Vellum Venom Vignette: Peak Emblem


This just happened. (photo courtesy: Ram)
Most design students don’t consider Peak Oil in their studies, but The Reckoning was on my reading list back then. While Peak Oil is tangentially connected to car design, we clearly reached Peak Emblem.
It cannot get any worse than what’s being introduced in Chicago this week.
Emblem size, just like wheel size and body/firewall (versus glass) height has been on the rise for over a decade. Park a new Corolla next to a 1995-2000 model for proof. The problem is empty real estate, sheets of painted metal with no landscaping. A big problem for a top-tier RAM, for the Laramie Limited trim. How do you visually separate a premium model when even the mid-level model has that in-yo-face look from a huge grille and acres of chrome?
Larger and larger emblems, apparently: on the grille and the tailgate. Damn Son, dat tailgate!
As mentioned before, it’s all about proportioning: big butts need MOAR BLING. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, unless the proportions are so extreme that creativity is stifled and the sheet metal cannot to rest on its design laurels. A shame, as the RAM (like many new Chrysler designs) are quite fetching by themselves.
Here’s my suggestion:
Stamp a (unique to trim levels like the Laramie Limited) tailgate with negative area, then add a metal insert with small(er that what you did) lettering. Of course Ye Old School Dodge has a much smaller tailgate, but applying the concept of negative area to the Laramie makes sense. Well, perhaps not the financial sense of slapping the biggest emblems you can make on dat butt.
Peak Emblem is real, it happened.
Thanks for reading, I hope you have a lovely weekend.






Latest Car Reviews
Read moreLatest Product Reviews
Read moreRecent Comments
- Zerofoo I was part of this industry during my college years. We built many, many cars for "street pharmacists" that sounded like this.Excessive car audio systems are kind of like 800 HP engines. Completely unnecessary, but a hell of a lot of fun.
- DedBull In it to win it!
- Wolfwagen IIRC I remember reading somewhere that the Porsche Cayenne was supposed to have a small gasoline-powered block heater. There was a loop in the cooling system that ran to the heater and when the temperature got to a certain point (0°C)the vehicle's control unit would activate the heater. I dont know if this was a concept or if it ever made it into production.
- Jeffro As I sit here this morning with my 2 day old TRD OFF ROAD 4RUNNER tucked safely away in the garage, my head spins with this weird desire to locate a 85 LTD equipped with the epic 😵💫2.3 and the FOUR ON THE FLOOR. THE HOLY GRAIL. Ying and yang baby!The search begins.
- ToolGuy 404 error on the product link. Which probably isn't terrific marketing on TTAC's part. https://thinkwarestore.com/product/f200-pro-ca
Comments
Join the conversation
With an emblem that big, Dodge should be paying their customers to drive it. Massive advertising...
Peak Emblem? Naahhh...been there, done that http://www.jeeptruck.com/bd/sale/adb279/data/images1/jeep_rear_tailgate.jpg Like Peak Oil...we hear it again and again...and the false prophets are dispensed in favor of the pursuit of true profits. One could, however, argue, with some validity, that the bigger the emblem, the smaller the market share and the lower the odds of long-term survival. Who among us remembers when Jeeps were work vehicles?