Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc is a British independent manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers, founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. The brand became inseparable from the fictional character James Bond after the DB5’s appearance in the 1964 film Goldfinger. Aston Martin holds a Royal Warrant as purveyor of motorcars to the King and operates over 150 dealerships across more than 50 countries.
The Aston Martin logo is a winged emblem: the brand name “ASTON MARTIN” written across the center of a pair of outstretched wings. The wings are stylized and geometric, with layered feathers that taper to sharp points. The current version, redesigned by Peter Saville in 2022, reduced the wing detail to a cleaner, more minimal rendering while preserving the fundamental shape that has identified the brand since 1927. The primary color is a deep racing green or silver-black, though the badge appears in various metallic finishes on vehicles. The wings communicate speed, freedom, and elegance, the defining qualities of a grand tourer built for long-distance driving at high speed across open roads.
Meaning and Symbolism
- Wings: The outstretched wings symbolize speed, aspiration, and flight. Wings have been used in automotive branding since the earliest days of the industry, when cars represented a freedom of movement comparable to flight. Aston Martin’s wings are wider and flatter than Bentley’s, giving them a more horizontal, speed-oriented character.
- Name across the center: Placing “ASTON MARTIN” directly across the wingspan makes the wordmark and symbol inseparable. The name does not sit below or above the wings. It is part of the wings, embedded in the mark.
- Layered feathers: The overlapping feather pattern adds depth and craftsmanship to the emblem. Each redesign has adjusted the number and style of feathers, but the layered structure has remained consistent.
- Metallic finishes: On vehicles, the badge is rendered in chrome, enamel, or brushed metal, reflecting light and changing appearance with viewing angle. This physical quality is part of the logo’s identity and cannot be replicated on screen.
Logo Variations
1913: Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford founded Bamford & Martin Ltd. The earliest cars carried the founders’ initials in a circular badge. There were no wings.
1927: The winged emblem first appeared. The design featured straight, geometric wings with “ASTON MARTIN” running across the center. The wings were narrower and more angular than later versions.
1932: Under new ownership, the wings were redesigned with a more elaborate feather pattern and wider span. This version established the layered-feather style that would persist through subsequent iterations.
1950s-1960s: The David Brown era (Brown acquired Aston Martin in 1947) brought refinements to the wing emblem. The “DB” prefix on models like the DB4, DB5, and DB6 became shorthand for the brand’s golden age. The wings became wider and more detailed.
1987: A simplified version reduced feather detail and modernized the proportions. The wordmark was set in a cleaner typeface.
2003: A further refinement added depth and dimension to the wings, with subtle gradients and more defined feather layering.
2022: Peter Saville redesigned the emblem, stripping the wings to their most essential form. The feathers were simplified, the proportions tightened, and the overall mark became cleaner and more suitable for digital applications. The redesign was described as returning to the spirit of the 1927 original while preparing the badge for the brand’s electrified future.
History of the Aston Martin Logo
Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford started their business in 1913 as a small garage in London that sold Singer cars and tuned them for racing. The name “Aston Martin” came from Lionel Martin’s success at the Aston Clinton hillclimb in Buckinghamshire, combined with his surname. The first Aston Martin car was built in 1915, and the company spent its first decades in a pattern that would define its entire history: building beautiful, fast, limited-production cars while struggling financially.
The wings arrived in 1927, a period when aviation imagery was fashionable in automotive branding. Bentley had its winged “B” since 1919. Chrysler adopted wings in the 1920s. For car manufacturers in this era, wings communicated the excitement of the new machine age, when both cars and airplanes represented humanity’s mastery of speed and distance. Aston Martin’s version placed the brand name directly across the wings, creating an integrated emblem that worked as a single unit rather than a symbol with an attached wordmark.
The brand’s defining era began when David Brown purchased Aston Martin in 1947 and combined it with the Lagonda marque. Brown’s investment funded the development of cars that defined the grand tourer category: the DB2, the DB4, the DB5. When James Bond drove a silver DB5 in Goldfinger in 1964, Aston Martin became the most famous British car brand in the world overnight. The wing emblem appeared on the most glamorous car in the most glamorous film franchise, and that association has never faded.
The logo’s multiple redesigns reflect the brand’s turbulent ownership history. Aston Martin has changed hands numerous times, and each new owner has commissioned refinements to the wing emblem. What is consistent across all versions is the basic structure: outstretched wings with the name across the center. No owner has ever attempted to replace the wings with something else. The emblem is too closely associated with the brand’s identity and its Bond connection to abandon.
Peter Saville’s 2022 redesign was the most recent and one of the most significant. Saville, who also redesigned Burberry’s logo, stripped the wings to a cleaner, more geometric form. The feather detail was reduced, the lines were made crisper, and the overall proportion was adjusted for consistency across physical badges, digital screens, and marketing materials. The redesign coincided with Aston Martin’s push into electric vehicles and Formula One, and the cleaner emblem was intended to signal a forward-looking brand that still honored its heritage.
Typography and Fonts
The “ASTON MARTIN” text across the wings uses a custom sans-serif typeface with wide, evenly spaced letterforms. The letters are uppercase and relatively thin, designed to sit within the wing structure without overwhelming it. The tracking is generous, allowing each letter to be clearly legible against the textured wing background. For broader brand communications, Aston Martin uses clean, modern sans-serif typefaces that complement the emblem’s combination of elegance and precision. The typography is always understated, consistent with a brand that lets its cars do the talking.
Q: Why does the Aston Martin logo have wings?
A: The wings were adopted in 1927, during a period when aviation imagery was fashionable in automotive branding. They symbolize speed, freedom, and the aspiration of grand touring.
Q: Who redesigned the Aston Martin logo most recently?
A: Peter Saville redesigned the wing emblem in 2022, simplifying the feather detail and modernizing the proportions for digital applications and the brand’s electrified future.
Q: What is the connection between Aston Martin and James Bond?
A: The silver DB5 appeared in the 1964 Bond film Goldfinger and became one of the most iconic cars in cinema history. Aston Martin has appeared in numerous Bond films since, cementing the brand’s association with British elegance and adventure.
Q: Where does the name “Aston Martin” come from?
A: “Aston” comes from the Aston Clinton hillclimb where co-founder Lionel Martin competed successfully. “Martin” is his surname.
Aston Martin and the Aston Martin wings are registered trademarks of Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc. This page is for educational and reference purposes only.
