Evolution of Renner logo
over time
The Thoroughbred
born to run
Designed in the summer of 1957, the fearless white thoroughbred of Renner logo is the work of artist and publicist Nelson Boeira Faedrich (Porto Alegre, 1912 – 1994).
Faedrich, who in 1930 had turned down Walt Disney’s personal invitation to work at the coveted animation studios, was entrusted by the Renner Herrmann Group with the creation of a new brand that would embody the fundamental characteristics of the coatings company. The original Tintas ReKo brand, 30 years old, ends up in the trunk.
Freedom, speed and courage of the thoroughbred
But what are the values that Ernesto Luiz Herrmann in 1957 demands be reflected in the new logo? Those of freedom, efficiency and courage, first and foremost. Speed, an accessory character to Renner’s values, was not after all already inherent in the company name itself. Renner in German in fact means “racer”. Phonetically, too, the palindrome “Renner” functions in the same way. It has an accelerated progression and evokes energy, circularity, technology.
Countercultural by vocation
It is from these assumptions that the horse with the rebellious mane in the wind was born, capable of running in the opposite direction to the Western sense of reading, just to kick the stubborn personality against the tide. To the last, the thoroughbred is in competition with the greyhound, another symbol of speed and reliability. But the Renner Hermann group prefers the horse to fix the concepts of freedom and strength.
Towards modernity
To complete the work, Nelson Boeira Faedrich also hand-draws the name Renner, which from the first version hints at modernity. It is already visible: sans serif, in block letters, bold and diagonal. In the late 1950s, the horse stands boldly and muscularly on a black R (within a red shield) that suggests shy grace (serif).
From red to blue running in every continent
Since its successful concept in 1957, the Renner logo, like any other logo dropped into modernity, has been restyled several times. Until the present day, specifically 2004, when the Renner Herrmann Group’s wood coatings division finally took on the prevailing blue color (pantone cyan process) to represent the division.
The loyal and precious light blue
Light blue is universally used to signify loyalty, creativity and preciousness. It is no coincidence that ultramarine, a blue dye made from lapis lazuli, has passed into art history for being expensive and employed only by the very great artists. Think of the skies of Giotto (Scrovegni Chapel in Padua) and Michelangelo (Last Judgment in the Vatican). Renner horse, which decades later lost its muscular accents, nevertheless preserved the white color to guard the concept of purity.
The payoff “wood coatings”
Concurrently with the pantone cyan process, the payoff “wood coatings” appeared in 2007 in Myriad, sans serif of proven readability. Renner name, in a modern reinterpretation of Faedrich’s original cue, accentuated the bold body, sticks, bent diagonally. A typographic choice that pays homage to the Brazilian artist’s fortunate intuition and once again evokes dynamism. An indomitable gallop with which Renner’s thoroughbred coatings have now come to be appreciated all over the planet.