Last Updated: 07/31/2024
Founded in 1909, Audi is a German automobile manufacturer that designs, engineers, produces, markets, and distributes luxury cars. Audi cars are known for their spectacular interior as well as extraordinary performance. Noted for their sophistication, safety, and comfort, they are synonymous with high-speed performance and rallying capabilities.
Audi’s famous "four rings" logo, which has since become iconic, was brought onto the scene of history in 1932 to represent the merger of the four independent motor-vehicle manufacturers, Audi, DKW, Horch, and Wanderer. The new Audi logo was designed as the emblem of "Auto Union AG" and in the first version, every ring contained the logo of the four merged companies. It is believed that the "four rings" possibly generate back to the idea of Olympia and the Olympics logo, although that is not confirmed. Audi has continuously and consistently honored its heritage of the four-ring logo in its various design updates.
The previous metal version of the Audi logo was introduced in August 2009, signifying the untiring efforts of the company to strengthen bonds with their customers and ultimately increase loyalty, efficiency, and excellence of the brand. Earlier in 2017, Audi introduced the flat version of their logo, a project carried out collaboratively by Stuttgart- and Berlin-based agency Strichpunkt and Munich-based KMS TEAM, some of the best branding agencies on the market.
The new logo does away with the wordmark entirely, instead choosing to let the logo speak for the brand. The logo features the same iconic four rings symbol, but in black ink for a sophisticated look. As another brand that adopted the flat-logo trend, the Audi logo has been designed to be flexible and modular. The new identity is held together by dynamic principles instead of being rigid the rules are kept to a minimum, a decision that resulted in the restrained and sophisticated black-and-white color palette for the logo.
The bold design resembles a vector image, but Audi’s global brand recognition is phenomenal, so the design instantly stands out. It is attractive and classic. Shapes, spaces, and colors merge brilliantly to make a cool car logo. The overall design aesthetic is bold, minimal, confident, and luxurious in a way that matches Audi’s cars.
The new logo design feels consistently digital-first in its concept, and the designers have taken a holistic, interdisciplinary approach to creating design principles for all media and devices related to the brand. Audi’s redesigned brand mark has managed to convey a sense of elegance and confidence through innovative design elements, such as free logo placement, equally weighted brand color, and vivid typography. The new logo looks to the company's future and is designed to be easily utilized on modern and future products. At the same time, it allows plenty of scope for creative diversity. The logo is a great example of a flat design done right.
