The question “What does the BMW logo mean?” has a straightforward solution. The company’s Bavarian heritage was emphasized in the symbol’s design. The organization honors its history by using the inverted colors of the Bavarian flag.
However, there are different interpretations of the BMW emblem that are possible. A powerful image for inclusivity, community, and connection is a collection of circles enclosing one another.
The “BMW” word mark’s decision to be written in a softer, sans-serif font is also intentional; it makes the firm look more approachable and interesting.
Additionally, a lot of individuals still associate the BMW emblem with the aviation sector, claiming that the white and blue pattern in the middle makes them think of a plane’s fast propeller against a sky of blue.
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The Real Meaning of the BMW Logo It’s not an airplane propeller, either.
If you believed that BMW’s logo evoked the company’s past as an airplane manufacturer, you’re mistaken. You’re also mistaken if you assumed that the “Roundel” in the emblem represented a rotating airplane propeller. Fortunately, the Munich-based automaker recently published a “BMW Explained” column debunking some of the Roundel’s origin lore.
As stated in the article by Fred Jakobs of BMW Group Classic, “many people think the BMW emblem is a stylised propeller.” But the reality is somewhat different.
What led to the creation of the Roundel? The company’s famous blue and white inner circular quarters actually got their start as a symbol of the state of Bavaria’s official colors, according the historical discovery. But when the BMW logo was initially designed, the local trademark law of the time forbade the use of the state’s coats of arms and other associated “symbols of sovereignty” in commercial insignias. As a result, the pattern within the BMW emblem displays those colors inverted order.
In order to get around the trademark law, BMW merely reversed the colors.
After beginning as Rapp Motorenwerke GmbH in 1913, BMW originally registered as a business with the German Imperial Register of Trademarks on October 5, 1917. Since BMW didn’t have an emblem at first, its designers simply adopted the former founding company’s original badge, kept its circular shape with the outer black ring, and changed the horse head silhouette with the state’s inverted colors and the letters BMW, which stand for Bayerische Motoren Werke or Bavarian Motor Works.
What is the origin of the widespread misunderstanding that BMW’s emblem resembles an airplane propeller? This 1929 commercial:
It first appeared that year as a marketing ploy for the firm’s most recent aviation engine, which they were making for Pratt & Whitney under license at the time, just as the world economic crisis, better known to us as “The Great Depression,” started to take hold. Due to its strong association with BMW’s past as an airplane manufacturer, this perception just took off. Since then, it has been repeated several times in the media, most notably in 1942 when a similar advertisement appeared in the “Flugmotoren-Nachrichten” or “Aircraft Engine News” magazine, published by BMW.
According to Jakobs, “BMW made little attempt for a very long time to dispel the idea that the BMW emblem is a propeller.”
Jakobs added that although it isn’t entirely incorrect, calling the BMW symbol a representation of an airplane propeller isn’t entirely accurate either. The identical idea was debunked in a 2010 New York Times piece, yet for some reason, the belief has persisted.
This interpretation has been widely accepted for 90 years, therefore it has developed some validity over time, continued Jakobs.
Hopefully the record will be cleared up once and for all with the company’s official statement from its internal monthly.
The BMW logo’s history
blue and white interior. dark borders around it. The letters BMW are on it. This has been the universal representation of pure driving pleasure for more than 90 years. But how did this logo come about? In the video above, the BMW crew started looking for hints.
The most contentious matter facing the firm is the genuine significance of the “sky blue and white quartered” BMW logo. Dr. Florian Triebel, a member of the executive board at BMW AG, “Regarding the meaning of the BMW trademark and emblem, there are two traditions that offer two distinct interpretations of its sky blue and white fields. One interpretation suggests a propeller in motion. The second links the BMW mark to Bavaria, where the company’s products are made “.
According to legend, the round shape of a revolving airplane propeller served as inspiration for the modern BMW emblem. The stylised image of a white/silver propeller blade whirling against a clean blue sky is intended to be represented by the white and blue checker boxes.
The BMW logo’s association with the Bavarian flag’s colors and the company’s roots was considered “a lucky coincidence” by BMW. The Trademark Act forbade the use of “national coats of arms or other emblems of national sovereignty” in trademarks at the time the BMW logo was initially designed. The BMW marketers responded by “incorrectly organizing the color parts in the BMW logo from a heraldic standpoint,” maintaining the brand’s association with Bavaria while doing so.
BMW has confirmed this, thanks to the NY Times: “I wrote about visiting four German auto museums in the Automobiles section of last Sunday’s newspaper. My amiable tour guide Anne Schmidt-Possiwal at the BMW Museum in Munich clarified that the blue and white business emblem was not intended to depict a spinning propeller but rather the colors of the Free State of Bavaria.”
logo history
Bayerische Motoren Werke, or BMW, was founded in Munich in 1916. Its initial focus was on the manufacture of aviation engines. The firm’s initial logo was circular to emphasize its relationship with Rapp Motorenwerken, the company that gave rise to BMW. The blue and white circle that took the place of the black horse quickly became the center of attention.
The rumors were fueled by the business itself. The business produced a photograph of a plane in 1929 whose revolving propellers closely resembled the insignia. The business was working on getting the necessary license at the time so it could start producing a new kind of airplane engine. By utilizing the new emblem, BMW hoped to increase sales.
The Bavarian flag is actually referenced by the colors white and blue. BMW made the decision to arrange the colors of the flag in a different order because the law forbade businesses from utilizing the recognized national symbols.
Font
Since the foundation of the logo has essentially remained the same since the firm was founded—a circle with four distinct color segments in the center, the contour of which serves as the backdrop for the brand’s typeface name—the font has altered and is now quite robust.
The designers felt that the original font, which had narrow lines and serifs, wasn’t impressive enough. The hue remained golden, but the text grew bold. The font was then unified, the notches vanished, and the lines were given a consistent thickness. And the color changed to white; the white (silver) font is still regarded as the brand’s classic.
The distinctive BMW emblem features a stylized geometric graphic that resembles an airplane propeller and is done in the Bavarian region’s official colors. The company’s initial focus in its history was on powered production, and the logo still maintains this connection to the history of the business.
Description
The BMW logo is made up of four blue and white quadrants that are encircled by a circle. Every quadrant is colored white and blue to represent the Bavarian Free State. At the top of the circle, you can see the letters BMW.
They represent the 191-year-old Bayerische Motoren Werke. Since then, nothing has changed. Although the emblem is a reminder that the firm produced military aircraft during World War I, it has nothing to do with the manufacture of aircraft.
BMW Logo Meaning Disputations
The black roundel and blue and white checkered pattern are said to symbolize a rotating aircraft propeller, with the blue and white representing the whirling silver and white propeller blades against the blue sky.
However, the New York Times and Daily News Auto claim that the colors of the BMW emblem were drawn from those of the Bavarian flag, which makes sense given that Bavaria is where the company’s roots lie.
BMW AG Executive Board Member Dr. Florian Triebel offered his thoughts on the significance of the BMW logo.
“Regarding the meaning of the BMW trademark and emblem, there are two traditions that offer two distinct interpretations of its sky blue and white fields. One interpretation suggests a propeller in motion. The second links the BMW mark to Bavaria, where the company’s products are made.”
The red BMW logo: what does it mean?
Blue represents BMW, red represents motorsport, and violet represents the special union of the two, according to BMW M. This still remains true today if dark blue is substituted for purple.
What is the BMW logo’s coded message?
The whirling airplane blades that make up the BMW logo’s centre portion represent the company’s early heritage of aviation technology.
What do the letters in BMW stand for?
Bayerische Motoren Werke GmbH, or the Bavarian Engine Works Company, is what the abbreviation BMW stands for. The corporation was founded in the German state of Bavaria, hence the name. Additionally, it shows the original product line of BMW: different application-specific engines