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49 Comments on “Ladies and Gentlemen, The Cadillac Of Logos...”
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The new one is an improvement. Now if they’d just upgrade the cars.
Seriously, they are basically the same thing. On anything small the details in the crest will get lost anyway? How much money did they waste paying someone to come up with this?
At least it’s gotta qualify as one of the more blatantly stupid ways of spending our taxpayer money…..
Egregiously dumb.
But what else would you expect from the people who brought you the Cim-moron…..er….Cimmaron?
The new logo probably looks better on hi-def TVs.
Worth paying a graphic designer to spend an afternoon on, but not worth more than a routine press release.
Where’d the ducks, er, merlettes go? You know, the ones that zig?
Well the new one looks like it was at least more then just stickered on.
Forget the crest. Fonts matter more.
Cadillac should ditch the cursive typeface and replace it with a clean (though arguably banal) sans serif font.
I agree with slateside. That cursive Cadillac script and the wreath around the crest – ditch them. They are reminders of the flaccid, juddering wretchedmobiles of the 70s. Bring back the muscular block letters of the 40s and the wide 50s-60s crest with the big chrome V under it. These are reminiscent of Cadillac at its finest.
The new one is probably cheaper to manufacture.
I liked both logos, and i used to really like the exterior styling of many old caddies, even the ponderous 76 coupe and convertible. The interiors, the gauges and the performance was another story, though.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2009/1901171106_c7b7b81484.jpg
http://www.cadillacfaq.com/faq/answers/img/caddylogohist-2.jpg
Why change stuff like this? Ford and Coca-Cola haven’t felt the need to alter their logos for 80 or 90 years. Cadillac had a great logo in the 50’s with the elongated V under the crest. It’s still the best.
The important question is how will the new logo look on a can of Cadillac aftershave?
Deeper colors and texture. Good update on the crest.
Remember the GM ad campaign many years ago: “We Sweat the Details”?
Enough’s enough guys. Let’s get off the details like logos and get on to the big stuff. like cars. You do remember you use to make cars, right? Lots of them????????
Those of youall harping about cost; do you remember the TTAC logomaking exercise and it’s pathetic entrants? That’s what you get in an afternoon.
Where’s that logo now?
To those uninformed, its a doodle. To the person who ate by way of it’s creation– much more. Credit where it’s due guys. The wreath in particular is going to look phenomenal in chrome.
It’s quite apparently a cost-cutting move, I’m not terribly familiar, but maybe someone can chime in. The cloisonné crest is likely more expensive, and rather one-dimensional. This crest will be(if it follows modern convention) a dimensional metallic sticker under a plate of plastic. It will look fancy to modern eyes, but the elder badge is a much nicer art object.
Progress is going to happen whether you like it or not.
looks the samt to me, all things considered.
monty, you are so WRONG.
http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/coca-cola_vs_pepsi_revised_edition.php
No, no, NO! The deck chairs should be lined up in an orderly fashion, regardless of the pitch of the deck. This is the Titanic, sailor!
Its about time they went to the old school texturing again. Sure there are no duckies or that doily looking thing above the crest, but this is a step in the right direction to show the badge is worthy of the name behind it.
levi :
Deeper colors and texture. Good update on the crest.
I agree.
To Monty: Those historical logos are interesting. I didn’t know that the old Caddy logos had ducks on them, hah!
GM Exec. Martin Walsh championed the last update of the logo, it was a Mondrian masterpiece. The new one, now that I think upon it seems to have Roy-Lichtensteined the Mondrian in a coy nod to pop-ad-art. To me, its a bit of a defacement, graffiti on top of the original artwork, but if it was done this way purposefully, then what the hell. I can appreciate an obscure joke as well as the next person who is in on it. In the final analysis, the logo’s darker colours may better compliment traditional lux paint options which would matter more to traditional buyers than anything else.
I am surprised no one has suggested an all red crest flanked by a pair of yellow sicles, now that GM is a ward of the state. Come to think of it, that would have been the perfect ttac logo.
I hope it is illuminated from within by tiny little LEDs.
As monte demonstrated, Cadillac has had a long history tweaking their crest. I think this one is a big improvement over the 2002-2009 version in my opinion. I think paired with a nice V instead of the curvy wreath it would look good with the angular lines of the “art and science” design today’s Cadillac’s have. LED back lighting is a cool idea… I had a 1991 Sedan De Ville with backlit crests which were really cool looking at night.
Now that the crest is done, maybe they could work on a flagship and a new V8 maybe… A new V8 once every twenty years would be nice…
No, Commando: it’s all about the “branding”. The Caddy logo has to be nicer than the Chevrolet or Buick even though they’re same cars underneath…
Maybe it’s just me, but I greatly prefer a lot of the olde-timey logos as compared to the modern, cartoonish ones that every corporation hoists upon the world. The old logos to my symbolize endurance, strength, continuity and persistence. The new logos every marketer hoists upon the world do little but say “look at me!”
There’s something much more ‘authentic’ about the older logos as compared to, say, the abortion of a new Pepsi logo, most new cereal box logos, chain-restaurant logos, etc. They’re all so….gauche.
I applaud Ford for keeping the same logo for so long. It lends gravitas and a bit of charm.
I agree with Sajeev. Texturing > flat surfaces. Looks more upscale.
The crest is also more crisply detailed and brighter. Something I’d expect with a luxury brand.
And I think the texturing would make it a bit more expensive to manufacture. There are more details into it.
To the people mentioning the Ford and Coca Cola logos as symbols of continuity… both have changed A LOT during the years.
Very subtle, but be sure they have been tweaked more than once.
See here… sure, it haven’t changed, in 6 years.
http://www.instantshift.com/2009/01/29/20-corporate-brand-logo-evolution/
Other brands…
http://www.neatorama.com/2008/02/18/evolution-of-car-logos/
I still want the ducks and the crown on top of the crest back.
Given its usual attention to brand definition, GM will eventually slap it on everything from Korean econoboxes to pick-ups to monster SUVs. So whatever it looks like, it had better be sticky.
Cicero :
October 13th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
The important question is how will the new logo look on a can of Cadillac aftershave?
How about Cadillac Dog Food:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8dY9lF0BiI
They used the “V” logo too. Alas I see that they had a recall in 2007.
Stingray:
Great link there. And yes, the Ford logo, for example, has changed, but it’s essentially the same recognizable logo since 1912.
Same with Apple – while they may adjust the coloring and dimensionality a bit, the Apple logo with the bite from it is and will be a classic design (woe be the person who ever tries changing it).
There are some from that list which look better with updating: GE, Apple, Nokia, VW, BMW. Those are nice evolutions. To give you an example of the trend I dislike, look at the Xerox logo. They didn’t have much to work with with their earlier designs, but the new one is too damned cartoonish for my tastes.
Oooooooh! Shiny.
I’m dismayed that TTAC hadn’t informed us about the earlier loss of the ducks. Furthermore, I sense a kind of rewriting of history by this quiet duck snub. How exactly were the fowl embarrassing to GM?
From an ariticle by Phil Patton:
“The original Cadillac logo … is based on the family crest of the man for whom the company was named, the Gascon officer and minor aristocrat who founded Detroit in 1701—Antoine de La Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac. His coat of arms, like many family coats of arms, appears to have been concocted and borrowed from a more noble neighbor. This may be appropriate for a car that has often appealed to the self-made man—if the not the nouveau riche hustler.”
Also, “The ‘merlettes’ or ducks had been used in an infamous ad campaign for the small Cadillac Catera, billed as ‘the Cadillac that zigs instead of zags.’ One duck was seen swimming in the direction opposite the others. But on the new logo the merlettes were gone; many saw the ducks as collateral casualties of the failure of the Catera. ‘We wanted to make it less fussy, more technical. The look we were aiming for was … [as if it had been] milled out of a single billet of aluminum. The ducks felt fussy’ …”
Read more at:
http://www.cadillacfaq.com/faq/answers/caddylogoredesign.html
When did they loose the ducks?
You know, to get on the logo-improvement band wagon, Mercedes ought to update their tired old three-pointed star. Jeez, it’s been around forever! A number (“pound”) sign inside an isoceles triangle would be a big step forward.
Funny… just the other day my teenagers were commenting on how the logo on the local Caddy dealership looks like the cheapest, dullest made-in-Malaysia plastic. In this regard, the new one is a definite improvement.
Unfortunately, this is a pointless exercise for a bankrupt company. Reminds me of the failing student who spends the entire final exam doodling in the back of his notebook.
Its like a fine Detroit wine, it gets more alcoholic with age. I would guess about 9% given current indicators.
Here’s a proper Cadillac emblem:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/81509757@N00/3388636159/
+1 ClutchCarGo
This looks like an exercise in marketing masturbation. Felt the same way about the Audi logo redo.
At least Toyota had the temerity to actually change the logo even if they modeled it after the Pillsbury Doughboy.
Thank all of you who showed the history of logos. I enjoyed seeing the changes over the years.
The GMC nameplate on the grille of a truck should not cost the customer close to a hundred bucks.
How can you qualify that?
The original logo appeared to have swans, not ducks. Insert obligatory joke about swansongs here ->
@yankinwaoz:
They lost the ducks in 2002. Thats when the post-modern Cadillac emblems came out. It coincided with the new for 2002 CTS and Escalade. 2000-2001 Devilles had a swept back large scale old style hood ornament, then went to the new style as well for 2002.
I can’t remember if the Eldorado and FWD Seville got the new emblem for 2002 though…. somebody???
I think the duck’s credibility was ruined by the stupid Catera commericals. I remember one Catera commercial where the duck would turn the other way on the emblem and swim off. It’s not on youtube… this one is though… at the end you can see the duck = catera theme with an animated duck by the logo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xmmuHxnQkw
I see minus signs.
Good update, now if only Audi could go back to the drawing board… scratch that just revert to the old Logo
Damn, Cadillac’s had more logos than I thought. And I’ll have to disagree about the 40s V logo; I think the 1959 version is the best one. It’s low and sleek, like a streamlined bullet train all hunkered down and ready for take off.
http://www.cartype.com/pics/3490/full/cadilac_logo_set.jpg
Honestly I think that they should really ensure that everyone knows its a GM product and should spend valuable time and money on affixing a GM badge to every car, not waste time with one brand’s logo! Oh wait, what’s that stuck to my Saturn?
@hreardon
Basically, if you see most of the logos, all keep within a recognizable pattern. They’re image of a company and it’s not usually a good idea to change them deeply.
If you see how the Cadillac logo evolved, it lost most of the internal features the original had, and I’m sure they were from the family crest of Detroit founder…. The same has happened to the Buick logo, which lost the blue, red and white colors of the US flag.
However, you’re still able to recognise them as Cadillac and Buick.
If you see the Chevy logo, it looks like the one you would find in a 60’s-70’s car. But in the 80’s it had a blue background. Still, anytime you see a bow-tie, you know it’s a Chevy.
In the Xerox case, it’s different, but maybe their old logo didn’t fulfil the image they want to give to the company.
The new Audi logo has changed very subtle. But the lettering did, and a lot, and the result is far from pleasant looking.
Bertel once said that a basic rule to see how well a logo works is how it looks in the hook that keeps the pen in the shirt.