The new ŠKODA brand identity in the AI era.
Reasons for failing global brand renewals
According to the British-Canadian author Malcolm Gladwell: it takes 10,000 hours of intensive practice to achieve mastery of complex skills and materials, like playing the violin or getting as good as Henrik Fisker at the car design.
When you look at the AI car designs whic are created in just seconds with Midjourney or Dall-e app that occupy the world agenda in these days, you might ask if Gladwell is wrong. Maybe You like the new ŠKODA brand identity approach that erases the winged arrow, which is created by the young Czech marketing team.
However, with the determinations I will share in this article, I think Gladwell’s message will be more understandable. Because brand renewals like ŠKODA, which do not include necessary expertise in the process, can fail with an unexpected way.
Hundred years old story of the three-feathered winged arrow
Before the new one, let’s find out how the winged arrow brand mark, which many disliked, was born.
The commercial director of ŠKODA at the time, Tomáš Maglič, is considered the author of the idea. A picture portraying a Native American decorating the ŠKODA Plzeň management office around the years 1918–1919 was likely his inspiration. Rumor has it that the then Tomáš Maglič, brought a Native American from his trips to the United States to serve as a family servant.
Two variants of the trademark were registered with the Office of Trademark and Design in Plzeň on December 15th, 1923.
The first variant, used in 1924 and 1925, was a winged arrow with a five-feathered stylized wing in a circle with the word ŠKODA. The second variant showed a three-feathered winged arrow in a circle. The arrow in both variants pointed to the right. This stylistically perfect variant won and has not been significantly changed since.
In December 1990, ŠKODA joined the Volkswagen group as the fourth brand alongside Volkswagen, Audi and Seat. In the updated brand identity after this merger, the feathered logo was accompanied by a black circle with the words ŠKODA and Auto. While the black color symbolized ŠKODA’s past, the green color represented the environmental vision.
The next ŠKODA logo was unveiled together with the “Vision D” concept car at the 2011 Geneva motor show. With this brand identity update, the ŠKODA wordmark was separated from the winged arrow with a wider and thicker font selection.
According to the March 2022 ŠKODA conference, the brand identity to be introduced this year would be the most radical change since the Volkswagen merger in 1990. It would also reflect the design language of the electric age.
The eagerly awaited moment has come, with the “Explore More” event held on 30 August 2022 at 7:00 pm, ŠKODA introduced its new car concept “Vision 7S” and its new brand identity.
Š (S with caron) in ŠKODA word mark
It will be easier for us to understand the first big problem with the new ŠKODA logo, as Turkish Language has special letters such as Ş, Ç, Ğ, Ö, Ü. Because the ‘caron’ above the letter Š was used with its traditional form until the new logo, while it is presented with a new design proposal now: The hat is hidden inside the letter S. (This hat is called háček in Czech. It sounds like the Turkish letter Ş, ŠKODA is pronounced as Shkoda in Czech. For those who don’t know, the word ŠKODA means “damage”. What an interesting choice for a car brand.)
Why was this bold step taken that affects the legibility of a letter Š? The reason might be the 100 years of traditional usage of ŠKODA, known many. In addition, the ŠKODA usage still continues in the texts.
However, when you just look at the logo only, you are much more likely to think that the letters Š and A had a visual trick, not an accent. Thus, you read the word ŠKODA as SKODA (with S), not as it should be.
In the long run, it may be desirable to convert from the letter Š to the letter S for international ease of use, but if there is such a goal, it is necessary to abandon the use of the letter Š in texts.
Unexpected Symmetry errors of a global logo
The continuation of the diagonal cut in the letter Š in the letter A makes it feel like it does not include “caron”, where the letter Š is also cut for a visual purpose. If the letter A was left flat, the emphasis of the letter Š would be more legible.
If these cuts were made for aesthetic purposes only and S would now be used instead of Š, it would be more symmetrical and correct to use similar cuts for both letters.
The symmetrical mistakes made are not limited to the space of the diagonal cut, but when you look a little more carefully, other important graphic errors that you can see below are also noticed in ŠKODA’s new logo. (Perhaps these will be fixed in the future.)
Incompatibilities of the previous font library
The “Skoda Sans” font family was developed by Bernd Moellenstaedt and Dalton Maag in 2000, based on the ŠKODA logo used at that time. It was used for all communication needs until 2011. It had 6 different weights.
With ŠKODA’s renewed identity in 2011, the “SKODA Pro” font family has been developed. The new font design was produced by Motaitalic, who also produced the font for the new logo. That’s why it was working in harmony with the new logo.
Both the logo and the font family had rounded angular lines. The wide font family consisting of 15 members met all the needs of ŠKODA in every field such as product typography, communication etc.
Depending on the new typography needs, the “SKODA Next” font family, which looks modern grotesk typeface with more oval forms, was developed by Monotype independently of the ŠKODA logo. “SKODA Next” did not work as well as the “SKODA Pro” with the 2011 logo. Moreover, with 8 weights, it has a limited family than previous 15 weights of “SKODA Next”.
While the “SKODA Next” font family has been used for communication needs since 2017, the “SKODA Pro” font family has continued to be used in car interface designs. (These two font families are not compatible to be used together, so they are not pairing in any application.) This typography style has not been changed in the new ŠKODA identity. The font library is almost the same previous one.
However, the two font families do not work in harmony with the new ŠKODA geometric word mark. This inconsistency stands out especially in some details of the “Vision 7S” car.
Due to these incompatibilities, a fresh font is created for the “Vision 7S” model name. There are also serious legibility problems of this new font. If you search on Google with the words “Škoda Vision 75, you can see that many people misread and create content as “Škoda Vision 75” rather than “7S”
Brand mark or word mark?
In the new ŠKODA brand identity, the winged arrow symbol no longer appears on the car. In the brand presentation, it was stated that the brand mark will only be used in communication materials.
Even though those who do not like the winged arrow in particular have adopted this transformation, is it right that the emblem, which overlaps with the ŠKODA in our minds, is withdrawn so much? Can a brand that uses a symbol suddenly change from a brand mark to a word mark? Or, from another angle, are approaches such as Audi, Renault, Toyota that prioritize the symbol rather than the letters more accurate? We will get a better understanding of the answers to these questions over time.
Small update after 1 year
I noticed an interesting detail on the new ŠKODA car with the new logo. A year later, the winged arrow is used on the 2024 Kodiaq with the new logo. Let’s see if this design regression continues with the next models. Will the emblem be used on the 2025 models introduced in 2024, contrary to the decision in the new brand identity?
Most valuable car brand of the world: Tesla
The Tesla marque was ranked as the world’s most valuable car brand in 2022, with a brand value of roughly 75.9 billion U.S. dollars. Toyota, 2020’s leader, is now the runner-up, followed by Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Ford.
Toyota produced their first car in 1934, Mercedes-Benz in 1885, BMW in 1928 and Ford in 1896. Alongside these hundred-year-old giants, Tesla introduced its first model in 2008, and in just 14 years, it won this long-running race and became the world’s most valuable car brand.
With an ugly logo that most brand identity experts dislike, ordinary car designs reminiscent of Mazda models, and a history of only a few decades, how can Tesla be the most valuable car brand?
As Olivier Roth states in his medium article “The Tesla brand: A look under the hood”, a brand is a complex system that creates meaning for a product and service and turns it into perceived value for its consumers. As a system, it needs to be consistent and coherent in order to be recognizable and trustworthy.
Creating a strong brand takes more than the juxtaposition of good design and bold copy, vivid colors and original typefaces. As Michael Eisner, Disney CEO from 1984 to 2005 put it: “A brand is a living entity — and it is enriched or undermined cumulatively over time, the product of a thousand small gestures”.
The reason why many car brands lag behind Tesla is that the brand system does not have the capacity to feed thousands of small components.
For example, ŠKODA’s latest event begins with an amateurish skit. It continues with many clichés and a boring historical presentation about the evolution of ŠKODA. However, Tesla’s conferences and product presentations have a much better planned flow. If you are not familiar with Musk’s presentations, I suggest you watch the Tesla Powerwall presentation in 2015.
The result: Groundbreaking identities, mind-blowing flops
Audi, another brand of the VW group, started the electric car era before many brands, leaving the chrome look in its logo and switched 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. So, for the first time, the brand mark of a car brand began to act as a font. The rings, which were thinner in large uses, created an elegant appearance, while in small uses they became thicker and strengthened readability. The dynamic atmosphere of the logo was completed with the newly developed “Variable Audi Type” font family. All identity elements met all the needs of the variable environments of the mobile first age.
Well, doesn’t ŠKODA’s brand and marketing team see the innovative steps of other brands of the same group?
In fact, ŠKODA is not only making these mistakes, but also other global brands. If these types of topics interest you, you can read about Audi’s mistakes, NYC-based Chermayeff team’s mistakes, or Apple’s mistakes in my previous medium articles.
As Malcolm Gladwell said, in order to become an expert on a subject, you must devote years to it or involve experts at every stage of the project. Otherwise, you can fail at any moment and be the subject of different medium articles with your failures.
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