The Western Star logo has preserved virtually unchanged for more than half a century.
Meaning and history
Western Star Trucks Sales, Inc. is a US truck manufacturer with headquarters in Portland, Oregon.
Originally, it was established in 1967 as a division of White Motor Company. The brand went through several owners until it became the property of the German Daimler AG.
Emblem
Despite the change of owners, the company has not introduced any drastic changes to visual brand identity over all of its history. This can mean that the design has been pretty successful.
The badge is dominated by the large letter “W” in a bold sans serif type. The glyph is black with a silver outline. In the middle, there is a red five-pointed star, also with a silver outline.
While the “W” badge can be used on its own, it is typically paired with the lettering “Western Star Trucks” in black. The text features a plain sans with rather high and narrow letters. These proportions seem perfectly natural, this case, as they let the designers squeeze the long name of the brand into a comparatively small space.
Typically, the text is black. Yet, when the Western Star logo is placed over the black background, the text is white.