Iconic brands have it tough when it comes to an update to their image, a slight change of hue or a font change will uproar a vast amount of opinions which makes this type of logo design a very tricky one. A world renowned brand like Ferrari can't escape from this criticism and to keep the ball going here's a little review on their updated look.
The iconic Ferrari logo was firstly introduced in 1932 and has been barely modified since. Its original inspiration and the reason behind the prancing horse comes from the very origins of the brand, one that involves aircraft and a WWI hero. Enzo Ferrari explains this as following:
“The horse was painted on the fuselage of the fighter plane of Francesco Baracca — a heroic airman of the first world war. In ’23, I met count Enrico Baracca, the hero’s father, and then his mother, countess Paulina, who said to me one day, ‘Ferrari, put my son’s prancing horse on your cars. It will bring you good luck’. The horse was, and still is, black, and I added the canary yellow background which is the colour of Modena.”
— ENZO FERRARI
We can testify that it was definitely a good luck charm since Ferrari is still going strong and is one of the most important race car manufacturers in the world. But back to our business, what's the big fuzz with Ferrari's logo? They've updated their look by releasing a new logo version -that obviously doesn't modify the prancing horse- after a bit of controversy caused by an allegedly tobacco company advertising (that is now forbidden in Europe). Here's the first version of the controversial logo change that was ultimately modified:
The controversy revolves around that weird barcode next to the Ferrari crest, which for non-F1 fans might look a bit random considering the classic look of the brand. But the problem is that tobacco companies are now prohibited to advertise in race cars, and the aforementioned barcode allegedly resembles a Marlboro pack which would be against the rules.
So after the controversy Ferrari was forced to change this version and the new one takes the original crest and places it on the left upper side of a red rectangle over a curved line that separates it from a white space that reads "Scuderia Ferrari". It's definitely got a modern look to it, specially with the font choice that evokes the sense of speed. But I have to admit, the overall composition looks a bit awkward if not plainly off.
And check out this very cool 3D animated video for their new logo launch! And you can download an .eps file of the classic Ferrari crest
here.
