TOGG’s new logo design designed by Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv

Why was TOGG’s new logo not good? How could it be done better?

Turkey’s Automobile Initiative Group announced its new logo on its official Twitter account on 18 December 2021. As far as we learned from the newspapers, local and foreign companies participated in the project, which was carried out with the competition. The logo produced by CHG New York (Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv New York) was chosen from the works produced. (In the applications made by TOGG to the US patent office at the link here, several different logo designs can be found together with the selected logo.) Some popular logos previously produced by CHG, one of the leading companies in the logo field, were also shared with the TOGG news. But why was it not asked why the logo of the domestic car was not made by a local company. Just like the fact that TOGG’s car design is done by Pininfarina is not questioned in most publications.

The new TOGG logo released on December 18, 2021 and the meanings behind the Logo

Two different groups stand out when it comes to TOGG: those who defend TOGG by closing one eye or even both eyes from time to time, and those who criticize TOGG by closing one eye or even both eyes from time to time. There is also a few people who approach the subject scientifically and try to help the project succeed.

TOGG’s old logo on the left, the new logo on the right

If you are one of the polarized people in the first two groups, I suggest you: Don’t read the rest of the article. Because from time to time we will talk about things that both groups won’t like. With this article prepared from a rational perspective, I aim to present an approach to startups that want to become a global brand through the example of TOGG. If you have similar feelings, you can share the article and help the tips here reach more people.

TOGG SUV designed by Pininfarina. TOGG CEO Gürcan Karakaş

Our National Power in Automobile Design
According to a study by BBC News, your child is less likely to become a famous car designer than a basketball player in the NBA. But despite everything, we have Turkish automobile designers who have completed this difficult journey and worked for big brands such as Murat Günak, Hasip Girgin, Murat Güler, Cemal Kuruş. Murat Günak is one of the design advisers of TOGG. First Concept cars is designed by Pininfarina.

So, does TOGG have a Turkish consultant on corporate identity? We do not know about this, but the technical errors that I will share a little later show that even if there are such people, they are not doing their job right.

Some of the Apple products designed by British designer Sir Jony Ive

Being foreign dependent in Design
If you want to produce an international brand, you will find success and transfer it, regardless of where it comes from. Jony Ive, who designed most of Apple’s iconic products, is an Englishman, and Peter Schreyer, the designer of many models of Kia and Hyundai, is a German. Ford’s design division is led by Moray S. Callum, a Scotsman. Gerry McGovern, who won the best car design award this year with Land Rover’s new Defender, is also a British. Although we perceive a British designer works for a British brand, in fact the owner of Land Rover is the Indian company Tata Motors.

Some of the logos designed by CHG New York for Turkish Brands or Companies

TOGG also worked with CHG New York, which has proven its competence in brand identity design, for its new identity. CHG New York is also the design company that produces the identities of other Turkish brands such as Beko, Koç, Arçelik, and Istikbal. Many other institutions and brands such as Türk Telekom, Grunding, TRT World, Turkish Airlines, ”Turkey Discover the Potential”, Star TV, Anadolu Efes, Turkish Basketball Federation have had foreign design companies design their new identities. Hundreds of thousands of dollars/euro (sometimes millions of dollars) were spent on this major design import. Some of them were good, some of them were produced incorrectly like TOGG.

The Brand identity of TRT World, created by British Dixon Baxi, was shared on all social media channels of the company, It is also featured in in some of design publications. You can also see the TRT World identity in the speacial publication of Dixon Baxi, which shows their project selection.

Faulty Design Importation
In some of the brand identities commissioned by foreign companies, we come across very simple mistakes that even a newcomer to the industry, let alone a successful designer, would not make. For example, the mistakes made by a global company like Interbrand in the article “Anatomy of the Türk Telekom Logo” that I wrote earlier seem thoughtless too.

CHG New York does not display the logos it designed for Turkey among the selected works (Curated). You can only access the Beko ID by clicking the alphabetical order link. (A-Z)

In fact, the number of errors or the obviousness of the errors in the project varies according to the purpose of the design company.
If the company that made the logo can share the logo it produced for Turkish brands on its website and social media channels, the logo has a high probability of success. It also shows that this logo was also made for prestige purposes. As the opposite of this approach: If They act like They didn’t make the logo and don’t even show it on their portfolio site, They probably just focused on budget only.

Although years have passed since then, Interbrand does not display the brand identity they have made for Türk Telekom in their website. They have a special section called “Europe&Middle East” and “Telecommunication”, but Türk Telekom doesn’t exist on there. It seems, they’re acting as They have never created it.

Although years have passed since then, Interbrand Türk Telekom has not shared its project on their website. The TOGG logo has not yet been shared on Chermayeff’s website or Instagram account. Chermayeff also avoids displaying other identities they have made for Turkish brands such as Arçelik, Istikbal and Koç. You can find Beko’s corporate identity on their website but It is not exhibited among the featured works. If you want to reach the Beko logo, you have to click a few more links.

Among the 42 posts shared on CHG New York’s Instagram accounts, TOGG not included in these posts or the logo of any Turkish initiatives.

Strategical Transformation in Brand Identities?
We see that those who criticize the TOGG logo on Linkedin and other social media channels mostly approach the issue formally. However, it is not possible to analyze today’s brand identities independently of strategy.

Backward brand identity transformations of Burger King and Japan Airlines

From time to time, corporate identities that do not fit the strategy can go backward even if they look good. The closest example to these is the new identity of the Burger King logo, the modern Burger King logo that was used from 1999 to 2021 was changed to the logo in 1969 last year. Japan Airlines also changed the logo it used until 2011, returning to its classic logo in 1959. Perhaps the most dramatic of this transformation could be GAP Jeans. Due to the avalanche of reactions from all over the world, the new Gap logo was withdrawn 6 days after launch.

The Gap logo created with Helvetica typeface reverted back to its old logo six days later.

The New Corporate Identities of the Electric Age
In the Electric car transformation of recent years, many car brands have returned to their roots from years ago. Because in the renewed car designs, the logos have changed from steel forms on the ventilation grille to LED lights on flat surfaces. Audi started this simplification trend four years ago, leaving the chrome look in its logo and switching to flat rings. Strichpunkt, one of the design teams behind this pioneering strategy, introduced a more sophisticated design system for Audi in March 2021. In the renewed identity, the iconic Audi rings that lost their size in 2017 gain a new depth and could be used bold or light for different purposes.

Audi’s responsive and dynamic brand identity presentation, designed by Strichpunkt, 2021

So, for the first time, the emblem of a car brand started to act as a font. While the thinner rings create an elegant appearance in large uses, they become thicker in small uses and strengthen readability. The dynamic atmosphere of the logo is completed with the newly developed “Variable Audi Type” font family. This new responsive approach integrated the automobile experience, which has now become one of our mobile devices, with our other experiences in the mobile space. It even saved the logo from its own borders, which occasionally creates unlegible or unreadable results in some specific cases. However, Audi, which fulfills the requirements of technology and communication trends in its constantly updated corporate identity, insists on staying behind in the typography of its product designs. You can reach the detailed article I wrote on the subject at https://medium.com/antrepo/c66cf4db43e2. Volvo made a similar mistake, not giving up on the problematic-looking quoted typography on the screens. You can find the sample project I prepared on this subject on the behance page. https://www.behance.net/gallery/129066367/Serifless-Volvo-Identity

In October 2021, Tesla’s market cap reached $1 trillion, surpassing even its top 5 competitors combined.

Strategic Issues of the TOGG Logo
TOGG will be produced in a sector with hundreds of years old competitors, in a country below the world ranking in advanced technology products. For this reason, the most effective strategy may not be to aim at the average in every area it touches but to reach a success that we can all admire. Just like Tesla’s innovative approach that destroyed the automobile industry, or like SpaceX winning the race by beating its decades-old rivals with its unique strategies. From this perspective, we expect TOGG to lean towards its brand identity like rocket science and design a strong logo that will ensure success both in our country and all over the world.

Get Out of Your Computer for Great Logos!
As soon as the TOGG logo was published, many designers drew logo proposals produced in a few days or the same day and shared them via social media. Even There were logo galleries made the day the logo was released. A logo design could not be made independently of the product, market, competitors, deep research. This can be possible with a comprehensive study of at least 3–6 months. Even if logos made in less time than that look good, they’re most likely strategically wrong.

Elon Musk was named person of the year by Time magazine at the end of 2021. The interview on the subject was held in the SpaceX’s launch base in Boca Chica, Texas, where Elon Musk was moved due to the Mars project.

This text is part of SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s talk from the 2020 WSJ CEO summit. With this speech, Elon Musk criticizes CEOs and management teams who do not leave the meeting room and do not develop their products sufficiently:

Are CEOs from corporate America focused enough on product improvement? I think the answer is no. CEOs should spend less time on finance, spend less time in conference rooms, less time on PowerPoint, and more time trying to make your product as amazing as possible. Just get out there on the factory floor, get out there in the store, talk to customers. If you don’t love it, don’t expect others will either. Is our product as awesome as it could be? Probably not. What could you do to make it great?

TOGG’s Technical Errors:
As I mentioned before, the TOGG logo is primarily strategically wrong. Even if the graphic errors I mentioned below are corrected, unless they are handled with the right strategy, the result that will make it feel great will not emerge. But graphic accuracy is also crucial to a successful brand.

The original TOGG logo on the left, the corrected version of the spacing error between the letter T and the letter o on the right

There is a spacing error between the letter T and o. This spacing error is clearly visible even on the huge building sign.

Original TOGG logo on the left, corrected geometric errors in the letters o and g on the right

When you look closely at the letters o and g in the Togg logotype, it is noticed that they have geometric errors. The upper and lower lines of the letter g are not equal, and the left and right lines of the letter o are not equal too.

TOGG logo used on the website on the left, optically aligned version of the logo and emblem on the right

The new logo’s horizontal use on the website, the emblem and text are not aligned correctly. Mistakes like these and others give the impression that a comprehensive brand identity guideline has not been prepared.

Automobile brand logotypes which comes from the abbreviation design with capital letters. They also writte their brand name in capital letters in all texts. GM used lowercase letters in its last logo, this approach was not adopted by brand designers and users.

Although TOGG is an abbreviation, the initial letter is capitalized like a normal word, and the remaining letters are lowercase in the new logotype. In the logos of automobile brands, all letters are usually capitalized because symmetry is important for logo balance. Especially brands with abbreviated names pay attention to this issue, even in texts, they use brand names by writing all capital letters. (GMC, BMW, DMC, MG) A recent exceptional example of this is GM. GM preferred the use of lowercase letters in their new logos to emphasize the feeling of change and because of the harmony of the letters “g, m”. The new GM logo is one of the examples that was not found to be successful by experts. Moreover, it is still used as GM in texts.

With Gotham font, Togg is in lowercase letters on the left, uppercase letters on the right. the inner spacing of the uppercase letters is better for legibility in small sizes and also more symmetrically balanced.

Even if TOGG is considered as a word, capitalization will look more balanced. Because the letters O and G are likely to become into repetitive forms. One of the most basic features of a successful logo is that it can reveal repetitive forms that are compatible with each other.

With Gotham font, light Togg on the left, medium Togg on the right

Since the emblem is designed in bold and the text is lightweight typeface, the two elements do not stand on the same plane. This creates an unbalanced result when used together. Medium or bold texts are preferred for automobile logos, especially considering different sizes. Otherwise, logo legibility and legibility problems will arise in small usages.

Fedra font is used on the TOGG website on the left, another font is used in the TOGG logo announcement in the middle, and a completely different font is used on the TOGG official YouTube page on the right. With this design approach, a kind of font confusion has been achieved.

While the Fedra font is used on TOGG’s website, another font is used in the logo announcement on Twitter, and another font is used on the covers of YouTube videos. This mess of fonts is the last thing a global brand will do. Because today, brand identity is successful typography rather than a logo.

There are serious inconsistencies between the icons used on the TOGG website, the new logo design, and the Fedra font. Instead of using ready-made icon libraries, TOGG should develop its own special icon set, its own font, in line with its new logo. These icons and typefaces should be designed to work best everywhere, from in-car screens to device interfaces.

In contemporary brand identity approaches, the logotype alone is not enough, it must be designed holistically with its icon set, typography, photography and the visual language, and the brand identity must be produced like an operating system. Today, many automobile brands use original fonts which designed by successful font companies. Even companies that have their own operating systems, such as Apple, turn their original font into a smart interface element with coding. For example, if two dots are written on the hour text, the two dots are automatically aligned to the text centered, not from the bottom.

Logo designs using different shades of turquoise blue and all designed by foreign design studios

The color Turquoise, chosen as the brand color, seems to be politically correct, but it is the most cliché color that comes to mind when Turkey is mentioned. As this color mixes the brand with other Turkish brands, it also does not provide a strong differentiation in the automobile and technology sector.

TOGG emblem on the left, the icon of the application called Faces on the right

A very similar form of the Togg new emblem is used in the icon of the Android application called Faces. It is very similar to the Renault logo. But all of these similarities don’t indicate that the logo is stolen. However, it shows how simple and original the form is. This is perhaps the most critical of the formal problems. You can find this application at the link. https://apk.support/download-app-us/faces.application

There is not a single successful automobile identity in the world designed by Chermayeff. However, because today’s car identities are built around improving a complex experience, they’re often handled by several companies rather than a single company. For example, Meta Design, Mutabor, and Bold Monday worked with Strichpunkt on Audi’s Corporate Identity. In addition to these brand identity companies, Audi works with different Advertising Agencies such as BBDO, Wieden + Kennedy, Venables Bell & Partners, VMLY&R, We Are Social, etc.

Conclusion: A Great Team for a Great Logo
The TOGG logo is a logo that cannot create a better feeling when compared to its competitors in its segment and cannot win the competition in this field. If a global success is aimed, vital steps must be taken, regardless of where it is applied, without wasting time, and the “Expert Team” necessary for a “strong identity approach” must be formed.

Like the excecutive management team brought together at TOGG, successful experts who can create a global impact in the field of brand design should come together in this team. Because, if TOGG cannot put forward its claim in every field it has developed and does not take a step forward from the others, it may quickly fall behind in the long competition marathon with century-old rivals. It may not reach the point people dream of.