The Best? Brand Logo Redesigns 2016!

I was reading this article http://www.fubiz.net/en/2017/01/05/2016-year-best-brand-logo-redesigns/, the 10 top logo redesigns of 2016, and while there’s a lot of interest in there, I’ve got a little to say about a number of these designs, so in no certain order.

 

Instagram

A lot was made this year of Instagram redesigning their logo, and to tell the truth I didn’t like it, not because of the design (rainbow colours they’re on our wavelength alright), but because the old logo is so good as to make the new one pale in comparison. Some times not changing is the right choice.

Budweiser

Drank a whole load of Budweiser in my youth, when I thought that buying an American beer was an exotic cool foreign choice. But what were they thinking, simplifying a logo can be a good choice, but they’ve take it too far, again with the changes not being necessary and couldn’t you have at least left the crown for “the king of beers”.

Mozilla

Now the Firefox logo has been quite iconic for the past decade or so, therefore making such a large change is going to be jarring. But, honestly, why? What’s going on here, it looks 70’s, it looks like it’s supposed to be on a Mechanical Digger or other piece of industrial equipment. What’s a Web Browser got to do with this? What’s going on? Why? I’m just confused, and I’m willing to bet that no one cosplays as this new logo.

Kodak

Now this one I agree with, completely, but I’m putting it here because of one thing. Why was it not this before, I’m sure I remember this one from my youth, hasn’t this always been the Kodak logo, and which idiot changed it away from this in the firstplace. Good choice.

Mastercard

Really. Why do mastercard (avoiding the capital letter for their name, because apparently so do they) bother redesigning their logo every few years into something almost exactly the same. Now the update is nice, I like the font, the merging of colours rather than interlacing them is also nice. But nice enough to redesign the logo, reprint all the stickers on cash machines, business cards, stationery, etc . . . Not really worth it surely.

Netflix

Again I’m conflicted by this one, I like the ribbon N, it’s a nice bit of design, and black on red is a really attractive colour scheme, but is it better than the old logo . . . Not really.

Uber

And finally, Uber, what the flying hell is going on here. The old logo, looks like a car manufacturers badge, you could see that as the badge on a bonnet of a car, it’s simple, yet the gradation on it gives it weight and dignity. The typography below the logo even looks like little roads. Together these connect to this being a company connected with cars and roads and getting places, nice design. The new logo, well . . . sorry . . . . all it makes me think of is the lament configuration (the puzzle box out of the Hellraiser movies), taking you straight to hell. Oh, and why is the symbol in the middle on it’s side, it’s obviously supposed to be a stylised U, but its orientation is wrong and now it’s a weird Pacman.

Doing a bit of reading on this design, apparently you’re supposed to concentrate on the “bit” in the middle, as across all of Uber’s services, you’ll always find that “bit”, but still, why’s it on its side?

Well, thanks for reading, and Happy New Year to you all. If you want to talk about logo design, whether you want a new one, or whether you want to just chat about design in general, get in touch.