Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) Logo

Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) LogoSocial Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) Logo PNG

The Social Democratic Party of Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, SPD) is the oldest political party in Germany. Its history dates back to May 1863, when the General German Workers’ Union was founded in Leipzig. In 1869, the Social Democratic Labor Party was formed. Both currents united in 1875 in Gotha to form the “Socialist German Workers’ Party”. At the end of the 19th century, the SDP became a truly mass party.

Meaning and history

Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) Logo history

Social democracy remains one of the most influential political ideologies in the modern world. Social democratic parties exist in virtually every region of the world. It is estimated that there are 150 social democratic political parties with millions of members worldwide. One of the most prominent Social Democratic Parties in the world is the German SPD.

The history of the German labor movement and the Social Democratic Party of Germany dates back to the bourgeois-democratic revolution of 1848, however, the SPD party received its current name only in 1890. After the collapse of the German Empire, the representative of the SPD Friedrich Ebert became the first democratically elected president.

In post-war West Germany, the SPD became virtually the only significant representative of the left-wing political spectrum. It was originally founded as a party of the working class, but since 1954 it has positioned itself as a “left-wing people’s party” for various sectors of society. This transformation was finally consolidated by the “Godesberg Program” of 1959, in which the Social Democratic Party of Germany adopted a social market economy model, and agreed to the western orientation of the FRG and the revival of the German army.

In 2007, a new party program, “Social Democracy in the 21st Century,” was adopted at a congress in Hamburg. Representatives of the SPD declared their goal to build democratic socialism in Germany. The SPD stands primarily for social justice and is close to labor unions.

Today, the Social Democratic Party is one of the two largest popular parties in Germany and fights for the realization of a free, just, and solidarity-based society. Together with BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN and the FDP, the SPD currently forms the federal government.

In terms of visual identity, SPD is extremely laconic and minimalistic. The logo is based on solid letters and the official color of the party, is red. However, in its long history, the Social Democratic Party of Germany has managed to change a large number of badges, which we will describe below.

???? – 1949

Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) Logo old

The post-war logo of SPD featured a stylized sans-serif monogram, written in coral-red characters against a solid black background. The custom font of the inscription with flared lines and square cuts of the bars, along with the chosen color palette, created quite a dramatic mood for the badge.

1949 – 1952

Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) Logo 1949

The redesign of 1949 has strengthened the look of the SPD badge by diagonally rewriting the lettering, with the uppercase characters drawn in solid black and outlined in white now. The heavy yet sharp “SPD” abbreviation was now set on a bright red background. The badge stayed in use for just three years.

1952 – 1961

Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) Logo 1952

In 1952 the recognizable shape of the SPD lettering was kept, but the style was refined and now the abbreviation was written in solid red lines against a transparent background. The massive characters did not have any outlines, yet on the overlapping areas, there were pretty thick yet short white lines, which created a nice geometry for the logo.

1961 – 1970

Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) Logo 1961

Another badge was designed for the Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1961. And it was somewhat new, as for the first time the SPD badge was not executed in its usual red color palette. The badge featured a solid dark blue background, where the light blue lettering in a classy and modest sans-serif typeface was written, with the characters set at a balanced distance from each other. No other elements were added to the composition.

1971 – 1978

Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) Logo 1971

The redesign of 1971 has brought back the bright color to the SPD logo. Now it was a solid orange rectangular banner, set vertically, with the bold white “SPD” monogram written in its upper part, using a classy serif typeface, and accompanied by a lightweight title case “Socialdemokraten” tagline in a modern sans-serif font.

1978 – 1989

Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) Logo 1978

The color palette of the SPD visual identity was changed to dark red and white in 1978. The badge was redrawn in a super minimalistic style: with just the massive sans-serif monogram written in dark red bars against a transparent background. No other elements were present on the badge, yet it still looked super intense and powerful.

1989 – 2021

Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) Logo 1989

The redesign of 1989 has intensified the shade of red from the logo of the German Social Democratic Party. Now the bold white lettering in a modern geometric sans-serif ripe face was written along the bottom border of a solid red vertically oriented rectangle. The badge stayed unchanged for almost a decade, becoming a basis for the future redesign.

2009 – 2011

Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) Logo 2009

Another version of the SPD logo, used by the party from the end of the 2000s — beginning of the 2010s, was a three-dimensional red cube with a white wordmark written at its bottom part, fully repeating the idea and style of the flat badge, introduced in 1989. However, the voluminous logo did not stick to SPD for long.

May – September 2021

Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) Logo 2021

In May 2021 the famous logo of the SPD party was slightly refined. The concept, color palette, and typeface, — everything remained the same, yet the white SPD monogram, written at the bottom of the solid red banner, got enlarged and started taking more space.

2021 – Today

Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) Logo

The SPD badge, introduced in October 2021, repeats the idea of the previous logos, with massive and brutal geometric lettering written against a plain background. However, now the main color accent is used for the characters, which are drawn in intense red against a white banner. The typeface, by the way, remained absolutely unchanged.

Font and color

Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) Emblem

The bold uppercase lettering from the primary logo of the Social-Democratic Party of Germany is written in a modern geometric sans-serif typeface with heavy bars and distinctive contours. The closest commercial fonts to the one, used in this insignia, are, probably, Jasantrade, Syke, or FF Metareg with some minor modifications.

As for the palette of the SPD logo, it is based on the official color of the party, red. Historically, this is the color chosen by socialist parties around the world, because red is the color of the revolutionary struggle, of the labor movement.

Join the Newsletter to get our latest content by email.

    Menu