Carlo Abarth, a former motorcyclist, established the Italian automobile manufacturing business Abarth in 1949. Abarth is named after him. The most well-known aspect of Abarth is perhaps its association with Fiat and the production of the legendary Fiat 500 Abarth vehicle.
The significance and the past
Carlo Abarth had a life-changing event that caused him to abandon his ambition of being a professional cyclist and instead become a car designer. Carlo was the one who designed the now-iconic emblem for the company in 1949. He selected a scorpion to serve as his symbol for two reasons: the first was because his zodiac sign was Scorpio, and the second was that the scorpion is an uncommon species.
What exactly is an Abarth?
Abarth is the name of a luxury vehicle brand that was founded in Italy at the tail end of the 1940s. The brand was named after its creator, a well-known motorcyclist called Carlo Abarth, who also gave the company its name. The manufacturer is well-known for redesigning previously produced automobiles in order to improve both their functional and aesthetic qualities. The majority of the vehicles that Abarth modifies are Fiat 500 sedans, making them much quicker and more powerful.
1949 – 1954
The very first version of the Abarth logo was introduced in 1949 and included a scorpion in blue with a black outline and the words “Abarth & Co — Torino” written in red capital letters. It was a bold and colourful logo with clean and confident lines, and it remained the same for the company for a period of five years.
1954 – 1969
In 1954, the Abarth logo underwent a revision and began to become the current appearance that we are all familiar with. The insignia was designed to seem like a shield, and it was coloured yellow and red, with a blue outline, and wording that was arched. The figure of a scorpion that is at the centre of the symbol, and it is blue in colour. Over the course of its existence, the logo underwent a number of subtle iterations, evolving over time to have a more refined shape and more vibrant coloration.
1961 – 1969
The picture of the scorpion darkens and becomes more geometric as it shifts from red to black. Additionally, the colour scheme of the Abarth wordmark shifts to white on a backdrop of light blue.
1969 – 2007
The company made the decision to reintroduce the blue scorpion into the wordmark and also included the colours that are seen on the Italian flag. A last experiment conducted in 1971 included a scorpion-like creature in purple on a backdrop of yellow and orange.
2007 – Today
The current iteration of the Abarth logo was conceptualised in 2007 and has seen only minor modifications since then. The current version of the logo consists of a curving shield with a grey outline, a backdrop that is diagonally divided into two halves — red and yellow, and a wordmark that is put on top of the shield on a black background with the Italian tricolour border. Because it is abstract and done in black, the scorpion gives the logo a chiselled and powerful appearance.
The writing is in all capital letters and is white. The bespoke font that was used for it has hold sleek lines.
The Coat of Arms
The picture of the scorpion has long been a part of the recognisable Abarth badge. The visual identity of the company is bolstered with ferocity and a ruthless quality thanks to the presence of this one-of-a-kind and powerful emblem.
The scorpion used to be blue in colour and had a lot of detail when it was first introduced. However, in current times, the emblem has been rendered in an abstract geometric design, which gives the brand an upscale and sophisticated appearance.
The Abarth Emblem is a brilliant example of cutting-edge visual identity design in its modern form.
The Text Size and Color
The streamlined Abarth logo has stylised capital letters that is placed in a bespoke sans-serif font. This typeface has straight lines and sharp cuts of the bars throughout the design. The inscription is based on a commercial expanded typeface, but since it is engraved into the Abarth crest, the letters all have various sizes. This is because the font was designed to be enlarged for commercial use. The typefaces Microgramma Pro Bold Extended and Unison Pro Bold, with a few tweaks here and there, are probably the ones that come the closest to replicating the one that is used in this emblem.
When it comes to the colour scheme that is used for the Abarth visual identity, it is bold and vivid, made up of a variety of tones, and conjures up feelings of strength and self-assurance. The core colours are yellow, red, and black; secondary colours include white, green, and metallic silver, which are used for the frame and minor accents, respectively. The colour pallet is as follows:
