GM Revs Up a New Logo

Back in January 2021, General Motors unveiled a new logo. Gone is the bold uppercase “GM” that have adorned their vehicles since eternity. What prompted this change? Their kick off campaign to introduce more electric vehicles.

To roll out the new focus of EVs, GM has softened the edges and the color palette. Their aim with the lowercase letters is to evoke “the clean skies of a zero-emissions future and the energy of the Ultium [battery] platform,” as GM puts it.

I’m personally not a huge fan of introducing gradients into my logos, as they can sometimes cause problems in replicating throughout various media, but GM has introduced three versions to combat this.

Something that may be lost on some (if not most) is that the underline is meant to draw focus on the negative space of the “m” as it loosely resembles an electric plug. I’m all in favor of using negative space for purposely like this, and while it is subtle, I believe it is done well enough to get the message across.

When I stand back and examine this logo, I am reminded of two other brands- Goodwill and Adobe (more specifically their Creative Cloud icons. Yes, it is a little…plain, but the GM logo has always been so.

I vote this an upgrade.