Cadillac Logo

Cadillac Logo PNG

The world-famous Cadillac logo is synonymous with beauty and luxury. It has a rich history and many looks that testify to the innovation of a company looking to the future. This is an ancient heritage in a modern interpretation. And it is directly related to the automotive theme.

Meaning and History

There are many versions about the origin of the Cadillac car emblem:

• One version claims that the badge was developed before Christopher Columbus discovered America.
• According to another version, the luxury car brand’s logo was based on images of old Toulouse accounts and was associated with shares held by the King of France.

The Cadillac logo has come a long way from the bird crest to the black and white polygonal shield. It is an established symbol associated with American luxury cars. The combination of an ancient heraldic figure and a modern car grill is an original solution proposed by designers many years ago.

What is Cadillac?

It is one of the many brands of General Motors, a luxury car manufacturer. It was named after the Frenchman Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, who founded Detroit.

1902 – 1905

At the moment, there are several theories about the original origin of the logo. There is a legend among fans of the company’s cars that the logo in its original embodiment first appeared before the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus – it was the coat of arms of one of the oldest families of the counts of Toulouse. That is why the logo’s structure in shape and color resembles the coats of old France’s arms.

After extensive research, it became known that Antoine de la Cadillac was not officially associated with any noble family in France. The automobile company’s legendary founder likely invented much of his aristocratic past to advertise a then-little-known automobile company. The coat of arms that can be seen on the brand’s logo belongs to the famous French family, La Motte.

1905 – 1908

In the first years of its existence, the logo was minimalistic and completely repeated the lines and outlines of the supposedly French noble coat of arms. The basis of the logo is a coat of arms with swans and parallel lines. The crown at the top complemented the composition. There was a circle with a decorative frame around the coat of arms, emphasizing the aristocratic logo. At the bottom of the coat of arms was the inscription “La Mothe Cadillac,” which was placed at the bottom of the logo. Designers of the time drew inspiration from the coat of arms of the Detroit founder’s family. The Cadillac car trademark was registered in 1906.

1908 – 1914

Before World War I, while the automotive industry experienced its first boom, the Cadillac brand logo became more graphic and bold, emphasizing active development and presentability. The logo plate has become significantly thicker and is now located above the main emblem, with the same stylized crown on top. The slogan “World Standard” now replaces the original inscription and is located under the arms’ coat.

1914 – 1915

At the beginning of the First World War, the company logo underwent only minor changes. The brand’s design was already recognizable in much of the United States. Its corporate identity had yet to play such a key role in its operations due to the small number of competitors. The strokes and outlines of the coat of arms and the inscription’s font have changed a bit. Simultaneously, the emblem has become more round as the angular outlines of the first cars of the brand have changed.

1915 – 1920

In the second half of the First World War, the logo was significantly redesigned with leaves on the sides of the arms’ coat. This decision was made to mitigate the psychological effect of the war’s destructiveness, which was replaced by pacifist beliefs. Cadillac cars began to appear in every corner of the United States and the world. Their brand became recognizable from afar thanks to the stylish addition of the “iron horses” of one of the world’s best car manufacturers with a harmonious and brilliantly designed logo design.

1920 – 1925

With the advent of the 1920s, the lettering was completely removed from the Cadillac logo. A decorative tulip ring from the original emblem was added to the logo to emphasize the brightness and brand awareness. The graphic embodiment of the crown at the top was completely redesigned. The crown had seven pommels, and the ridge part of the logo remained practically intact, perhaps more detailed.

1925 – 1926

In the mid-1920s, a logo was used that was shaped like a nut. Inside the octagonal figure was a circle with a ring frame. The iconic Cadillac shield was placed in it, divided into four segments, and complemented by a high crown. The name of the car brand was also written there.

1926 – 1930

After the redesign, all the inscriptions were removed. The ring and the octagon also disappeared, and the heraldic shield was inside another shield, which was with a pointed base and protruding upper corners. The most important thing has been preserved – the crown and symbolic patterns. This logo was used until the late 1920s.

1930 – 1932

After another update, the Cadillac emblem has become clear and detailed. The designers achieved this by removing the base and leaving only the central elements: a shield with birds and stripes and a large crown at the top.

1932 – 1933

In 1932, the Cadillac logo took on an unusual look. It did not have a cult shield, but widely spread bird wings with traced feathers were used. They were attached to abstract geometric figures over which a crown was depicted. The basis was a black circle with a frame of a double ring.

1933 – 1939

With the advent and proliferation of American aviation, Cadillac also decided to use a universal optimistic motive for its corporate identity. Wings have been added to the logo.

1939 – 1942

A new version of the Cadillac logo was introduced in 1939, at the very dawn of World War II. Now the logo has become more industrialized – the wings have taken on a rigid shape in the form of a triangle with a crown at the top. Inside the triangle was the swan coat of arms and the corporate colors of the original company crest. The chrome reflections of the logo accentuated the crisp metallic lines, giving the impression of advertising the vehicles themselves’ modern interior.

1942 – 1947

In 1942, the company’s new corporate identity presentation took place, where a new emblem was presented. The new external incarnation of the automobile giant received an updated shape – now the wings were directed upwards. A stylized crown was placed in the center of the composition. The classic coat of arms was complemented by the image of a shield below, focusing the consumers’ attention on the comfort and safety of the company’s vehicles.

1947 – 1949

The coat of arms with a stylized crown was at the top. Its lower part went into two symmetrical triangles, folded together in the form of an arrowhead. The logo also featured a black and white figure similar to the letter “V.”

1949 – 1953

The Cadillac automobile company’s post-war logo is a shape familiar to modern owners of the company’s cars. Symmetrical V-shaped symbol and the same signature accessory – the crown. The logo colors have not changed, but the car owners necessarily polished the checkmark to give their iron horses technological brilliance and visual prestige.

1953 – 1956

The designers have removed the two gold stripes that look like the letter “V.” As a result, only a multi-colored shield with shiny “rhinestones” remained, divided into two parts: light (left) and dark (right). The top, as before, was decorated with triangular teeth of the crown with circles strung on them.

1956 – 1960

The middle of the last century is the time of the formation of many automotive industry giants. In conditions of fierce competition with Japanese and European manufacturers, it was decided to emphasize the American component of the brand and return the classic outlines, complementing them with new details – for example, the symbol in the form of the letter V has already become recognizable to millions of consumers. The coat of arms was lengthened in width, and the classic crown became the graphic accent of the original logo.

1960 – 1963

In the early 1960s, a version of the Cadillac logo without the traditional shield was used. It was a V-shaped design with an extension on which the designers depicted patterns from the shield: stripes and silhouettes of birds. Instead of the usual teeth of the crown, there were round elements with black dots at the top. The main part of the car emblem was silver with a gradient.

1963 – 1964

The most famous form of the Cadillac logo was created back in 1963 and has existed as the company’s main corporate identity for over 40 years. The classic company logo is a colorful classic coat of arms, framed by a silver wreath. The coat of arms was painted yellow, blue, and fuchsia with white and black details, giving the logo an extremely creative and modern look that stood out from many competitors.

1964 – 1965

In 1964-1965. the Cadillac logo has been simplified. It still contained a heraldic shield with different symbols and a stylized top of the crown, but the design was changed significantly by the designers. The developers have removed all colors, except for a few shades of gray and silver. As a result, the patterns on the emblem looked like embossing on metal.

1965 – 1971

The shield became colorful again, with its right side being darker than its left. To the right and below, it casts a thin dark gray shadow with blurry edges. In addition, the figure in the form of the letter “V” returned to the logo.

1971 – 1980

In 1971, the Cadillac emblem took on an unusual shape. It looked both like an upraised sword with a forked blade and like an abstract animal head with long horns. The shield with the crown was in the “hilt,” below. A metallic sheen characterized the logo.

1980 – 1985

The shield ended up in a wreath folded from two branches. This version used dark and dull colors. The birds were depicted indistinctly – they were lost against the background of other patterns.

1985 – 1995

In 1985, all silver elements acquired a bronze tint. The wreath now has gray outlines that visually separate each leaf. The image of the birds showed up clearly in the yellow rectangles.

1995 – 1999

In 1995, the style of the logo changed: it became two-dimensional and minimalistic. At the same time, all the elements – the crown, the shield, the birds, the multi-colored quadrangles, and the wreath – remained in their original places. The leaves in the wreath were depicted separately, with large indents. And at the bottom, in blue handwriting, was the word “Cadillac.”

1999 – 2009

At the turn of the century, the logo was significantly detailed and stylized to reflect the new technological discoveries trends. The designers introduced the classic outlines of the coat of arms and the shape of the beginning of the last century, complementing it with a metallic sheen of additional details – this gave the coat of arms a modern look and progressive outlines. The severity of the lines emphasized the elite segment of the car brand.

2009 – 2014

The designers made the Cadillac logo complex by adding more details. First of all, this affected the colored rectangles, inside which many thin stripes appeared. The palette was generally dominated by a silver-gray gradient with white reflections.

2014 – 2021

In 2014, the company decided to remove the decorative elements from its logo completely. Now the main accent of the company’s visual style was a modernized version of the coat of arms with elegant italics, emphasizing the brand’s presentability – Smooth and sophisticated lines of the lettering balance the strict form of the coat of arms.

The Cadillac logo is one of the most striking and memorable in the modern premium car market. The brand continues to use the colors chosen as the basis for its corporate identity at the beginning of the last century, making the coat of arms a classic trademark of the brand for over 100 years. The ridgelines’ varying thickness is reminiscent of a mosaic and testifies to the brand’s heritage and the history of becoming one of the most recognizable automotive companies.

2021 – today

Automaker Cadillac has changed its logo in 2021 to fit the new era as it launched Lyriq-branded electric SUVs. This is how a monochrome icon appeared, which only at first glance seems simple: it has an attractive backlight on cars. The designers kept the iconic shield but removed all symbolic elements from it, leaving only polygons. Now the emblem is completely black and white. The inscription also began to look different because the elegant handwritten font was replaced by a strict grotesque.

Font and Colors

The Cadillac company emblem is a combination of the classic outlines of French coats of arms, which dates back to the Middle Ages. The main colors are blue, yellow, and fuchsia, one of the car manufacturer’s signature touches. The specific burgundy color symbolizes the presentability of the brand’s products. In the first editions of the coat of arms, Yellow meant that the cars belonged to the premium class. Blue, like most other logos, expresses the seriousness of a company.

Initially, the font of the World Standard inscription was handwritten, like many of the brand books. With time, the inscription’s handwritten version has been preserved; only some of the letters’ outlines have changed. The inscription “Cadillac,” which appeared in the latest editions, is made in the company’s corporate font, repeating the handwriting of the founder of the company.

The Cadillac logo now uses a geometric sans-serif font. Thin black capital letters perfectly balance the shield depicted next to it.

Cadillac color codes