Logos keep the secrets that symbolize the thoughts of those who created them: not even our dear and beloved Mercedes escapes this logic.
Today, the image of a three-pointed Star inside a circle is immediately associated with the well-known house of Stuttgart, but how did we come to conceive such a symbol, which from the first glance recalls perfection?
First of all, it's necessary to contextualize the historical period in which it comes to life, since there're very strong references to the studies of esotericism and psychology, which at the end of the 19th century were very widespread especially in Central European culture.
Gottlieb Daimler's idea blows out 150 candles just this year.
In 1872 he sent a postcard to his wife, with the image of a golden three-pointed star in the center, to identify the position of his home on the map of Germany. For Gottlieb, that star was a kind of protection towards the "nest" of his family and as if by magic, this feeling managed to make it even in his dream. In fact, protection and safety are integral and inseparable parts of the Mercedes DNA, ALWAYS!
Furthermore, the brilliant pioneer thought that in the not too distant future, that Star would shine like a good luck charm, on the area where the technological / industrial pole that he so desired and in which he firmly believed would be built.
Later, the image we all know would acquire a further semantic sense:
the 3 spokes represented perfection! There are many and different religions, cultures in which 3 is considered the perfect number, while assuming different meanings.
For Daimler, its engines had to conquer the 3 elements. Air, land and water, or the main communication routes. Everything was linked by fire as the fourth element, which inseparably BLENDS the metal, thus giving life to the iconic Star!
THE LOGO: NAME AND EVOLUTION
Mercedes was the name of the daughter of Emil Jellinek, an Austrian diplomat with a passion for engines who opened a dealership in France in 1898 to exclusively sell Daimler cars.
In 1901, a special car was built, the 35 PS which Jellinek himself led to victory at the car tournament in Nice.
The joy for the result struck Emil, who decided that this splendid and winning car should have the same name as his first child: Mercedes, whose meaning is "grace".
In 1902 the Mercedes trademark was legally registered: the symbol was the result of the merger between the laurel wreath of Benz and the three-pointed star of DMG (Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft).
The laurel wreath, a symbol of victory, was then stylized to become a simple circle.
From 1933 until the end of the Second World War, the chromatic base of the logo was black and later the brand opted for the logo we all know now: the star inscribed in a silver circle, to recall the fearsome Silver Arrows.
The chromatic identity, consisting of the neutrality of metallic gray, was suitable to represent a technologically advanced world and at the same time defined a sober and elegant style. In short, albeit of an abstract type, we can without a doubt affirm that the Mercedes-Benz logo remains extremely rigorous in its formal composition, but manages to communicate in the collective imagination a universe of prestige and quality.
LUCA PATRONE
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