Motorola was a famous American telecommunications company. It was founded in 1928 and collapsed in 2011 after losing a huge sum ($4.3 billion) in 2007 through 2009.
The Motorola visual identity has had four versions of the logo created throughout the brand’s history, all of them were different, but featured a monochrome color palette and had a lot of style and sharpness in them. The first three emblems featured just the lettering, while with the last one the new concept came out.
The original Motorola logo, introduced in 1930, featured a smooth and elegant black logotype in a title case of a custom cursive typeface, with the horizontal bar on the letter “T” stylized as a lighting bolt. The sharp geometric line balanced the soft contours of the inscription and added a sense of progress and power to the whole image.
In 1946 another logo was created to be used along with the original one. It was a different style of logotypes executed in a modern font with rounded lines and cuts, where all the letters were connected, and the first and last ones had their tails elongated, so the “M” stretched to the left along the top line of the wordmark, and “A”, to the right along the bottom line.
The redesign of 1955 brought another logotype to the Motorola visual identity. It was bold lettering in a title case, executed in a narrowed serif typeface with massive shapes and straight serifs. The wordmark looked solid and strong, evoking a sense of stability and confidence.
In 1955 the iconic Motorola emblem we all know today was designed by Morton Goldsboro. It was a solid black circle with a stylized letter “M” drawn in white and placed in the center. The “M” was composed of two identical mirrored triangular segments with arched bottom lines and resembled mountain peaks or tents. The shapes and contrast of the new emblem made the bran look modern and exquisite, it showed the Motorola value of quality in design and style and accented on its progressiveness and professionalism.
The head of the company said that actually the ‘M’ is a combination of symmetrical peaks symbolizing the firm’s never-flagging thirst for perfection and leadership.
The Motorola logo appears on all products ever released by the company up until its bankruptcy.
The logo uses a font, which belongs to the Univers family.
The blue color of the background circle symbolizes excellence and inspiration. The white ‘M’ stands for purity and aspiration to reach new heights. The combination of blue and white unifies these strivings and creates a hope-inspiring mix.
