Ford Motor Company
Oval Ford logo is well known for almost than 50 years, and now it is considering as one of the most recognizable companies. Ford Motor Company is one of the leading car brands in the automobile industry nowadays. Production of practical and not expensive cars, which organized Henry Ford, helped lot of people make their life easier and comfortable.
Henry Ford built his first experimental car in a workshop behind his home in Detroit in 1896. Henry Ford’s first vehicle rode on four bicycle wheels and was powered by a four-horsepower engine. Instead of a steering wheel, the Quadricycle had a tiller. The gearbox had only two forward gears with no reverse.
Henry Ford’s first attempt at a car company under his own name called the Henry Ford Company on November 3, 1901, became the Cadillac Motor Company on August 22, 1902. In 1903 company was changed into Ford Motor Company and they developed their first logo. It was created by the company’s first chief engineer/designer Childe Harold Wills. Ford was looking for a logo for his vehicles, so Wills, a friend of Ford’s who designed and printed business cards, used the calligraphy from his own cards to stylize the letters. It was placed on the first car of the company – Model “A”.
After formation of the Ford Motor Company, the first Ford car was assembled at the Mack Avenue plant in July 1903. The Ford Motor Company is incorporated. With 12 investors and 1,000 shares, the company had spent almost all its $28,000 cash investment by the time it sold the first Ford Model A on July 23, 1903. But by October 1,1903 Ford Motor Company had turned a profit of $37000.
History of Ford logo is very interesting, because it was changing with time and designers were trying to find out what people would like. The company was always developing and had changed their logos eight times.
In 1903 the first Ford logo wasn’t the one that we all know today, it was different in art nouveau style. It was on the beautiful frame on the black background and inside it was “Ford Motor Co. Detroit, MICH”.
In 1904 Ford Motor Company of Canada is founded. Ford’s first international plant was built in Walkersville, Ontario, right across the Detroit River from Ford’s existing facilities. The company was a separate organization with its own set of shareholders. It was created to sell vehicles not just in Canada, but also across the then-current British Empire.
Ford introduces the scripted typeface of its trademark in 1907. Childe Harold Wills designed the Ford logo. He used his grandfather’s stencil set, which was based on the style of writing taught in schools when Ford and Wills were children. It has only black color with script font and no borders.
Then, same year it was changed in style, the script has the addition of long-tailed “F” and “D” letters while previously, in 1903, it had a frame, they decided to remove it. The logo was without borders, it was just a company name that was printed straight on the vehicles with the same script font. They thought that adding long-tailed letters will make logo more effective.
Ford first introduces the Model T in 1908. That put the world on wheels with a simple, affordable, durable automobile Ford sold 15 million Model T’s before ceasing production in May 1927, making it one of the best- selling vehicles of all time, and arguably the most famous car in the world. In 1908, there were only about 18,000 miles of paved roads in the US. TO deal with the primitive roads, Ford used light and strong vanadium steel alloy for critical parts. At the time, most of the automobiles in existence were luxurious novelties rather than affordable transport. But to appeal to the mass market Ford’s vehicle also had to be reliable and easy to maintain. Also, the company’s first international sales branch opened in Paris in 1908.
Logo that was created in 1907 was used up to the end of 1910. Model T has this logo, that was matching to this automobile. During this time Ford had a lot of competitors, which made a lot of new cars, and that’s why they thought about something unique and about what do people need. Henry understood that it would be more profitable to sell ten cars to ten people, than one car for the price of ten. Because, if the price decrease, they will have more customers, that are ready to buy a good car for the good price.
In 1912 Ford has its unsuccessful design in which they put the brand signature on top of blue winged pyramid and they added the bottom line “The Universal Car”. Although intended to show the product’s speed, grace, and stability, the logo was quickly removed after Henry Ford expressed his dislike of it. Customers may think about the freedom of the company because of the wings, and to my mind Henry Ford didn’t want to have this idea in his logo.
Designers right away changed the logo in the same year 1912 which brought a fundamental change in the history of the brand. The form of the logo was finally fixed: now the logo is an oval with a black text inside. And they removed that blue color from the background.
In 1917 Ford Motor Company produces its first ever truck. The Ford Model TT was a truck based on the Model T car, but with a reinforced chassis and rear axle. This early pickup was rated at one ton.
On the side of the truck there were “Ford Motor Co.”. And as they had new logo from 1912. They left for the truck logo from 1907 year.
Edsel Ford succeeds Henry Ford as president of the company finally in 1919. Henry Ford put a plan in place to buy out his investors and make himself, Clara Ford, and Edsel the sole owners of the business Edsel’s interest in aesthetic automotive design brought a new dimension to Ford Motor Company, pushing the company to begin producing cars that were beautiful as well as practical. Edsel was also an extremely important art benefactor in Detroit, and one of the best- known paintings he commissioned was Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry mural. His aesthetic legacy lives on in the original Lincoln Continental.
By the end of the 1920s, Ford had more than 20 overseas assembly plants in Europe, Latin America, Canada, Asia, South Africa, and Australia.
In 1922 Ford had acquired the Lincoln Motor Company (founded 1917), which would produce Ford’s luxury Lincolns and Continentals. In 1938 Ford introduced the first Mercury, a car in the medium-priced range.
1925 brings production of Ford Tri-Motor airplanes. Ford’s plane was nicknamed the “Tin Goose,” reference to the Model T’s nickname as the “Tin Lizzie.” The Tin Goose was one of the first airplanes used by America’s early commercial airlines. Combined with Ford’s reputation, application of assembly-line techniques and investment in Ford Airlines, the plane helped spur the creation of the commercial airline industry. And to further accelerate the industry’s development, Ford offered the plane’s 35 patents free of royalties, including his patent for the navigational radio beam.
On their airplane, they used Ford logo with script font and no borders.
It didn’t take a long time for them to come back to the royal blue color. And in 1927 they made changes, also the shape was more rounded, than today’s oval. Moreover, designers evolve the logo with white stripe on the borders.
Ford begins selling the 1928 Model A. While the Model T dominated the auto industry from 1908 to the early 1920s, by the middle of the decade there was fierce competition from other automakers. After the 15 millionth Model T drove off the assembly line on May 26, 1927, Ford closed plants all over the world to spend six months retooling factories and perfecting the design of a new car. Ford called the new car the Model A, commemorating Ford Motor Company’s first car, the 1903 Model A. The car was the first vehicle to sport the iconic Blue Oval logo, and it included innovative features like a Safety Glass windshield. By 1931 Ford had sold over five million Model A’s despite the difficulties of the Great Depression.
Henry Ford I, becomes president of Ford Motor Company. The son of Edsel and the grandson of Henry Ford, Henry Ford I, served as president from 1945 to 1960 and as chairman and CEO from 1960 to 1979. When Henry Il took over, the company and its bookkeeping practices were in disarray. With the help of ten former U.S. Army Air Force officers nicknamed the “Whiz Kids,” Henry II transformed the organization into a disciplined company with modern management systems-prepared for the global challenges of the post-war world. Henry Ford II, who reorganized the company’s tangled system of financial management and reinvigorated its corporate culture by hiring talented younger managers.
In 1989–90 Ford acquired Jaguar, a British manufacturer of luxury cars.
From 1976 legend Ford logo change the background color into dark blue, that looked richer and they decided to make silver letters and silver frame around the logo which symbolize the aristocracy, restraint and impeccable reputation of the brand. Which encourage developers to make a new, progressive model that people need in their life’s.
From 2003 in honor of the 100-year jubilee designers add some details from the past logos and made it lighter and these changes were saved till now. From the 1907 the font wasn’t changing. It still script font, and I think that this is good idea for this company.
I can say that with company logo changes, changes come to the whole company too. Also, it makes a great first impression, a company with poor design and branding can become associated with their worst efforts. Strong logo design can help guarantee your company is always remembered in the best way possible. Because with the logo, the company can attract more customers or conversely. For instance, I really liked how the Ford logo looked in 1903, in the old art nouveau style, but maybe, if they left this style, they wouldn’t have so many customers, and they wouldn’t be so popular, as they are now. For some people the logo is just beautiful image, some nice colors. However, it could be associated with company’s background and values. It’s important to choose the right colors, structure and symbols. In addition, it distinguishes you from the competition; there are certain symbols that represent industries or products. You need to be unique to compete among the best companies. Logo is very valuable part in design, it’s showing creativity and goals in certain company. And changing it could be like a new stage, new beginning.
Resources and Bibliography
Widmar, Aaron,“Behind the Badge: Is that Henry Ford’s Signature on the Ford Logo? NewsWheel, August 13, 2013,
Behind the Badge: Is That Henry Ford’s Signature on the Ford Logo?
“Ford Logo,” 1000logos Brands of the World, 2018
http://1000logos.net/ford-logo/
“Ford Motor Company” Wikopedia.com, November 9, 2018,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Motor_Company
“Why a Logo is important for your Brand.”, Taylor Brands
“Food Motor Company,” Encyclopedia Britannica, November 1, 2018
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ford-Motor-Company
