It’s hard to find an adult in the world who hasn’t heard of Bosch. While looking at the five red Latin letters that form the company’s logo, there are quite definite associations: reliability, quality, guarantees. Now, as almost a century and a half ago, when Robert August Bosch founded his company, the German industrial giant continues to work.
What is a curious fact about Bosch?
Bosch is a world leader in automotive technology, power tools, micro electromechanical systems, heat pumps, as well as one of the largest independent suppliers of gearboxes for wind turbines. Bosch spends more than 100 million euros annually on environmental protection.
Meaning and History
The Bosch company historian, Dietrich Kuhlgatz, has saved for us a draft of Gottlieb Holod, the creator of the very first Bosch logo. Honold began working with the head and founder of the company, Robert Bosch, in 1901 as director of development. At that time, the company was rapidly expanding the scope of its activities and was in dire need of advertising and identity. Despite the fact that Honold worked on the tasks of developing and improving the ignition systems of internal combustion engines, it was he who became the author of the logo, which was used practically unchanged in the future.
At the end of 1918, after the conclusion of the Versailles Peace Treaty, the company lost the rights to all images of its trademarks due to the war. It was then that Gottlieb Honold created the logo that later became famous, which received the unofficial name “Anchor in the Circle” (Anker imKreis). The new trademark image turned out to be successful.
The author refused initials that could be unknown to the general public and at the same time wanted to keep the surname (it was also the name of the company). At the same time, with all the striving for minimalism, a circle appeared in the drawing. The image became “archetypal”.
According to the philosopher Carl Jung, the circle symbolizes the desire for order, it is “a remedy for a chaotic state of mind.” But the “dumbbell” on the logo was quite technical in nature, it can be called a “product symbol”. Actually, that was an image of the magneto itself. It was Bosch’s invention, which gave the start to the whole business.
In October 1929, the head of the company made a historic decision: from that moment it became possible to produce literally anything in the company’s workshops. Robert Bosch factories began to produce refrigerators and heaters, food processors and shaving machines, electric drills and punchers, turntables and radios. Advertisers of the early twentieth century left and even strengthened such “symbolic” elements as bolt heads (circles) and slots (straights) in their posters, schematizing and simplifying the image of technical elements (magneto) in the spirit of the current fashion.
1900 – 1907
1907 – 1913
1913 – 1925
1925 – 1981
1981 – 2002
2002 – 2018
2018 – now
Font and Color
As for the font used to write the name of the company BOSCH, today it looks modern and minimalistic, i.e. understandable in any country. But in the first half of the XXth century (at least in German advertising), the font was often, although not always, Gothic, but it had obvious references to the German origin of the company.
The change of the font (or rather, the rejection of “Gothic”) occurred after the Second World War, when the company found itself in almost the same situation as in 1918. At that time, the company many foreign branches and factories, lost markets for products. And for obvious reasons, Robert Bosch then wanted to get rid of identification with the Third Reich. However, BOSCH managed to revive again and become a world leader again. And the spelling of the company’s name has remained unchanged since then – in all countries of the world.
Red is the current color of the logo Bosch. Red symbolizes passion, strength, youth, energy and confidence. He attracts attention and delivers an urgent message.
