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BMW’s new flat logo is everything that’s wrong with modern logo design

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Re: BMW’s new flat logo is everything that’s wrong with modern logo design

#61
post #3

The new logo looks more top heavy somehow. When there was a dark ring the logo looked balanced, now it looks like the center of gravity is off and the logo wouldn’t stay upright if placed on a table.

My take on this is the airplane propellers in the center--that's what the white and blue signifies, for those who don't know--draw your eye toward the center-point of the logo, but the "BMW" draws your eye back up, causing a sort of "oscillation." If they insist on this design then eliminating the outer ring would likely cause a more balanced reaction.

The white & blue checkering is actually a nod to the Bavarian colors/flag. The propeller metaphor came later.

https://www.bmw.com/en/automotive-life/bmw-logo-meaning-hist...

Re: BMW’s new flat logo is everything that’s wrong with modern logo design

#63
Change for the sake of change is how good apps and brands are ruined.

>Jens Thiemer, senior vice president of customer and brand, says it was designed to “radiate more openness and clarity"

Clearly a decision made by a non-technical person thinking with his heart and not his brain. How these people get away with such buzzword bullshit at huge multinational corporations is beyond me. I wonder how much he makes. Reminds me of that infamous Pepsi PDF.

These people get high off their own farts.

Re: BMW’s new flat logo is everything that’s wrong with modern logo design

#64
I thought the logo was a airplane propeller. Its actually just the bavarvian flag.. (B standing for "Bavaria" a region of Germany, "MW" Motor Werk.

It has evlovlved slightly over the years, but its kinda still the same. If it looks bad with a transparent background they'll fill it in.

Some "historical" BMW logos.

https://www.motor1.com/news/365668/bmw-logo-isnt-propeller/

Ad with the (not) BMW "Propeller Logo"

https://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/10/report-as-it-turns-out-b...

Re: BMW’s new flat logo is everything that’s wrong with modern logo design

#65

Aside from being ugly and making no sense at all, the part that gets me about these things is that it wasn't broken. Seriously, did someone at the top of the organization wake up one day thinking "We are not selling more cars because of our logo"? Of all the things they could have decided to work on that might actually deliver real value to customers, the logo was deemed to be important? After owning a number of BMW'…

Rebranding is a thing. It allows corporations to get rid of past negative associations with the brand, be more attractive to younger audience by not looking too differently from brands they are exposed to, even just remind everyone they still exist and should be considered as a choice, things like that.

Re: BMW’s new flat logo is everything that’s wrong with modern logo design

#66
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, that's the main problem. They got rid of black color ring surrounding the blue rotating propellers. That killed the logo.

It's actually a stylized Bavarian flag, the propeller story is a myth

huh, TIL

Re: BMW’s new flat logo is everything that’s wrong with modern logo design

#67

BMW builds _cars_, not Apps. They pride themselves in craftsmanship. The Logo badge on the actual car is a three dimensional, physical thing. Instead of embracing that, they made it flat like an App icon. It will look shit on cars and it does not communicate that BMW builds _real machines_. Everybody is going crazy about going digital and they forget what they are good at and what the customer likes them for.

Current and potential customers of BMW know what they build.

Don't know if a 3D logo works as a reminder of what BMW does.

I will hate a 3D logo in a company like SpaceX

Re: BMW’s new flat logo is everything that’s wrong with modern logo design

#68
post #37

This reminds me of when Instagram moved to their new logo and everyone mocked it for the same reasons. Someone made a parody video implying that some kid hacked it together in a few seconds in Photoshop, but I can't find that video anymore, all the links that point to it are dead and won't come up on web.archive.org. They used this kid though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz3PbpPR6DY Edit: Here's something close,…

And the Instagram logo is still bland and unmemorable, hard to apply and a target of mockery. It’s just not in the news anymore.

Re: BMW’s new flat logo is everything that’s wrong with modern logo design

#69

BMW builds _cars_, not Apps. They pride themselves in craftsmanship. The Logo badge on the actual car is a three dimensional, physical thing. Instead of embracing that, they made it flat like an App icon. It will look shit on cars and it does not communicate that BMW builds _real machines_. Everybody is going crazy about going digital and they forget what they are good at and what the customer likes them for.

That's the thing. BMW is recognized as building cars, or as you say _real machines_.

Instead BMW tries to transform its business to provide mobility. Its a service provider and the service is mobility. It is not the cars. The cars are the vehicle to provide mobility, one form of mobility.

BMW has several brands to communicate this mobility, which are ShareNOW, FreeNOW, and ReachNOW. ShareNow is what used to be DriveNow, which is the free floating carsharing. FreeNOW is the Uber-like Taxi-App. ReachNow is the Google/Apple Maps which includes public transport, Carsharing, Taxi, eScooter Rental, Bike Rental so that you can reach your desired destination the most efficient way.

Re: BMW’s new flat logo is everything that’s wrong with modern logo design

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fake shadows and fake light is not good craftsmanship. It makes sense for a logo on a flat piece of paper to look flat and look beveled and shadowed on a badge. This evolution of the logo is bad, but not because it's flat.

yeah, they could have easily made the existing design flat[ter] but left the rest intact. the new look looks very cheap, but i bet they paid $200k for the redesign.

Only $200k? I'd guess at least double that. If an iconic logo is being revamped for the first time in decades, getting it right would be worth at least a million. Sadly, paying a lot doesn't guarantee a good result...
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