9 replies to this topic

[benHGF]

hey there guys!

Im just starting to do my A level coursework for Product Design and im doing it on the design of the car badges for the min!!
I have found out quite a bit of info....but not much on the actual reasons behind the design.....more specifically on the design of the cooper badge - what is the relevance of the "wing" like design?

If anyone has any info or guidance i would appreciate it a lot!!
cheers
Ben

[Bungle]

for what model ?

there have been a lot of mini and mini cooper badges in 40 + years

[benHGF]

If im honest, any info on any of the badges would be welcome!

But with regard to the "winged" badge take a look at my attachment. in the picture with lots of badges in it, the mini cooper one with the wings is what im looking at. I take it that is the one that BMW based their new badge on?

Attached Files

•  Pics.doc   101K   41 downloads

[minili]

The winged badge was the most recent used (on Rover minis) so yes I think it's fair to say that is where BMW got their inspiration.

Saying that, didn't Rover originally design the new Mini? So, if they also designed the badge, then it was just an upgrade of the previous one.

[benHGF]

Yeah they did.....so that makes sense!

but do you know why they put the wings on there?? and for example on the Cooper badge, what is the relevence of the green leaf things round the outside?? I didnt know product studies would be this hard!

[BLACK LE]

at all the launch shows for the new (rover) mini the car had the traditional winged Mini badge, but when BMW sold rover and Kept the MINI they slightly modified the Font and swept the wings up, just to distance it a little from the car it was based on

Edited by BLACK LE, 19 September 2007 - 08:02 PM.

[Neb]

I think the question is why? What is the symbolism? What does it stand for/what does it mean? I don't know but I'm looking forward to finding out.

[minimarco]

Yeah they did.....so that makes sense!

but do you know why they put the wings on there?? and for example on the Cooper badge, what is the relevence of the green leaf things round the outside?? I didnt know product studies would be this hard!

the green leaf thing is a laurel. it represents victory as they were also given to honor ancient olympic winners. its got to do with apollo and his fling with daphne...but you can read about that yourself.

so the laurel probably were from the monte carlo rallys days which was a pretty big thing.



you see alfa had a laurel back in the day when they won that race with the P2 (forgot which race)

[Dan]

at all the launch shows for the new (rover) mini the car had the traditional winged Mini badge

It wasn't traditional. The Mini didn't have a winged badge for a good many years before the late model Cooper aquired one which then spread to the rest of the range in '96. Before that the Mini had a variety of badges, based around the Morris and Austin original badging. The Austin badge being a broad rectangle shape with a curved top and the Morris a circle on a line. Thease were modified to become Cooper badges with the Morris having a simple rectangular plaque replacing the line behind the circle with 'Morris Cooper' in relief and the Austin being spread wider with what could be a stylised wing or laurel leaf or eagle or car radiator thing underneath and reading Austin Cooper. Then came the Mini Mk2 with much more boring badges (a lozenge shaped thing for Austin and an Oval for Morris. When the Mk3 arrived there were the first proper Mini badges because this was the first time Mini was its own brand and not released as Austin or Morris. This is the far more traditional shape of Mini badge with Mini written at the top and two blue plaques below it. This same shape was adapted many times for special editions and used for many, many years eventully having the very corporate Rover type Mini badge mounted in it. Then the wings arrived.

Just because the badge has been made to look classy doesn't mean there's a history to it. It's not a product that's been designed. It's marketing and marketing is pretty much universally shallow, cynical and without much factual historical basis. Yes the Cooper laurel is supposed to hark back to the sporting achievements of the car but at the time it was actually winning these rallies it wasn't sold badged up with laurels. There is an argument that the wings represent the Mk1 Austin Cooper badge but that badge really was only for Austin Coopers, not all Minis. Ultimately it's probably used because when Rover re-launched the Mini brand in '96 they were aiming to sell more cars in Japan and Germany and over there they expect prestige British cars to have wings on them (Aston Martin for example).

[Sprocket]

Why not phone British Motor Heritage ans ask one of their researchers.

Im sure they would be happy to help, you may be able to book an appointment and even go down and have a look through the archives with them.

Thats what I was told when i asked something