Post-war growth and corporate modernism
In the years following World War II Motorola had created its first television and had begun to expand production internationally. This post-war era marked an industrial surge across America and a rise in international trade. With this in mind, companies began to recognise a need for logos and corporate identities that would work well in a broad range of international markets.
Design, during this period, had also shifted, moving from a purely decorative gesture and towards a tool for supporting marketing and sales. Designers, emerging from formal education in the post-war period began to introduce a new era of corporate modernism. The new principles of logo design favoured sentiment and allusion, expressing the essence of a product or service and conveying notions such as trustworthiness.
Motorola before 1955
Previous iterations of the Motorola visual identity had employed a variety of typefaces for the name, from scripts to slab-serifs, but had no clearly defined design policy. However, on its radios prior to 1955, Motorola had employed a simple M and waveform mark, an often overlooked detail.
Motorola’s first product was a car radio and its two-part name reflected this. By combining the elements ‘motor’ (car) and ‘ola’ (Victrola, a gramophone) the suggestion was ‘sound in motion’. This could be understood as a foundational principle of this early logo design.
In the 1950s, as Motorola embarked on a programme of modernisation, it asked Morton Goldsholl Associates to redesign its logo. The Chicago-based studio, founded in 1955 by wife and husband Millie and Mort Goldsholl, was known for being progressive and forward-thinking. This was reflected in the non-hierarchical structure of the company.
This is one of twelve stories in our collection of the best tech and electronics logos, from Motorola in 1955 to Kenwood in 1982.
Key Takeaways
Sound in motion
Motorola’s name combined motor and Victrola, suggesting sound in motion, the idea its 1955 logo would go on to express.
Thomas Miller’s M
Thomas Miller, hired by Morton Goldsholl Associates after other studios refused to employ a black designer, created the Motorola M.
Two waveforms
Known as the batwing, the M combines sine and triangle waves, and stayed with Motorola for over 70 years.
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Continue reading to discover how Thomas Miller designed the Motorola batwing and how it has been used since 1955 →
