BMW Logo: New vs. Old Design Evaluation

What the new-versus-old comparison actually refers to

The usual “new BMW logo versus old” question is a comparison of two treatments of the same roundel, not two unrelated emblems. Both versions are circular marks that combine a ring carrying the BMW lettering with an inner disc divided into four quadrants of alternating blue and white. The older version most people picture is a solid, three-dimensional badge with a metallic ring, modeled highlights, and an opaque inner field. The newer version is a flattened, more open drawing of that same structure: a thin outline ring, the same quadrant pattern, and a see-through area between the ring and the inner disc. The design concept under discussion is therefore a restyling of BMW’s long-running circular identity, mainly for digital and brand-system use, rather than a replacement of the company’s core symbol.

Scope you need before judging either mark

A fair evaluation starts by naming which asset is on the table. BMW’s identity appears in several related forms, and mixing them produces false “redesign” conclusions. The vehicle badge on a grille or wheel hub is a physical object with metal, paint, and depth. The corporate and digital mark is a graphic that has to sit on screens, apps, and layouts. A wordmark lockup (the roundel fixed next to or above “BMW” lettering) is a different composition from the roundel used alone. Monochrome, reversed, and full-color files are usage variants of a mark, not separate logos. This article treats the older dimensional roundel and the later flat, transparent roundel as the two primary graphic versions readers are comparing.

• Older roundel: opaque circular badge, metallic or chrome-looking ring, modeled inner disc, self-contained against any background.
• Newer identity mark: outline ring, open field through the badge, flatter color, designed to sit on the page or screen rather than to look like a cast object.
• Physical car badge: a manufactured part that can keep dimensional modeling even when graphic files have gone flat.
• Lockups and wordmarks: arrangements of the roundel with lettering; changing spacing or type is a layout decision, not a new emblem.
• Color versus line versions: full-color blue-and-white files versus black, white, or single-color outlines of the same geometry.

Observable differences in the drawing

The two marks read as the same brand because the underlying geometry is shared: a circle, four equal sectors, and the three letters in the upper ring. The newer drawing changes how that geometry is rendered. Specialist terms here are simple. A roundel is a circular badge. A treatment is the surface styling applied to a mark (metal, gloss, outline, transparency) without rewriting its structure. A knockout or open field is an area left empty so the background shows through. Those treatment choices are the real gap between old and new.

Feature	Older roundel	Newer identity mark
Overall construction	Closed, badge-like disc that sits as an object on the page	Open ring whose interior is interrupted by empty space
Outer ring	Filled metallic or silver band, often with bevel and highlight	Thin stroke in black, white, or a flat color; little or no metal fill
Space inside the ring	Fully occupied by the inner disc	A transparent band separates the lettering ring from the quadrants
Inner quadrants	Blue and white sectors with gloss, gradient, or inner shadow	The same four-sector pattern, drawn flatter and with less modeled light
Lettering	BMW set in the ring, frequently with dimensional modeling	BMW still in the ring, drawn as flat lettering on the outline
Depth cues	Gradients, chrome, drop shadow, inner highlight	Little or no shading; the mark reads as a line-and-plane graphic
Background behavior	Works as a self-contained medallion	Depends on the surface behind it; the open field is part of the design
Typical reading	Physical product badge translated into print and screen	Screen-first identity mark that can still be used in print as a flat graphic

What did not change

The newer mark does not introduce a new pictogram, a new letterform for the company name, or a different partition of the inner disc. The four-quadrant inner circle remains the visual core. The blue-and-white pairing remains the color identity most associated with the brand, a pairing long linked in BMW’s own storytelling to Bavarian colors; that historical association is a brand claim, not something you can prove from the drawing alone. Because the skeleton is the same, a viewer can still recognize the company from a small, cropped, or single-color version. The redesign is a change of material language: from a chrome medallion to a graphic outline.

What the change implies in practice

For anyone evaluating a redesign or preparing artwork, the newer mark behaves more like a frame than a plaque. The older badge can be dropped onto a busy photograph and still hold as a solid object. The newer mark lets the photograph or layout color show through the open field, so contrast, background cleanliness, and stroke weight become the practical problems. On a white page the new ring can almost disappear if it is drawn too light; on a dark page a white ring version is the usual counterpart. The inner quadrants still need enough size to read as four sectors rather than a muddy circle, which is why the mark is less forgiving at very small sizes than a fully filled disc.

• Contrast: the open ring needs a background that is clearly lighter or darker than the stroke, or the circle collapses into the layout.
• Scale: the transparent band and the four sectors both shrink faster than a solid badge; test the file at favicon, app-icon, and header sizes.
• Color roles: blue and white carry the inner disc; the ring is typically neutral (black or white) in the newer treatment, so you cannot treat the whole mark as a single filled color without redrawing it.
• Reproduction: foil, embroidery, and low-resolution print favor the older closed disc; the newer outline is built for clean digital edges.
• Pairing with type: a dimensional badge next to a flat wordmark looks like two eras in one lockup; match treatment (flat with flat, modeled with modeled) unless a mixed lockup is specified.

Vector assets: what the file should contain

Vector, in this context, means the logo is built from curves and points rather than a grid of pixels, so it can be scaled without softening. A filename that ends in a vector extension does not prove the geometry is correct, official, or licensed; it only describes the file format. Inspect the paths. In a faithful newer mark you should be able to see a circular outer stroke, letterforms sitting in that ring, a gap between ring and inner disc, and four closed shapes for the quadrants. In a faithful older mark the ring is a filled annulus, the inner disc meets the ring without a large empty band, and extra objects (gradients, highlights, shadows) may be present to simulate metal. Stray outlines, extra rings, distorted letterspacing, or a filled center where the open field should be are signs of a redraw rather than a source file.

• Confirm the inner disc is four equal sectors, not a simplified two-tone circle or a pie with unequal slices.
• Confirm the letters read as B, M, and W in sequence around the top of the ring, not as a separate wordmark pasted over the badge.
• For the newer version, confirm there is a true empty region between ring and quadrants, not a white-filled band that will fail on a colored background.
• For the older version, separate decorative chrome effects from the core geometry so you can output a flat one-color variant if needed.
• Do not treat public availability of a file as permission to reuse the mark; trademark and brand-use rules sit outside the drawing.

How to reach a conclusion or next step

Choose the version that matches the job, then verify the artwork against the geometry above. Use the older dimensional roundel when the goal is heritage, vehicle authenticity, or a self-contained badge that must hold over photography. Use the newer open roundel when the goal is current digital identity, UI, and layouts that already supply the background. If you are comparing two files and cannot tell which era you have, look first for the transparent band and the absence of chrome: those two cues identify the later treatment more reliably than color saturation or a “new” label in the filename. If you need production-ready artwork, obtain the version that matches that intended use, check the paths as described, and confirm usage rights separately from the design evaluation.

Gaps in the available evidence

This evaluation is based on observable drawing features of the two widely circulated BMW roundel treatments and on the practical behavior of those drawings in layout. The materials for this article do not include an official brand manual, trademark record, launch announcement, or measured construction grid. Exact rollout dates, prescribed clear-space, official color values, approved minimum sizes, and rules for when the physical car badge may differ from the graphic mark are therefore not stated here as documented facts. Where a designer needs those specifications, the next step is to consult current BMW brand-asset guidance rather than inferring them from a screenshot or a downloaded file.