When one thinks of the logos of some of the world’s most established brands, it is hard to think that their logos looked different today than when the company started.
It is as if their logos are what defines them and if you change it, something of the brand might go missing. The truth is that most of these big companies have changed their logos to fit in with the times.
The Ford company is one such a company that has completely changed their logo. From the font to the color and the shape. It is quite startling to see how the face of the company looked back in the day.
The current design elements
Every successful big brand has a logo that distinguishes itself from the rest. Without having to read the words, a person will already know what the brand is
Most of these brands have a definite shape that keeps everything compact and neat. These designs are often clean and will most likely not have many words.
The Ford logo makes use of an elongated oval with a silver lining. The background color is a distinctive dark blue that was altered with some shading to give it a three-dimensional effect. Inside the silver lining, the company name, Ford, is written in a cursive script.
This logo is a far cry from what it used to be when the company was started in 1903 by Henry Ford.
The change in shape
Where the logo we know today is oval in shape, when the company was started in 1903, the logo was more circular. The thin silver lining was also a much more elaborate fine twisting line border. Inside the border, the words Ford Motor Co. Detroit Mich. was written in white.
This logo was soon replaced in 1907 by a football-shaped logo that was considerably less complex and the words Hallmark Ford Guaranteed etched in the logo.
This logo also did not last too long and was replaced by a plain text logo in 1909. It only had the word Ford written in cursive. This logo only had a brief two-year stint and was replaced by the template shape that would give rise to the first oval-shaped logo in 1911.
This time around though it was only a black and white logo, the cursive Ford was the feature that remained and the words The famous motor cars was added in a band around the edge.
From there, the shape changed a bit to represent an eagle of sorts in 1912. However, this was the first time where a blue hue was added to the logo. The cursive script also remained, but seeing that the company was already beginning to burst at the seams, The famous motor cars, was replaced by The universal car.
In 1917, the company changed the shape back to the oval shape, but this time around, the color was removed and only the word Ford was written in the middle. This logo was used for the next ten years and from 1927 the blue color was added again.
From there, the shape and font have remained largely the same and only minor changes were made to the blue hue and the oval shape. No further words were added and the font remained roughly the same.
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The color and font
As noted earlier, the first couple of rounds of logo changes were all black and white. This was mainly due to the fact that the machines at the time could accurately and reliably copy the designs in those colors.
Henry Ford was all about efficiency and didn’t want to struggle with color issues. Alter on when color printing became more reliable, they started to experiment with color.
During these earlier years, they even tried orange for a while, but blue is the color that stuck with the company. It is kind of ironic, seeing that Henry once famously said that he would paint a Ford any color, as long as it was black.
Although blue is the main color that stuck with the company, the detailing and font underwent some further changes. Where the font and trim was initially white, they changed it during the latter year to silver.
The font itself that was used up until 1912 was a classic sans-serif font with thick capitalized letters, but it was replaced with the cursive, signature font that is used to this day.
Inspiration and influences
One of the cornerstones of the Ford company is reliability and durability. This is essentially also one of the main inspirations of the logo.
Seeing that the logo has gone largely unchanged since about 1927, it represents that longevity of the brand. The generations who buy Ford Motor cars are often overcome by a sense of nostalgia as they see the dame logo on their cars as the previous generation.
The last change to the logo came in 2003 when they redesigned the logo to look more like the initial oval shape. This was done to commemorate their centennial anniversary. The thick outer silver rim was removed and the blue was given some shading to give it a three-dimensional look.
The little known facts
Regardless of the vision that Henry Ford had for his company, there were those who wanted to move with the times and the logo was almost replaced by something completely different.
Paul Rand designed a modern logo in 1966 that nearly replaced the original and iconic logo, but Ford’s grandson was adamant and opposed the change. He stood by his grandfather’s design and stuck to his guns and the new logo never made it onto the cars.
The success of the brand has been copied by a number of other major motor companies. Volkswagen, Mazda and BMW are all companies that also went with the blue and white color scheme for their logos. It seems as though those colors guarantee a successful brand.
Henry was a man for efficiency, but he was also a man that embraced the unique, and consequently, there have been a number of Ford models who had their own unique logo. The most famous of the lot has to be the Thunderbird and the Mustang. They have their own iconic logos instead of the classic Ford logo.
The bottom line
Ford has stood the test of time and is not looking to go anywhere anytime soon. Their logo is a testament to their success and represents their reliability and consistency. The simplicity of the logo has made it one of the most well-known and easily recognizable logos in the world. It has instilled a sense of trust in their customers and has garnered such a following that it is difficult to sway someone to buy a car other than a Ford.
The Ford company has achieved something that very few other companies in existence have been able to do. They have become part of many families and as a result, there is always a sense of nostalgia when one generation sees the same logo and also the development of the brand from their fathers and grandfathers. It comes as no surprise that a Ford was named the car of the 20th century.
About the Author!
Justin Osborne is a writer at BestEssays.com.au and AWriter.org, he loves to share his thoughts and opinions about education, writing and blogging with other people on different blogs and forums.
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