Timeless provenance with Bentley’s brand identity

There’s a story behind the Bentley winged ‘B’ brand motif that is known to only a few, and it was one we were eager to articulate when we won the creative commission to evolve this iconic luxury brand identity.

Revered around the world, we approached this rebrand like a sympathetic restoration of a listed building – purposefully renewing their visual identity to its former glory, whilst imbuing it with a contemporary relevance. Bentley collectors had told us about the legend of the original logo's feathers - the very first and original badges had an uneven amount on each wing. This was a piece of provenance we felt a sense of duty to design back into our re-imagined brand asset, giving the new automotive brand identity a knowing spirit. Delving into the brand’s illustrious design archive, we retraced this iconic silhouette of the brand’s past – re-engineering it with sharper lines and depth of field, to emphasise its status.

The brand's word mark and typography was also re-invigorated at the same time. Again taking inspiration from the Bentley archive, we designed these to recapture the period of the marque’s early motoring triumphs of the 1920s and early 1930s. We then took this reawakened brand identity design and displayed it in all its glory, at a special event in Buckingham Palace Gardens to celebrate Royal Warrant holders. Crafted with timeless provenance the Bentley brand marque remains as we designed to this very day.

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