodo, Speckyboy, Slider Revolution, and more.
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Bogdan Sandu is a seasoned designer who has been designing websites since 2008. Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients. His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8. He also wrote in the past years on sites like Design Your Way, WebDesignerDepot, WPDean, Designmodo, Speckyboy, Slider Revolution, and more.
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