buick Logo - History, Design, and Meaning

The Buick brand, named after its founder David Dunbar Buick, has a rich and varied visual identity history. The company's logo has been redesigned over a dozen times, achieving its well-known style in the 1950s.

Throughout its history, the brand has used wordmarks, shields, and even a hawk as part of its emblem, consistently representing a strong and powerful company.

The first known Buick logo, designed in 1904, featured a man walking on a globe. This sepia-toned logo lasted only a year but remains one of the most symbolic car logos in history.

In 1905, Buick introduced a new design featuring a circle with a thick frame, containing the phrase 'The Car of Quality' and the brand's name in the center. The wordmark was crafted in a custom hand-drawn typeface with a curved tail on the letter 'B' and vignettes above and below the nameplate.

In 1911, the Buick logo became more contemporary and graphical, consisting of a wordmark placed within an enlarged first 'B'. This stylish design was short-lived.

In 1913, Buick created a new wordmark-based logo with diagonal lettering on a two-colored square. The white cursive 'Buick' was balanced by the sharp angles of the background, which was blue. This bright logo perfectly represented its era.

A new wordmark was introduced in 1930, featuring red color and a more modern typeface. The 'B' became larger, with more space between the letters. The red wordmark was outlined in silver.

The first Buick crest, created in 1937, was based on the ancient coat of arms of the founder's family. It featured an orange-terracotta color with a thick diagonal line in a monochrome checkered pattern, a gold deer at the top, and a golden cross at the bottom.

In 1939, the crest was modified to be narrower with an arched upper part. The background changed to a calm red, giving the logo a more powerful and bright appearance.

In 1942, Buick placed its crest on a black circle with golden ornaments. The crest itself adopted a more complex and wide shape, with monochrome checkers replaced by white and blue rhombus patterns.

In 1947, Buick removed the round frame and ornaments, retaining a wide crest as the sole element of its visual identity, returning to the orange palette.

The golden tones were replaced with silver, the shield received a thick frame, and the background returned to red, creating a fresh and striking color combination.

The prototype of today's Buick emblem was designed in 1959, replacing the crest with three narrow shields enclosed in a circle. Each shield was colored blue, white, and red to represent the three car models: Electra, Invicta, and LeSabre.

In the 1970s, Buick experimented with its visual identity, incorporating a hawk symbol. The Buick Skyhawk model was introduced during this time.

The hawk became more detailed, and a wordmark was added to the logo, executed in white to contrast with the red background. The 'Happy Hawk' remained with the brand for four years.

In 1980, the hawk was replaced by the tri-shield emblem. The 1959 version was refined with a blue background, and a black capitalized wordmark was placed beneath the emblem.

The deer and cross were removed from the crests, and the diagonal line became solid silver, resulting in a modern and sleek logo.

The 2002 Buick logo redesign simplified the iconic emblem, retaining only the silver color. It featured a modest three-dimensional badge with three shield silhouettes in a thick circle frame. The wordmark adopted a modern sans-serif typeface with clear bold lines.

The Buick logo is timeless and elegant, encapsulating the brand's milestones and celebrating the company's progress.

The Buick logo is timeless and elegant, keeping all the milestones of the brand and celebrating the progress of the company.