Logo redesign is inevitable; We are living in a fast-paced, ever-changing world, and design can’t seem to keep up.
The pressure of this rapid growth in the design industry has made companies jump to action with rebranding in little to no time…
And sometimes to their detriment.
When Google updated its brand way back in 2015 we all noticed. The comforting logo we all knew and loved disappeared overnight and was replaced with a simple sans-sans typeface.
After public backlash and countless articles ridiculing their new look; by month 2 everyone got over it. But then other brands seem to cotton on to this idea and soon an avalanche of rebranding was released:
While most of these changes seemed to modernize the brand’s old look (and none of them were complete eye-sores) there seemed to be an eerie similarity between all of these changes; the sans font.
In typography and lettering, a ‘sans-serif’, or simply ‘serif’ fonts are geometric fonts which don’t have serifs otherwise known as “feet” as you see in fonts like Times New Roman. Serif fonts are seen as modern, and this is the mistake that these brands are making.
While modernization is necessary for brands to adapt to the times, the overuse of these fonts is beginning to make logos seem sterile and boring. What once was a unique identifier of the brand is now a cookie-cutter version of what their competitors are doing.
Imagine if Coca Cola did this to their branding:
Companies need to learn that modernising a logo doesn’t just need to be a font change. It’s about refreshing the old look, playing with colours, and looking at a wide range of typography options that mimic the past while adapting to what’s relevant today.
There is so much potential for good design and uniqueness. Let’s put an end to this fad before sans fonts take over the world.
**All images have been sourced from the respective brand websites.