When my parents bought a kia forte, my mom genuinely didn't know it said kia. She thought it said KN and kept wondering what KN meant

@@ethanol1586KoreaN lol

Reminds me of the Nine Inch Nails logo.

I agree

КИ It says "kee" in russian

Yes, supposedly knowledgeable and well paid executives are really just still stuck in seventh grade. Applies to other aspects as well

you actually see that in movie posters as well, almost all blockbusters since like...the 2010's-2015 all have the same colorscheme, the same lay out...

Thank you for the insight!

@@paulmoir4452 You are very welcome :)

@@TheChill001 Yup, it´s quite interesting how they are trying to look the same :D

Their current logo is a simplified version of the 70s logo.

I rented a Renault that had the 3D chrome logo on the steering wheel. On a bright day, unless you were driving towards the sun, you could guarantee that one of the angled parts of the logo would reflect the sun directly into your eyes. I ended up sticking masking tape over the logo to prevent blindness!!

Also, it (the logo) is already a scissor jack...

IIRC, Renault, Peugeot and Citroen all reverted to ancien logos, but still simplified.

@@IanSlothieRolfe peak french design XD

It is because somewhere down the line everything now is owned by China

Quite the contrary: logos from 100 years ago were more detailed, so this point doesn't stand.

Box logos

@@raceris7309 it actually does, most companies in the 1920's actually had simple logos, usually all also sporting the same font. Again, the context is the logos in news papers and adds, not on the cars themselves... in that regard we're back to the days where there was only one printing color: black

At least for VW that's the case, their current logo is almost identical to their original design

honestly modern ads dont seem to be even trying to sell anything it seems like they are trying to pretend to be different to avoid anti trust laws because everything is the same china trash now

New kia logo = the " Nine Inch Nails " logo pushed together.

@@bobroberts2371I can see that.

Actually, I think the new logo is a great improvement over just the standard, straight, boring logo. Think it makes a bold statement of creative thinking.

I personally love the new Kia logo

I think that the new logo looks a lot better. It doesn't represent the old shittiness and they definitely stepped up quality and features. There is more of a wtf is this, then ppl start to think about it, maybe go past a dealership and say hmmm there was a kia dealership, and notice. This stays in head. Kind of like Peugeot logo but this one is just hedious and most ppl would feel ashamed driving a car with logo looking some toy brand. Peugeot should have gone the Renault route and do a black and white version of their 80-90s logo

As a former graphic designer, IMO the new KIA logo could have been "saved" by a very simple thing: keep the new Star Trekkie font - the letters have good dynamic flow, BUT... simply decouple them with just a wee bit of space between them (technically called "horizontal character spacing"). Easy, modern/sexy, AND readable.

@@PK.Soniclight maybe also the I in red to link to the old logo while making it clear that it is a separate char

Banana cars

@@PK.Soniclight Yeah, agreed! No matter what the font, you start smooshing stuff together and it becomes difficult to read, especially when they're letters that easily flow into the other.

or make the A an A

A small gap between the letters would make a huge difference.

Why is kia disliked in the USA?

@@DacLMK because, with the exception of a few like the Santa Fé, Kia made junky cars all the way around until about 2017. The quality of their gas motors is still pretty bad if you ask me, but the interior and exterior design is a heck of a lot better than what they used to produce.

@@benzhere I see. In my country, N.Macedonia, I've never heard anyone who owns a Kia complaining. They're all satisfied with their Kia.

@@DacLMKAh ok, in America, there is a hard split between the people who own cars for 1-5 years and those who buy a new or used car and expect to use it for upwards of 20 years. Thus, Toyota is very popular because of this.

Well said, Hilary Fox.

Your clients are savages. Good on you for leaving.

@@orthodox-mp6hv just in time too, I hear the savages are also cannibals.

The REAL REASON behind this: ESG scores. Look it up and learn what ESG scores are. This is a part of communism, enforcing uglyness and uniformity. You are proof of what I am trying to tell you. They want exactly this to happen, the whole reason why they are doing this is to depress people by surrounding them with it and eliminating all beauty.

Boi got depressed for his job becoming easier 😂

Well, as time goes on, the more these car companies become tech companies, with all these stupid screens and electricity

A lot of people don't realize that Electric cars are not only useless but also impractical as well.

​@@CJColvin.And what do you suggest instead? Hydrogen?

@rbgerald2469 I think Hybrid and Hydrogen should be great options as well as alternative fuels.

@@CJColvin ..Hydrogen? With all due respect, who's Kool-aid have you been drinking? At least electric infrastructure already exists and only needs upgrading. Do you have any idea how complex and energy intensive making hydrogen is? How difficult it is to store? You do realize that the hydrogen storage tanks also require complex manufacturing and exotic materials, don't you? Hydrogen is worse in every way, it still requires massive amounts of electricity to produce while also depending on a more centralized infrastructure to make and distribute the hydrogen.

Same goes to Dacia (proving you) but for that brand the new logo and look is waaaaay better than old one. Actually anything could be better than the old one. Here we called that old logo "The Beer Opener". My big sadnesses were the Audi and the Citroën not to mention the Peugeot. The latter is a complete goodbye to the old traditions of the brand. As a former Peugeot owner I definitely loved the "boxing lion" and I cannot relate to this new logo. That is cool lookin' (especially if I compare to new VW or Pontiac or Caddy logos) but a completely different, "floating" brand, with no traditions to connect. For the KIA logo, I don't know... I definitely like it. The old one was just a typography, not a great logo at all. The new one reflects to the new design style of the brand (that I like a lot with all those diagonal lines and almost, but not completely surfaces). And this trend goes even further. For operating system UIs, I am sure they sacrified the usability for being uniform to others. Why? I still use Windows 7 on some of my computers because I can see there which window I use, what is the program I use, where the cursor is, etc. For two computers I use Windows 11 and I always feel lost with those very ugly, flat, dull and merging windows that don't give any visual clue but the most subtle-and make it extremely difficult to tell where I am currently. I really and actively hate all Windows after the 7, though a very tiny improvement is visible on 11, but that is still a piece of er... sheet. "Flat, dark and boring" is even more descriptive for UXs than car logos (and industries). And then... All you might have seen an add that urges you to change your original handwritten signature logo to their uniquely uniform and indistinguishable script logos. As if they say "STOP being unique, stop being you, be invisible among the others to avoid any customer to turn up!" Thanks guys, and sorry for this rant and wall of text. :)

Most of the time they are flatter only on the website or in ads. Audi logo is still 4 silver rings on the front of the car, they just dropped the fake metal and shadow in places that don't have it naturally

One explanation corporations often give when asked about "flattening their logo" is "brand identity across different media", as apparently, those logos look better on printed documents and business cards. Companies are ruining their logos... to make them easier to print -.-

@@B2BWide Always interesting to hear someone's POV.

It’s quite sad what’s happened to cars in the past 10 years or so (really since the 1990’s), everything has become just one giant blob with no character or personality. It’s like cars went from lean and fit to bloated and overweight in the 90’s to the present.

Because car makers are more interested in protecting the people that get hit by these things, instead. Though I have to wonder why damn near everything has the "1,000 shades of dreary gray" interiors. It's so depressing.

Personally, I am younger, and I prefer the design of the early-mid 2000s. I don't like design nowadays. Every car looks the same.

Indeed they do, and the majority of them are crossovers. They should have kept actual station wagons and cars. Ford killed off their entire car line, except for the Mustang.

@@alexflosho as someone who’s 24, the cutoff point for cars is the 1980’s, anything from the 90’s and newer I particularly don’t care for. If k want to push it, I’d say 2004 and even then that’s a bit too recent in my book. Absolutely can’t stand streamlined aerodynamic cars made after the 90’s, very plain and vanilla and overall just makes me want to fall asleep.

I liked the VW advert with laughing horses.

Most of the time if they "flatten" the logo its flat in print and on screen, but on physical cars they are still the same. Flatter logos are more versatile and look more pleasant as an element, not main point of the thing you are looking at

You can mostly thank (or blame) one man for it - Jony Ive, he started it with iOS7

Yep. I still remember when the task bar in Windows XP had lighting and shadow. That design language remained until Windows 7. Then Windows 8 came out with it's flat UI and it remained the same ever since.

-85 logo is really nice and different to others

Interestingly, although Citroen have now gone back to their 1920's logo (double-chevrons within an oval), derived from the double-helical gears they used to make, that old logo has since been used by the Golden Dragon Bus company, from China. I'd be surprised if their hasn't been a law suit and big payout in either direction for this.

I liked the pointed chevron badge but then it changed to a horrid double boomerang. I thought that was very apt as their cars were soon heading back to the garage for repairs.

@@grolfe3210 I agree, the red and white pointed chevrons will always be the one I connect to. Citroën have not sold cars here in Canada since 1975, so that moment is rather frozen in time for us.

It's also the same thing for peugeot and renault, they also went for a modified version of an older logo

Daewoo is building Buicks for GM?

And the Escalade is a fancified Chevy Tahoe! 😂😂

the vast majority of audis use completely different platforms as VWs so I'm not sure where you're coming from

Yes, in the UK in the 60s and beyond Ford cars did not have the blue oval badge on at all, just a stretched out FORD in chrome.

Because at the end of the day, the masses are asses. Society is becoming so bland and easily influenced, that these companies can put a giant turd on their label, and most could care less. As long as it meats their minimal expectations, the ever more stupid consumer will patronize without hesitation. In fact, attach a celebrity to the turd logo, and it will be the hottest selling brand in history, regardless of quality or relevance.

I like Nissan's change. I thought Kia's old logo was boring but they went too far with the new one

Simple and flat logos are more adaptable. They can be printed on any surface materials, textures, sizes, regardless of printing method. From the logo on the glass/plastic back of a phone, a big logo on the cover of an aluminum laptop, to the logo on a small earbud box. For digital products like the Netflix logo on 40 inch TV, to any apps on a tiny Apple Watch home screens. So it does make sense for a tech company like Apple and Google to adopt the trend. But I don't know much about cars tho.

@@giraffestreet It's not necessarily about having more flat or simple logos I don't mind that it's just that for some reason every single company makes their logo literally as simple as possible especially stuff like the firefox logo or the pringles logo are just things that don't need to be as flat and simple as they are now. They can be simplified that's fine but not as far as they did do it.

I like (scratch that, LOVE) flat logos, and there is a contingent of people who actually like flat logos. They are just not as vocal or prominent as the negative side though. And I get why. Some say it ruins character, meanwhile I believe logos are a bit of a signature. They symbolize. Period. There were phases where those signatures were a bit complicated, sure, but if you look at it this way, you’d understand why it’s the essentials that count. 3D logos have a bit of gaudiness to them (but can be great when pulled off well, cough cough, Porsche, cough cough), but what the modern brand needs from them now is the essential signature. To reach an understanding with the customer. That’s what these new logos signify.

However I always thought the Skoda logo was a chicken head before someone informed me it was an arrow.

Or a QR code

Barcodes in licence plates like in Back to the Future II.

* "The customer is always right in matters of taste". Also you're conspiracing too much. It's just rebranding so the logo can be applied to more mediums and surfaces in a variety of ways, not limited to print.

Yup. It's easier for me to hide the fact that I drive a Kia now.

Kia today be more Kia Soul-less.

If it was a boy...

@@Direct-cars But it wasn’t.

@@richsackett3423 if it was...

@@Direct-cars It’s your fantasy. Don’t ask me.

boomer spotted, or an artist angry that we dont have to pay as much

I'm sure artists are happy when they have to put any of the flat modern logos anywhere. Can you imagine having to print a gradient, embossed, shiny 2002+ logo on a t-shirt or a bag ?

Everytime I see something still using that 3D look from the early 2000s It makes me want to vomit. I'm super happy they went away.

This is not a problem actually Colorful logos can have monochrome versions and still be recognizable

I kinda like it. It looks modern but is still recognizable and not super minimalist compared to the others imo. Also still has color in most of the pics I’ve seen

Škoda has already changed that branding as well - now it's a flat, very much simplified version of the flying arrow, but seems to retain the green in the logo... not that it matters, as the company seems to be moving to using the word Škoda on it's own as the logo of their brand

@@chlebnick true that! Ditching the logo is so sad.

Yes! I completely agree with all your points, and it's crazy I had to scroll down so far to find this comment. I am definitely not a fan of excessive minimalism in many areas of design, but I love the retro vibe of most of the new logos.

Car design over the past 20 or so years has been a race to see who can make ugliest cars, why not stick fugly logos on them too.

The soul is ripped out of modern cars, they look like home apliances . Same color, shape etc.etc.

Yes that was the goal of the new logo. Also because they will bring some retro ev cars in the comming years.

@@jgn593 Ya know? I'm already into the Renault EV's. Bringing retro styled EV's is only making me a customer.

I hate flat black wheels. It reminds me of when a car would lose a hubcap back in the day and all you could see was that ugly rusty black steel rim.

@scroungaworkshop - Here we re looking at the proverbial finger...

You had to pay extra to get anything other than a white Tesla. I drive a 16 year old Honda Fit. It is a bright coppery colour. Lately I've had two random strangers compliment the colour. I have less and less difficulty finding my car in a crowded parking lot. So, yes..boring appears to be solving some kind of problem people are having. I guess less inventory for paint shops? 😁

Buick actually did a good redesign, they even kept their color

You're asking too much from a general audience. People never consider the whole design system and branding, they only look at the logo, because it's the only thing they know how to call by name.

Kia did it right

​@@rexthewolf3149kn you mean

Graphic designers are amongst the most uncouth individuals out there. Literal tasteless zombies.

Its not the designers fault. I am a graphic designer and i hate this trend. Most of the time, such logo requests are coming from the C-level, and are not made by a marketing or a designer team.

Have you ever noticed that car model names, that are real words with some meaning behind are also dying out.

@@TheNightrider88 yes, probably bc a lot of manufacturers build cars for the world market. A car with a name with one meaning may be fine here but deemed offensive in another country

@@mat13174 Well, now we got made-up words with no meaning which are meant to sound interesting but don't, and supposed to be inoffensive, but they offend by their blandness)

Looks like the Cyrrilic letters КИ. Those letters Spell KI.

How often did you feel the need to spot a car logo from a distance?

Nowadays? Car designs are more exciting now than in the bland 2000s, and that's the era where he's pulling all the 'good' examples from.

It looks like the old Proton badge.

Peugeot is the only one here who looks more complex than their previous logo

"Letters & Numbers" model names aren't that bad, at least when they actually mean something. Like e.g Mercedes Benz SLK200 - Sportlich Leicht Kurtz (Sporty Lightweight Short) 2.0l engine, or BMW names Z (roadsters), X (SUVs), M (Motorsport) then three digits: 1(model position/size 1 lowest 8 highest) 23 (displacement).

Depends aswell tho any modern Fiat that literally just spells out "FIAT" in gigantic letters over the entire front and back just looks absolutely terrible. Wish they'd kept their red ring that said Fiat honestly looked much better on cars. Atleast the Abarth logo still looks good. If done right just letters can look really really good but Fiat completely missed.

@@user-bt8xr5si9y agree, looks better with longer words

This needs to be a t-shirt or a poster of some sort. Haha. If that ever happens I’d have to get it signed. Lol.