7. The Iconic “Brown Bags” Were Designed by Massimo Vignelli

Master designer and Helvetica font proponent Massimo Vignelli, who also created the graphic standards for the New York City subway, designed the Bloomingdales logo, a variation on the Bauhaus font, Futura. As New York Magazine reports, “Rumor has it that the solution was completed minutes after the client had walked out the door; Massimo waited several weeks to reveal it in order to justify his fee. Whatever it was, Bloomingdale’s got its money’s worth.”

Vignelli also designed Bloomingdale’s iconic “Brown Bags,” that initially came in little, medium and big sizes, and its boxes. There have since been expansions into “Tiny Brown Bag,” for gift bags, “Tiny Brown Card,” along with bags with the same design in a patent-leather style.