Tesla Logo: History and Meaning
Ever heard of Nikola Tesla? That’s the inspiration behind Elon Musk’s Tesla brand coming into existence. The experimental-physicist findings on alternating current became the backbone of the electronic automotive card brand we know today.
But what’s behind the curtain, behind the logo design? Let’s dive into its history and see where it leads us. We’ll be learning how they created their design and how to help boost the brand into its status today. Who knows, maybe the visual you create with our logo maker skyrockets you into the same fame as well.
Brief History of The Automotive Tesla
The sports car company dates back to 2003, when a group of engineers wanted to prove a point: electric cars are faster than automobiles that run on gasoline. So, Tesla Motors came to life.
Before Tesla was Elon Musk’s project, it was Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning who envisioned creating electric cars far better than the failed EV1. By 2004, Musk joined the board of directors and steered the company in the direction of producing premium electric cars that were marketed to the wealthy at first.
Then after that success, Tesla would produce cars for the general public as soon as possible. The first step toward Elon’s vision was the unveiling of the Roadster in 2008. From then on, they started to offer more products catering to the general market.
From the world’s first premium electric sedan (Model S) to clean energy storage like solar panels, Tesla has for your car and clean energy needs. Then add speed to that type of marketing and, voila! A successful famous logo is at the grasp of their palm.
Tesla Logo Meaning
Now let’s get into their car logo. Upon extensive research, their logo has only two versions since their brand is pretty new. Find out what they are below and learn from their technique. Their logo is recognizable a mile away, on billboards, business cards, and even on their cars themselves.
If you noticed, the Tesla logo is fairly recent since it was only established in the 21st century. Compared to companies established in the 18th to 20th century, the car brand’s graphic is young compared to Starbucks or Coca-Cola’s logos.
Shield
Their first version of the logo is an emblem logo. It consists of the letter T as the centerpiece of the logo with its name on top of it. The significance of the letter T would be discussed in the next portion since it’s the highlight of the design.
The T and business name are in a black hue while having a white background. The word Tesla is in their trademark typography that has E and A detached from other lines and looks a bit like a radiator to us. There’s no confirmation for that, it just looks like that.
Overall, their logo design gives off a luxurious yet powerful feel to the graphic that pays homage to traditional design.
2003-Present
On the other hand, upon rebranding their logo they changed the color scheme and got rid of the shield. All that’s left is their signature T created by RO Studio, the creators of the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation logo.
The T itself has a hidden meaning. It’s actually the cross-section of the electric motor that Nikola Tesla invented. Its hue is Tesla Red and the business name is below the T instead of above it like in the emblem.
What makes this logo stand out and has few revisions is because of the strong association it has. They made sure that their branding scheme was targeted and screamed prestige and utmost luxury. Tesla paired their graphic design with their consistent show of values, quality of product, and customer service.
Design Your Memorable Logo Today
Now you know why Tesla’s logo works. The key takeaways are:
- Consistency is what makes logos strong.
- The more recent the logo, the lesser the revisions.
- The history of the company is scene depending on which logotype you choose.
And there you have it. We hope you learned from our blog today and don’t be shy, explore our website. We have a plethora of graphic design tools you can use for your marketing schemes like letterhead, email signature, social media post templates, and more!
Til next time, happy designing!
