WHY COMPANIES ARE SIMPLIFYING THEIR DISTINCTIVE LOGOS
Some of the most famous brands such as McDonalds, Nike, Apple, Pringles and even coke has changed their brand’s logo over the years. However, some have noticed that the logos are taking a much more casual road.
A columnist at Bloomberg, Ben Schott has elaborated on this subject and revealed why popular brands started to simplify their distinctive logos which has been a symbol of the company’s identity.
Schott further continued to explain that these changes took place due to the need for designs that will be visually perfect on mobile devices. Companies are trying to reduce “visual excess” seeing that anyone can make changes to an image at any time.
“In recent years, some of the world’s biggest companies have discarded depth and detail to “debrand”. But what prompted this landslide of logo debranding?
“Anyone who has over-filtered an Instagram sunset knows the seductive lure of visual excess, and it’s a seduction to which the pros are not immune. The ability to round corners, drop shadows, customise gradients, and create complex lighting effects can easily overpower the creative brief and often does."
However, the changes has also to with the brand’s maturity. Schott noted early startups create more complicated logos which are later scaled down with time as the company grows more financially stable and mature. Other reasons for debranding includes fashion and an update to what the company offers.
“Also, the question of maturity. Many of our biggest brands were born in a spirit of playful innocence that burst forth from their early branding…as these companies grew and the stakes rose, so their logos were obliged to mature from cartoonish to corporate, flamboyant to flat, wacky to bland, illustrating the power of de-branding to professionalize.
“Company graphics are as susceptible to trends as any other design as we see in the stampede of fashion’s little black dress logos…. yet the most intriguing element of the debranded logo is its potential to become a portal.”