Formula 1 Success

Let’s get something very clear from the get go. It’s not about the logo!

Since its release on social media and the it’s official unveiling at the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the new Formula 1 design has received both praise from the design community as well as severe criticism, from those who did not fully fathom what a rebrand is.

Some even went as far as calling out the fact that it was done poorly because it was done by Wieden+Kennedy and ad agency, a lackluster and plain ignorant comment.

But before we get into the overwhelming outcry of voices of over social media for the new identity, let’s take a quick look at the history and rational of why Formula 1 racing even came to existence. During the early 20th century and through the 1970′s and 80′s, Formula 1 wasn’t a global sport and it was mainly restricted to Europe and South America with just one race taking place in Asia at the Suzuka Circuit, Japan.

As Bernie Ecclestone took hold of Formula 1 in the 90′s he started globalizing the sport and as the 20th century came to an end, F1 had become a worldwide business platform. Companies like Coca-Cola, Master-card, Marlboro, etc started funding the teams. The modern logo designed in 2000 became one of the most iconic and beautifully designed logos of all time. The use of the negative space, was absolutely brilliant in design and pure typography genius. The Red color represents passion, energy and fire, while the black represented power and determination. Yet if you look at the typography closely, you will notice that the mixing of the Sans Serif “F” and the bold, thick and plump Serif in the negative space “1”, began to look outdated and does not really embody a modern and sleek sense of design. It fulfilled its design function for that time and sat well within the trends during the pre-social media and digital age, but lacked a better representation of minimalism and simplicity we are seeing today with more recent logo redesigns.

So when Sean Bratches F1 commercial chief, delivered the brief to the team at W+K, his instructions were very clear and concise, he wanted a revolution and not an evolution. “the decision to change the logo had come about because the old design was not useful for modern digital platforms nor merchandise.”

"You cannot stitch the old logo chevron to the right," Bratches said.

"A number of brands, particularly in this day and age, are trying to simplify their marks to enter the digital space.  "Look at Starbucks, or Coca Cola which has taken the condensation off their logo to enter digital.  "We felt we had to go a little bit further and really retool to position us on a going forward basis."

Therefore the new design, does exactly what is needed and necessary for the medium it is being used.

Simple and bold typography design, that has a flexibility and versatility to be used and recognized on any medium or application. The large elongated or italicized “F” shape shows the profile of two sleek cars about to cross a finish line. The thin lines represent the track marks of a Fromula 1 racetrack. The cool element that may or may not have been a happy accident, is that if you flip the entire mark 90 degrees, it becomes a giant number 1. I doubt no one saw that, but it’s a fun hidden usage.

More importantly, what we must not dismiss is the fact that in today’s design world, a logo alone, cannot do the heavy lifting by itself. The applications, usage, and other design assets, have to work in unison around the entire brand purpose. Brand agencies, Ad agencies and clients are collaborating to create better brands that can be showcased on future social media as well as retail experiences. The consumer needs to feel that a brand was developed with their needs in mind, rather than the subjective taste of designers and creative critics. The consumers are looking for simplicity and brand recognition that stands out and has functional adaptations, not just pretty shapes or over designed typography that does not relate to the actual brand. Todays brands all have a shelf life that is much shorter than previous brands, so do their logos, as iconic or beautiful as they may have been.

We will really see the impact of the new Formula 1 design as time goes by and as more applications are developed and shared. But one thing is for sure, the new identity works and works well, the Formula 1 sports brand is in great hands and will thrive and drive well beyond our opinions on whether we like the new logo or not.