The flat logo trend is spreading in the automotive industry We can call it a trend, but it is rather a practical resolution to the growing issue of readability

The logo of a car is like the signature of an artist: a small part without which all the others would have no identity. It is the logo that gives the name to the car and, in some ways, it is the logo that first conveys the values and history of a car manufacturer. But the logo also reflects, with its changes, the various stages of life of a brand – the adaptability of which to the present determines its longevity. In recent years, the automotive industry has seen a trend that has led car manufacturers such as Nissan, Toyota, Citroen and Audi to make two-dimensional logos that, in the 80s and 90s, were three-dimensional, simplifying their graphics. The trend stems from a marketing need: with brand communication increasingly taking place on digital platforms, a logo too complex, too rich in realistic visual effects and gradients loses distinctiveness. Something similar has happened in the fashion world with the phenomenon of blanding, which has seen numerous brands standardize the font and color of their logos to better protect intellectual property and self-represent themselves with uniformity through different platforms, digital and not.

The long wave of flat design trend comes until 2020, with the debut of BMW's new simplified logo this March, which in addition to the usual flattening saw the exterior black ring that contained the brand name disappear. The change was designed to accommodate the colors of the bodywork, making it different from one model to another. At the beginning of July, then, it was the turn of Nissan that perhaps applied the most radical re-desing by even removing the box that contained the name of the brand and transforming the metal circle into two minimal white semi-circles. More soft was the update made by Toyota, finally, which saw the fall of the name and a monochrome look dark gray to the post of the previous chrome 3D.