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VAG Rounded
VAG Rundschrift or VAG Rounded (Rundschrift is German for 'round typeface', short of abgerundete Schrift, 'rounded typeface') is a geometric sans-serif typeface that was designed as a corporate typographic voice for the Volkswagen AG motor manufacturer. It resembles Futura, but features rounded terminals on all strokes.
Volkswagen stopped using the VAG Rounded family in the early 1990s, and it is widely available today, licensed through Adobe Systems.
In 1964, Volkswagen AG bought Auto Union GmbH from Daimler Benz. The main active brand of Auto Union was DKW, but it was soon dropped by Volkswagen and replaced by Auto Union's dormant Audi brand. In the early 1970s, the dealer organizations of Volkswagen and Audi merged. In the following years, Volkswagen AG re-thought their future strategy. The Volkswagen brand was associated mainly with compact cars, but Audi would allow it to expand to larger and more upmarket models - although at this time Audi was still not regarded as a premium brand.
They envisioned buying several car companies to round out their offerings. They also envisioned selling a multitude of brands under giant dealer roofs. The new dealer organization, financial services, and all other non-car related activities were to come under one branded umbrella. Eventually, Volkswagen intended to use this umbrella as the name of their holding company: General Motors in reverse.
GGK Düsseldorf was tasked with the branding concept. Finding a distinct typeface was an integral part. Volkswagen at the time had Futura as their typeface. Audi at the time used Times. The new typeface would be neither sans-serif (like Futura) nor serif (like Times), and the idea for a rounded typeface was born. After the company failed to find an existing rounded typeface at the time, the new typeface had to be developed. The original idea was conceived by Wolf Rogosky (creative director) and Gerd Hiepler (art director). Over several years, the identity concept was refined by Bertel Schmitt (creative director) and Manfred Schwarzer (art director). The original typeface was rendered by hand. It was then perfected on a PDP-8 minicomputer.
In 1978, the whole Volkswagen and Audi Dealer Organization worldwide was re-branded as V.A.G using the distinct V.A.G Rounded (or V.A.G Rundschrift) as the font for all signage, and for all headlines in their advertising. The V.A.G logo did not use the font. Worldwide availability of the font was a problem. To solve the problem, V.A.G Rounded was put in the public domain.[citation needed] As Desktop Publishing emerged in the mid-1980s, V.A.G Rounded was included in most free font packages and became widely used for that reason. A free modern implementation is MgOpen Modata.
The meaning of V.A.G was never officially disclosed. Theories ranged from "Volkswagen AG" (although the official name of the company during this time was "Volkswagenwerk AG") to "Volkswagen Audi Group." At Volkswagen, insiders joked that V.A.G means Von Adolf Gegründet ("Founded by Adolf"). Bertel Schmitt revealed that the V.A.G name was intentionally ambiguous to avoid rewriting dealer contracts as a legal consequence of the holding company's name change.
By 1994, in line with Volkswagen's long-term aim of pushing the Audi brand further upmarket towards being a full scale luxury brand on level terms with BMW and Mercedes-Benz, it was decided to separate the joint sales channel used by VW and Audi, and establish a wholly independent Audi dealer network. This was essentially the end of the V.A.G brand and logo, which was abandoned shortly afterwards, with the process being completed by 1997. Audi overhauled its corporate identity around the same time, dropping the "Audi Oval" logo that had been in use since the late 1970s, giving prominence to the four rings, and replacing Times with the Univers font for all corporate communications.
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VAG Rounded
VAG Rundschrift or VAG Rounded (Rundschrift is German for 'round typeface', short of abgerundete Schrift, 'rounded typeface') is a geometric sans-serif typeface that was designed as a corporate typographic voice for the Volkswagen AG motor manufacturer. It resembles Futura, but features rounded terminals on all strokes.
Volkswagen stopped using the VAG Rounded family in the early 1990s, and it is widely available today, licensed through Adobe Systems.
In 1964, Volkswagen AG bought Auto Union GmbH from Daimler Benz. The main active brand of Auto Union was DKW, but it was soon dropped by Volkswagen and replaced by Auto Union's dormant Audi brand. In the early 1970s, the dealer organizations of Volkswagen and Audi merged. In the following years, Volkswagen AG re-thought their future strategy. The Volkswagen brand was associated mainly with compact cars, but Audi would allow it to expand to larger and more upmarket models - although at this time Audi was still not regarded as a premium brand.
They envisioned buying several car companies to round out their offerings. They also envisioned selling a multitude of brands under giant dealer roofs. The new dealer organization, financial services, and all other non-car related activities were to come under one branded umbrella. Eventually, Volkswagen intended to use this umbrella as the name of their holding company: General Motors in reverse.
GGK Düsseldorf was tasked with the branding concept. Finding a distinct typeface was an integral part. Volkswagen at the time had Futura as their typeface. Audi at the time used Times. The new typeface would be neither sans-serif (like Futura) nor serif (like Times), and the idea for a rounded typeface was born. After the company failed to find an existing rounded typeface at the time, the new typeface had to be developed. The original idea was conceived by Wolf Rogosky (creative director) and Gerd Hiepler (art director). Over several years, the identity concept was refined by Bertel Schmitt (creative director) and Manfred Schwarzer (art director). The original typeface was rendered by hand. It was then perfected on a PDP-8 minicomputer.
In 1978, the whole Volkswagen and Audi Dealer Organization worldwide was re-branded as V.A.G using the distinct V.A.G Rounded (or V.A.G Rundschrift) as the font for all signage, and for all headlines in their advertising. The V.A.G logo did not use the font. Worldwide availability of the font was a problem. To solve the problem, V.A.G Rounded was put in the public domain.[citation needed] As Desktop Publishing emerged in the mid-1980s, V.A.G Rounded was included in most free font packages and became widely used for that reason. A free modern implementation is MgOpen Modata.
The meaning of V.A.G was never officially disclosed. Theories ranged from "Volkswagen AG" (although the official name of the company during this time was "Volkswagenwerk AG") to "Volkswagen Audi Group." At Volkswagen, insiders joked that V.A.G means Von Adolf Gegründet ("Founded by Adolf"). Bertel Schmitt revealed that the V.A.G name was intentionally ambiguous to avoid rewriting dealer contracts as a legal consequence of the holding company's name change.
By 1994, in line with Volkswagen's long-term aim of pushing the Audi brand further upmarket towards being a full scale luxury brand on level terms with BMW and Mercedes-Benz, it was decided to separate the joint sales channel used by VW and Audi, and establish a wholly independent Audi dealer network. This was essentially the end of the V.A.G brand and logo, which was abandoned shortly afterwards, with the process being completed by 1997. Audi overhauled its corporate identity around the same time, dropping the "Audi Oval" logo that had been in use since the late 1970s, giving prominence to the four rings, and replacing Times with the Univers font for all corporate communications.