Manufacturing company SKF reveals new identity

Created more than a century ago, the foundations of Swedish manufacturing company SKF’s logo seem remarkably ahead of their time. Its technical ridges and uneven proportions are exactly the kinds of characteristics that would earn it a spot on type trends reports in 2025.

Fans of the original will be pleased to learn that, after nearly 120 years of faithful service, SKF’s wordmark isn’t going anywhere. Instead, it has been modestly tweaked as part of an identity updated by Nord ID, the design wing of Stockholm-based agency Nord DDB. Designed to work better across digital touchpoints, the new wordmark is thicker in places and features sharper angles.

“SKF’s logo from 1908 was among the first of its kind – an expression that we’ve then seen when other industrial players have taken major steps within innovation, such as IBM, AEG, and the gaming industry in its early years. The same design language has even been used to represent the future in film and art,” says Linnéa Lofjord, creative director at Nord ID.

“However, SKF was the first to establish [this] visual expression – the company was a pioneer from the start,” Lofjord continues. This is likely owing to its steps to establish its own in-house creative agency back in 1911. “We now want to incorporate that self-confidence across the entire brand identity.”