No One Remembers What Car Logos Look Like

Car nerds like us will tell the non-initiated that we know everything about every car ever made. We’re walking, talking Encyclopedia Britannica’s of the automotive world. But what happens when you pose the challenge to draw, from memory, an automaker’s logo? Think you could do it? Don’t bet on it.

The website Van Monster wanted to test everyone’s memories in relation to automaker logos and asked 100 people in the U.K., 54 women and 46 men, to draw 10 from memory. “Whether you are a driver or a pedestrian, doing the school run or drooling over your dream motor,” states the website, adding, “it is fair to say that most of the population are surrounded by cars and adverts for cars most days of their lives. Manufacturers spend a lot of time and money creating brand identities that are intended to be easily recognized and remembered, but does all the exposure to car logos mean that the UK can remember what they look like?”

According to Van Monster, the site “analyzed over 1,000 drawings” which “took over 60 hours to draw” and went through each submission “noting everything from the colors used, to the shapes remembered, the styling of the font and the impact of the smaller details.” The team then plotted each drawing on a table from Most to Least Accurate. The results, well, they speak for themselves but really belie that you all have terrible memories and truly atrocious drawing skills—ours aren’t much better.

We pulled a few of our favorites from the site, including everyone’s drawings of Ferrari, Toyota, and Alfa Romeo. The crowd-sourced renderings will give you a much-needed laugh as the results are positively hysterical. 

As to what the survey means for automakers in general, Van Monster reached out to the Scottish creative agency Whitespace’s Creative Director Charlie Bell, who said, “We are witnessing a massive shift in the automotive industry. We are seeing traditional car brands refining their look to be more in line with the current trend of flat vector graphics. Gone are the shiny chrome effects in logos for many brands. Volkswagen, Toyota, Lotus, Hyundai, Audi, and Mini are just a handful of automotive brands opting for a more minimal approach. And it is telling that the logos people could recall best where the simplest yet most striking.”

But what about Mini, Chevrolet, Subaru, Buick, Cadillac, Acura, Lamborghini, McLaren, and Porsche? Since those weren’t on the list, we’d love to see if any of you, so-called enthusiasts, can fare better than those 100 people Van Monster polled. Let’s see what you got. 

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