Motorama - Logo Redesign and Branding

Motorama - Montluçon

Logotype redesign & branding

Motorama is a famous motorbikes shop in Montluçon, Auvergne, France.
Founded in 1975 by Daniel Golde it's recognized by Auto-Moto, the leading magazine, as THE reference for the region.

The logotype is iconic for many, as it was also created in 1975 and is a staple in the visual landscape.
That said, being almost 50 years old, Daniel Golde decided it was time for a small lifting.

I was tasked with gently bathing the beloved logo in the fountain of youth while preserving its DNA.

Consistency and precision

Created in 1975, the logotype was designed the old-fashioned way, with ruler and compass. Achieving the same precision we now have with computers was a challenge. Also, the design was not thought with digital display in mind.
It was also a more daring time in terms of lettering fanciness, it was just after the psychedelic era mind you, and sometimes the unbridled creativity made the overall legibility suffer a bit.

Here are the first obvious adjustments:

• Each letter is now designed inside the same square grid. This monospaced standardized approach also fits very well with the mechanical theme of the brand, like a technical drawing.
• The Os and the As are now optically adjusted and slightly overshot resulting in a more balanced overall volume.
• The Ms have a more pronounced internal slope so that they are more easily identifiable.
• The leg of the R has been made upright instead of angled, in a style more coherent with the rest of the letters.
• All the hard corners have been rounded to the same radius resulting in a more polished look, just like well machined mechanical parts. The rounding also helps legibility at small sizes, accentuating the different letterparts.
• Finally, the kerning has been rectified and tightened for a more consistent and harmonious spacing.

Overlap

The redesign makes the logo suitable for being displayed at various sizes.
The larger kerning and spacing of the stencils allows it to remain crisp and legible even at small resolutions.