Vespa is an iconic Italian brand of retro-scooters, which are produced by the Piaggio. The brand was created in 1946 and today is one of the most recognizable names of the scooters across the globe.
The name of the brand, Vespa, translated from Italian as “wasp”. When the first prototype was designed — its body shape resembled the Piaggio family of a wasp. The first scooter under this name was created in 1946 by an aeronautical engineer, Corradino D’Ascanio.
Vespa is an icon and a tribute to the Italian design and style. The brand’s visual identity hasn’t been updated for 70 years of its history but was always aiming to reflect the company’s values of freedom, youth, fun, and fashion.
During the first five years, Vespa scooters were produced under the Piaggio logo, which was composed of a shield-shaped base, diagonally divided into two equal parts. The upper part featured a dark blue background with a big white letter “P” on it, while the lower, pale blue part, contained a fine and elegant “Piaggio” lettering.
In 1952 the iconic Vespa logo was designed. It is composed of a diagonally placed wordmark in a custom hand-drawn typeface, which is italicized and has curvy thick lines.
The first “V” has a rounded left bar, that resembles the scooter design and a wasp. The wordmark is underlined, which makes it look more confident and strong.
The very first Vespa logo was executed in monochrome and later changed to the deep blue color palette. The current Vespa visual identity features mint color with white lettering, adding freshness and youth to the legendary brand.
After Vespa got its own logo, Piaggio redesigned their visual identity, adding an abstract representation of a wasp to it.
The Vespa emblem is executed in a silver medal, which looks perfect on all the brand’s scooters with their distinct colors. It creates a sense of movement and style.
The Vespa emblem is a celebration of retro fashion and a progressive approach to it. It is an instantly recognizable wordmark, that adds elegance to every moto, reflecting the brand’s heritage and background.