Hello everyone, I am Dai Ji, the founder of Garage 42.
On April 8th, two days ago, our new logo was officially launched. I made a simple explanation on my WeChat moments and Weibo. Initially, I didn’t plan to write an article about it on our public account, because if the form outweighs the content, it would be dangerous.
After receiving feedback from some of our readers, I realized that they wanted to know the meaning behind the changes.
Therefore, I am happy to explain to you that after two years, Garage 42 has officially transformed from a self-media platform of amateur enthusiasts to a content account with business operations.
When I designed the first version of the logo two years ago, I only considered the image of “4” and the characteristic of the lightning symbol. However, I didn’t have clear understanding of what we were trying to achieve, and only focused on the future of electric vehicles, which was not unique.
After writing content as a hobby for two years, I have gained new insights. As I mentioned in an interview with “Qingmang” earlier, at a moment of new evolution in the automotive industry, Garage 42 hopes to take on the role of promoting information flow and sharing, whether from the industry or the perspective of car owners.
The name of Garage 42 comes from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, just like the “Don’t Panic” on the Roadster that flew into space, both of which happen to come from the same novel. We happen to share the same favorite book with Elon Musk, and that’s why we named it that, not because of Tesla.
Just like another coincidence. In the Iron Man biography, Elon Musk excitedly bought Three Monkeys when he turned the tide in 2008. And when I was just starting to prepare for this public account, I bought a Three Monkeys from a vending machine during my trip to Kyoto, which led to the name Da Ji.
In the novel, 42 means the answer to life, the universe, and everything, representing our exploration and pursuit of unknown answers. HOW is what we added ourselves, representing the path to the unknown answers. The pun in our latest logo also comes from a creature in this novel called the Babel Fish.
When you travel through the stars, the Babel Fish can help you translate between languages in different galaxies. Here, we understand it as promoting the flow and sharing of information.
This is the intention behind the logo change of Garage 42.
The Babel Fish of Garage 42 evolved from the previous logo. Thanks to designer Zhu Tao, thanks to every reader, and thanks to everyone on our team, Boss Lady, Ah Hu, the newly established translation team, and the new member who will be announced soon.Thank you. What we are going to do is to ensure our content matches our intended meaning.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.