Mercury Logo

Mercury Logo PNG

The Mercury logo has a stylish and attractive design, just like the brand’s cars. The cars are provided with everything you need for convenience on the road—no wonder the emblem positions them as premium models.

Meaning and History

Edsel Ford himself came up with the name for the brand because it was his project. From 103 options, he chose the phrase Ford-Mercury to show the connection to the parent company. The in-house designers immediately developed a logo that combined the classic oval shape of the Ford badge with the word “MERCURY.” All letters have been converted to uppercase for attention.

But this symbol was not even used because Ford executives changed their minds and decided to make Mercury its own brand. So the car, which appeared in 1939, was named Mercury 8 and did not have a clear visual identification system. The model name was on the chrome grille instead of the emblem.

Later, the designers developed a logo depicting the Roman god Mercury, the patron saint of all travelers and merchants. This fictional character has been a symbol of the brand since 1939 – since Ford erected an eight-meter statue of the deity at a car show. Then the graceful profile of the Mercury was often found in advertising brochures, but it was not used for cars for a long time. He first decorated the radiator grilles in 1949. The developers stylized the drawing under the heraldic sign.

The emblem with the god Mercury gradually evolved: if his gaze was directed to the left, then over time, his head was turned to the right. It should be noted that this was not the only identity element. From 1960 to 1985, some models had a badge depicting a predatory cougar or panther. The Mercury Cougar line inspired it.

Then, on the Mercury Monarch’s hoods began to appear logos in the form of a large letter “M” in a ring frame. This happened in the 1970s. A simple symbol gave rise to a new emblem, which consisted of three arched lines within a black circle. She appeared in 1985 and gained worldwide fame. The Mercury brand is associated only with this corporate ornament, which did not leave the radiator grilles until 2011.

1938 – 1950s

The name of the automobile brand occupied the main place in the Mercury logo. It was set in a custom font with rounded glyphs. The only exception was “Y,” which retained the characteristic angularity of the lines. To achieve the smoothness of the first letter in the name, the designers made the upper ends of the “M” semicircular, curved, and streamlined. Both “R” and “U” received a vertical stripe that ran in the center and was divided into two unequal segments.

1950s – 1984

In the search for an individual identity, the Mercury car series has gone through several stages. This one is one of them. The logo was gradually moving from a text style to a graphic one, so the company was in an ongoing process of finding the most suitable emblem in which the external design harmoniously reflected the internal content of the elite car line.

1984 – 2003

The three parallel lines logo is based on the previous car badge with the letter “M.” The designers took a few details to preserve the original geometry. The early version contained a black circle with three curved bronze-colored stripes. It was analogous to a Speedline that transmitted the energy of movement. A thin chrome line ran along the edge. The light-colored ring enhanced the three-dimensional effect and successfully accentuated the badge on the grille.

2003 – 2011

The modern Mercury logo has the same structure as the previous one, but the palette is now completely different. The base is a white circle with a gray border. It shows the same gray stripes: three parallel arcs located approximately in the center. Their lower part looks like a wide diagonal. It bends smoothly and turns into a thin horizontal line. This emblem is supplemented with the word “MERCURY.” The upper case and strict sans serif type perfectly complements the chosen style.

There is a full-color version of the badge found on cars. It has a black circle and a silver frame, and stripes. The brand name is located in the upper half of the ring and is separated by two dots. Both logos remained in use until 2011 when Ford Motor Company decided to scale back production and liquidate the iconic Mercury brand.

Font and Colors

The three curved lines can be interpreted in different ways. According to the official version, they reflect the brand’s historical heritage, namely a fragment of its old logo with a stylized letter “M.” According to some experts, the parallel stripes represent the famous winged helmet of the ancient Roman god Mercury. The symbol has also been compared to a hockey stick, winding road, and waterfall. It is also a Speedline that embodies the dynamics of cars.

The latest Mercury logo is in a sans-serif typeface. It bears an obvious resemblance to the Karmina Sans SemiBold typeface, which TypeTogether developed.

The two-dimensional version of the emblem is painted gray – the color of a chemical called Mercurius (i.e., Mercury). And the cars used a black and silver badge.

Mercury color codes