Bauhaus – What do Burger King, Adidas, BMW and AC/DC have in common? Their iconic logos. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the famed Bauhaus architecture movement, creative platform 99designs asked creatives from around the globe to reinterpret big brands logos with the bold and minimal imprint of the iconic style.
“This project really demonstrates the long-lasting, global impact that Bauhaus has had on artists all over the world.” Says Patrick Llewellyn, CEO of 99designs. “The work featured has been created by designers in more than 10 countries from Argentina, Guatemala and the US, to Russia, Latvia and the UK.”
As early evangelists for minimalism, Bauhaus artists and designers ascribed to a Less is More aesthetic, adopting a go-to palette of primary colours. Blue, red and yellow building block compose Lego’s new Bauhaus-style logo. Adidas’ monochromatic letters were placed closer together in turquoise, red and cream hues while the three sharp lines have been rounded.
Bauhaus masters tore up the rule book when it came to typography—they were among the first to set type vertically and diagonally—and following hot on the heels of cubism, incorporated an unbridled enthusiasm for geometry in their work. From here, Burger King and Android’s logos expand with colorful diagonals lines while a bolder and more rounded font took over Netflix’ iconic lettering.
Original Bauhaus-style logos feature imagery reduced down to its bare-bone essentials. Starbucks’ green lady, Haribo’s bear and the Ferrari’s rampant horse have been translated in colorful compositions of geometric shapes.
Apple’s design features a spherical, shaded apple with a concave ‘bite’. 99designs’ logo has been ‘Bauhaused’ too. Other entries reinterpreted also the logo of Google, BBC, What’sApp, AC/DC, WWF and Domino’s Pizza.
“When the Bauhaus movement began, it was at a time when the world was on the brink of massive technological change. While many artists were worried that mainstream adoption of electricity and mass production would be the end of art as we knew it, the Bauhaus group were instead inspired by the change and progress they saw happening around them.” Comments Patrick Llewellyn.
“It’s easy to draw parallels with people’s anxiety around things like automation and artificial intelligence today, but it’s inspiring to see how technology can bring together a global community of creative talent and demonstrate how the timeless principles of Bauhaus design still resonate today.”
Founded in 2008, 99designs is the global creative platform that makes it easy for designers and clients to work together to create designs they love. Bringing opportunities to designers around the world, 99designs has paid out $250 million USD to its creative community to date.
All images of the Bauhaus makeover project: courtesy of 99designs.
