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An animation in which a white logo forms against a black background. Small horizontal lines expand and connect to create a winged crest.

Mother Design drives Cadillac’s brand forward with a new visual identity

The classic car brand is preparing for its upcoming electric vehicles.

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Date
12 November 2021

An old classic, tied to America’s swingin’ sixties, Cadillac is on a mission to modernise and move with the times. It recently announced a new range of electric cars heralded as what we hope will be a fossil fuel redundancy. The New York-based agency Mother Design was brought on board to help Cadillac achieve this vision.

The new logo was rolled out in 2021 alongside its newest electric car. The monochromatic logo is sleeker, steely and futuristic. But the gradual rollout of the full, new visual identity from Mother Design is still taking place and will include photography, a new colour palette, and new typography. The new typeface fromColophon Foundry – one which used to be a classy, hand rendered-style serif – has, for example, now evolved into the “Cadillac Gothic,” a bold sans serif typeface, again a nod to the company’s future-driven rebrand.

In the age of minimalism, Cadillac is only one of many brands to pursue a cleaner, simplistic visual identity. Volkswagen, Nissan and BMW have all opted for sleeker designs to fit the growing neatness of what we might envision our tech-driven futures to be. Mother Design’s new visual identity will be seen in all advertisements, owned social and digital channels, and on all vehicles.

GalleryMother Design: Cadillac rebrand (Copyright © Cadillac, 2021)

The Cadillac wordmark in white sans-serif typography, set against a plain black background.
A white graphic logo centred on a black background. The emblem consists of a shield shape filled with a series of horizontal and vertical bars.
A close-up of the front grille of a Cadillac, featuring a glowing, illuminated logo. The grille is composed of fine, diagonal light strips that shift in colour from blue to red.
A 3D render of Cadillac branded stationery on a black background. The white paper and envelopes feature the Cadillac logo and the words “Cadillac” and “BE ICONIC”.
The silver Cadillac logo and wordmark are fixed to a plain white wall. The metallic lettering reads “Cadillac” in a clean, sans-serif font.
A 3D render of a black Cadillac gift box and its lid. Inside the box, a black and white striped fabric is folded with a small black tag that reads “Cadillac”.
A stack of matte black business cards rests on a dark surface. A small, white linear logo is centred on the top card.
An animation in which the white text “Cadillac Gothic” is centred on a black background. The weight of the typeface subtly shifts from thin to bold.
A close-up of a smartphone screen displaying a black interface for Cadillac. The screen shows the Cadillac logo and the text “Welcome to the official” above the URL “cadillac.com/lyriq”.
An open magazine spread features the word “Cadillac” across the top in a clean, white sans-serif font. The left page shows a close-up of a car's interior detail, while the right page shows a car driving along a coast at dusk.

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Mother Design: Cadillac rebrand (Copyright © Cadillac, 2021)

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About the Author

Dalia Al-Dujaili

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Dalia is a freelance writer, producer and editor based in London. She’s currently the digital editor of Azeema, and the editor-in-chief of The Road to Nowhere Magazine. Previously, she was news writer at It’s Nice That, after graduating in English Literature from The University of Edinburgh.

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