The F1 logo is clever. It always has been, and it has been under-exposed because the company under Bernie Ecclestone didn’t really care about branding. Bernie often said his customers were not the public, but rather the TV companies, race promoters and sponsors who funded his games. They were the ones who dealt with the public. Bernie’s business model was all about exclusivity and cash, not about selling F1-branded key chains and coffee cups. Liberty Media has a different vision and so wants a different look. Changing the logo means a long brand-building process, although if the logo speaks for itself it is an easier process. If it says ‘F1’ people will understand. There is an argument that a lot of folk never saw the 1 in the old logo and simply saw a flying F. The new logos proposed don’t seem awfully dynamic, one might even call them dull, but they do the job. Will they sell more merchandise than the flying F? That’s doubtful. Anyway, it’s done and I hear the new logo will be used from Abu Dhabi onwards, I actually forgot to mention it in the green notebook this week!
Who knows whether it will be successful or not? Most companies when changing logos tend to modify the old, rather than throwing the baby out with the bath water, but in this case one can see – across the board – that the owners want a completely different image for the sport and want everything Ecclestone to be gone. Bernie was a buccaneer, they are energised corporate types and so a new image makes a lot of sense.
However there might be a better way to do it. Perhaps over the winter it would be wise, having now alerted fans to a change, to have a competition to find a new logo for 2018 and beyond, by asking the fans to send in designs. Fans love that sort of thing and the result might be better.
Just a thought… a big brand launch in February with all the car cars would be a good way to bring the new logo to the attention of the world.
joeblogsf1 
I am well aware that my view of the logo will count for nothing but I see the ‘1’ every time and always think how clever and simple the current design is.
The logic for change makes sense with all the conversations about the contracts and engines etc. being all about the new era of F1.
But whilst I agree with the idea of letting the fans have input… that is not the corporate way….
They owe you for that one Joe. The only sensible way to bring the youngsters on board. We true believers don’t care what it is called having given up formula when son neared two some 50 years ago.
Maybe the new logo is not so much Stalinist-style air-brushing from history, but instead to reinforce the message that a certain team will not longer get preferential treatment, by taking the red out of the logo.
I think the other item that is vastly overdue for an update is the ident that appears before the start of qualifying or the GP itself, the multi-coloured stylised parallel tracks and cars. This ident, which was clever and innovative, when it first came out, is now I feel, rather old fashioned and hackneyed.
Absolutely. The music which accompanies it is so cringeworthy and dated. I can only imagine how it drives away the younger generation.
If the F4/F3/F2 logos now all match and are aligned, would it not make sense for a new F1 logo to be in that same style, harmonizing the FIA pyramid?
+1 – would make sense to ensure the new logo style can be transposed across to F2, F3 and F4.
Hopefully this one won’t be bright white and cause burn in on screens like the current one did to my plasma TV.
That’s when you know you’re watching too much F1! (I approve!!)
When I worked for a large Dutch multinational concern we had a corporate hand-book of very many pages, which specified exactly how the wordmark and logo could be applied in almost any situation or type of media imaginable.
The only time I recall seeing the flying F1 logo is at some point before the action starts on tv.
That sounds familiar to a large British multinational concern that I worked at that had all of the basics of logo display on a mouse mat on everyone’s desk. How to display a logo vertically, horizontally, placement on a document, plus pantone colours
I like the logo. From a graphic design standpoint it’s always fun to be creative with negative space like with the 1 (and the arrow in the FedEx logo). But I think it is essential to start selling more reasonably-priced gear to the fans. My son would LOVE a Red Bull Racing shirt but I will never spend $60 on a shirt my growing kid will be able to wear only a few times.
You can market to the masses. It’s ok! Really! Every team should have merch available that the average fan can but. It’s always smart to have your fans market your brand for you and pay you to do it.
The proposals look ok any would do. Nothing to get excited about. One is modern and unreadable so they will probably choose that.
At least they will be better than the Lincolshir police new logo, the have gone from an official looking helmet badge logo which eveyone takes as “police” to what looks like a corner part cut out of a council letterhead, which could represent anything.
Hah yes, it took me years to realise that the red bit on the right wasn’t a stylised “1”, and that the “1” was actually hiding in the middle. Very clever, and just made me love it all the more when I finally realised. I also know I’m not the only one.
Do you know which of the three they’re going for? The three I’ve seen range from hideous to boring. Your suggestion of a fan-based one is an excellent idea and a trick that I can’t quite believe the social-media-savvy Liberty seem to have missed.
I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I never saw the white “1” until about 30 seconds ago…
Me also, but not so embarrassed. It took me years to realise that the Pedigree petfoods logo was actually someone patting the head of a dog and a cat.
The new logo’s that have been trademarked are quite frankly horrible. Maybe the current logo is a bit too clever, like the FedEx arrow that once you’ve seen it, you don’t forget it, but if you are going to rebrand surely it would make sense to cover F1/2/3 in one go?
There are bigger things to be worrying about in F1 right now, but I’ve found the credit card sized tag that was attached to a t-shirt I bought in Canada and the logo and placement looks much better than what might replace it. Same with the logo on the shirt itself.
Asking fans to design the logo may be good for engagement but you’re talking about a piece of design that needs to work in digital format, traditional print, trackside banners, etc., and is seen by hundreds and millions of people each fortnight around the globe.
Could a design fee be claimed?
It would be a competition…
The original logo designed some thirty years ago by Carter Wong, a London design studio, still stands the test of time.
Do we really want design ‘X Factor style’ from the public? These jobs need to be done by professionals, if not let’s see how many Uber drivers could race a Formula One car…
Why not?
It’s very frustrating opinion Joe – speaking as a graphic designer of over a decade myself who has worked on large rebrands like this – that people belittle it as something that anyone can do. Like any profession – journalism perhaps – there are the good and the bad, but when it’s done well it can be both a science and an art. Anyone can cook a meal, but it takes years of dedication to make a Michelin-quality dish. Design is no different. Remember also that what will have been commissioned won’t have been just a logo; developing a brand is infinitely more than that. If Apple starting making washing machines, you’d already have a good idea about how they’d look, how they’d be made, how they’d work and maybe even how they’d sound. That is successful branding at work. I’m not condoning any of the leaked designs (however, I’ll reserve judgement until I see the final one and how it’s used in context), but throwing it open to the public is a misconception of what a global brand like this requires (the logo will be a just part of a much bigger task) not to mention the craft and skill that goes to make all of that effort behind the scenes appear effortless. Problem is, everyone remembers the fewer disaster rebrands rather than the great work produced every year by agencies around the world.
I don’t disagree but the point is that they are planning to use one of three dull logos and if that is the best that the agencies can come up with them why not see what else is available. More brains produce better solutions…
Jon raises a good point here. While this very blog has expressed concerns about armchair bloggers and reporters giving journalism a bad name, in the very same instance it is condoning the same approach for other professions associated with F1 – this does appear somewhat hypocritical. It appears that while armchair enthusiasts are acceptable for graphics design they are not for journalism..
..while the original intent of the idea was a good one, the above notion does not sit well. Perhaps a refinement to the idea would be to hold an initial competition and to have the winning logo picked by a professional design agency (who would consider aspects that the untrained eye would be oblivious to). The same professionals could then work with the competition winner to refine the logo further, possibly even offering them a new career path should the desire be there from the individual. Just a thought..
Your point fails to realize that there are likely tens of thousands of professional designers who are F1 fans and probably a few thousand who would submit potential designs. When commissioning designs at my PR firm, the highly paid firms have almost always been outperformed by freelance professionals at a fraction of the cost. Maybe a corporate environment doesn’t attract the best talent. The F1 logo gives currency to the old adage that a camel is a horse design by committee (or something along those lines). The aforementioned firms paid $500,000 to have their logo redone. There were some great options initially, but consensus could only be reached around a design that was inoffensive to nobody and consequently inspired nobody. A worthless and expensive exercise in change for change’s sake.
designed* by committee
aforementioned firm* (singular)
Argh
Boaty mcboat face !
Boaty McBoat Face, Brexit, etc, is what happens when you open something up to the masses….
Did people really not see the 1 in the F1 logo? That’s funny 🙂
Yup. I used to be a member of another forum, full of generally intelligent people, yet only about half had seen it; it was the same with the FedEx arrow and various other such conceits. I suspect it’s actually down to differences in people’s visual processing cortices as to whether they see such negative-space things or not.
In my case I just thought the red bit was a stylised “1” and never looked closer; seems everyone else in my camp thought the same thing. Embarrassing!
I like the idea of making the “1” in the existing logo pulse once as it appears. They should just run with that.
I didn’t until this thread caused me to look for it… (sad but true…)
I never saw the 1 until someone pointed it out. Now I know it’s there I can’t unsee it. I think the problem was the 1 was white so it just looked like empty space if it was another colour I think everyone would be able to see it immediately.
I had no time for Bernie but it would be foolish in the extreme to jettison everything that he did. The big wide world neither knows nor cares about him and probably knows more about his misdeeds than his deeds. The F1 logo is a clever, attractive and appropriate badge. Silly to waste a lot of time and money changing for changes sake.
I have an uneasy feeling that in their attempts to appeal to the US public they may well damage the heritage and passion elsewhere in the world. The US is only a little over 300m people, prosperous certainly but being caught by others that number 20 times as many. I hope they don’t catch Trumpitis or Brexititis often fatal diseases with unknown consequences and at this time no cure !
Joke about the number of flying Fs given by Bernie goes here ==>
That by should have been for…..
Well, perhaps the positive here is the indication that LB are thinking long term? Personally, I see nothing wrong with the current logo at all. Of the three new proposals I saw, I think two can work just fine, although it all seems unnecessary indeed. But whatever is chosen, my guess is that we will get used to it rather quick anyway.
A shame as I like the F1 logo we have used up to now. Joe as well as being a marketing thing do you also think this part of the strategy of Liberty trying to disassociate F1 from the Bernie era?
What does new logo look like?
Shame.I always thought the current F1 logo was a touch of genius (I always saw the “1” in it also 😉 )
Lots of things can change for the better in F1, but I quite like the clever current logo. Then again, Liberty is following the Golden Rule: the one with the gold, makes the rules!
Lots to like about where Liberty is headed, but I’m less impressed by how (overly) stereotypically corporate they are in terms of the disingenuous gap between their words and actions.
Just one simple example: They kick Bernie upstairs as “Chairman Emeritus”, but with zero influence. They pay homage to him, but clearly want everything Ecclestone gone. If that’s the case, great. Just be consistent: say what you mean, mean what you say.
Corporates too often look you in the eye and tell you one thing for PR purposes, while quite obviously doing something 180 degrees different. If I was an F1 constituent, I’d listen less to what Liberty says, and watch more what they do.
Oh, and YES to this –> “a big brand launch in February with all the car cars would be a good way to bring the new logo to the attention of the world”
It was a clever and excellent logo that will be replaced by a very low brow poor design alternative. Why. Why. Why.
Strange to think that a couple of years ago many were still saying that Bernie was essential to F1’s survival.
I recently saw a quote from Chase Carey saying that Liberty had avoided a few ‘booby traps’ left by Bernie. That’s probably boosted their enthusiasm for erasing all signs of him.
Give it five years, then pass your judgement on young Bernard.
I’ve given it 30… We’ll, maybe these guys are smarter.
Then you’re old enough and smart enough to realise his positive and negative qualities.
I guess how you view Liberty et al depends on whether you consider F1 to be a sport or a revenue-generating media activity. It can’t be both, the focus has to be on one or the other.
I know you like ‘the show’, but back in the day I think you liked the sport.
Apparently Liberty doesn’t care if the red goes away…
if the red goes away they can kiss goodbye to their investment or better say debt.
I think you’re correct.
That would be real fan engagement. Imagine the winner being present at the announcement. If a school child it would engage more than just the winner and his family.
It’ll be strange to see Formula 1 without the “flying F” logo. I still hear of seasoned fans not knowing that the 1 is there.
I love the idea of a competition and beginning the re-brand next year. A great way to engage the fans!
Have they not applied for 3 different versions?
I can kind of see their inspiration behind the three designs: racetrack, scalextrix track, and road(?) But you are right that they do not look as good as the current logo .
Liberty’s research shows that the average American is too dumb to detect the “1” in the negative-space; the new logos are lame but idiot-proof.
Then make the gap pulse once when it appears, as somebody else said, an excellent idea for those like me and about half my friends who didn’t see it for ages…
That would work well on TV but would be a bit difficult to make work in print! Changing the logo is a shame in my opinion, The ‘hidden’ 1 was genius, and like others have said, once you’ve seen it’s there, you can’t not see it again.
Exactly, so you only need to see it pulse once on TV for it to then always work thereafter in print…
Believe it or not, I did already know that you can’t make things pulse in print… 🙂
Better to put new energy behind a 30-year old design than change … so many companies waste money on rebranding only to revert back to the tried and tested…
Just my 2-cents worth Mr. Bratches…
A shame really, I thought the logo was pretty clever (suits F1). Saw the new ones and not one of them speaks to me as much as Flying F. If the 1 was a problem than they could have updated it to pulse once.
The new ones seem run of the mill logos, not really clever or good looking. The F1 designed as a track could have been clever but to me it looks like a hard to recognize mess.
Agreed. The track-layout one is the best idea out of the three but really badly implemented. I don’t know what design studio came up with these but they’re seriously lousy. Get Lambie-Nairn (originators of the wonderful 1990s BBC2 logos) on the job! Or just anybody who knows what they’re doing…
Changing the logo is a totally unnecessary waste of time and money reminding me of a new dog on the block raising his leg and peeing on the tree to say “it’s mine now. Yes, I do like the current one and sometimes there is a lot to be said for consistency in some things. While neither of the three I have seen are objectionable, they are no great leap forward in anything. Change in anything is inevitable, but best done when really needed, not just for changes sake.
Perhaps there is something to be learned from when Coca-Cola rolled out “New Coke”. It wasn’t just the formula that was changed. but the logo as well. How did that work out?
I agree with you Joe, F1 should launch a contest for the design of their new logo. HAM did it last winter for his helmet and the winner did a great job.
I like the current logo.
Does Bernie still own the existing F1 logo? In which case the need for change is obvious.
I doubt it
F1 has fundamental existential issues, the logo bit is definitely not one of them. Besides, the suggested alternative logos are honestly anything but appealing. Yet, since their are at it, why not rename the whole series, maybe to Hybrid 1__ or better yet, Halo 1!
The one thing F1 doesn’t have are existential issues
It may not have existential issues. However, it has definition issues.
Does the current demographics support the size and scale LIberty and FIA is after?
In the world where car ownership is on a decline – does it appeal technoligically?
Is it moving beyond it’s insular place? Maybe, it has farther to go though?
Steve
So F1 has a logo. As FOM doesn’t have a shop in every High Street or hundreds of vehicles running around the streets, it’ll probably be missed by most of us. The current logo is only seen on a computer games on official F1 merchandising store. None of the team kit uses it. It’s a lot of fuss over nothing, unless FOM force teams to splatter the logo over all their products and I can’t see that happening.
The three logo proposals, in their current state of ‘refinement’, are absolute crap.
Changing the logo design? If the racing remains uncompetitive, it’s akin to putting lipstick on a pig.
just wonder who is in charge of The Logo – FIA or rights holder? And what happens to the ”old” logo since it’s officially abandoned for the FIA Formula One World Championship? It is patented alright, but as such, can someone buy it and use it ?
These new designs are the most boring bland logos I’ve ever seen. They look more like they should belong to some kind of hedge fund or other dull corporate entity. They have no place next to a sport which is supposedly all about speed.
I hope they have a rethink.
While holding a competition to design a new logo may sound like a great idea, I’d suggest reading up on spec work and its many downsides, for both the client and the winning designer (see https://www.nospec.com). It is often the case that such logo competitions produce poorly thought out results, that fail to take into account broader branding concerns. That said, the three options that have been filed by FOM don’t inspire much confidence either!
For those who don’t naturally see the invisible ‘1’ in the current logo, I suggest you deliberately blur you vision when looking at it. This will tend to make the white ‘1’ jump-out at you.
Ahhh remember the old magic eye pictures?
Bernie is gettig very grumpy lately !
Because people aren’t listening, except the little muppet who hangs on his every string…
I very much look forward to your expose when the time comes and the threats various cease to exist. It will be a fascinating read.
Just listened to your podcast Joe, very interesting. One point about the age of the logo is that many famous brands have had their logo’s since their formation, some for 100’s of years. Bass, Twinings, Shell, Peugeot for instance spring to mind straight away. A refinement of the current logo may well be a better option.
My take on the competition idea, for those graphic designers worried about their careers, is it’s fine. Create a spec. for the job, and throw it out there. The logo doesn’t have to be exactly the same as any submission, but what’s entered be used as a base.
Contrary to what some seemed to like and believe, red is taking a larger place in the new F1 logo…