Find the differences: why latest redesigns are so alike
It seems that all the companies which have refreshed the logo in recent years, have had the same brief consisting of just one word: to simplify. Logomachine decided to find out who’s copying who and when it is going to end.
Redesign overview
We’ve browsed news on redesigns since 2019: three years is a proper period to speak of a tendency. There’s been found at least 89 relevant news pieces on major brands’ logo redesign.
81% of companies’ refreshed logos show the same tendency: the logomark has lost additional colors — instead of 4–5 shades there are only main and contracting colors left and the logotype has become thicker and more readable.
Why logotypes are getting simpler
Not only Russian companies simplify logos, but international as well, that’s why one can’t say the tendency is local. We’ve identified three factors which make brands all over the world transform their logos from complex into minimalistic.
Perception of information changed
The tendency for simplification is the reflection of how our world has changed in the digital era. Now the person consumes far too much verbal and visual information: much more than in the nineties, 2000s or even five years ago.
We find it harder to concentrate on a single information source and perceive voluminous material: it’s easier to scroll Instagram feed till the end than to get through a longread on some scientific discovery in one go.
The change in people’s perception of information can be seen almost everywhere: in music, literature, cinema and the design sphere should be no exception. If the brand “feels” these changes, it adapts to them and transforms its logo.
In this context design simplification is directly related to the main function of design — to deliver information at a glance. Now the logos are becoming simpler so that the viewer doesn’t get “an overload’’ and to shorten the time for perception of information: if the design element doesn’t convey any meaning, it’s removed.
All unique symbols are already taken
Because of brands who came to laconic and catchy forms earlier, new companies can’t make the logo with a symbol that’s unique and at the same time not overloaded with details.
All suitable basic forms and objects have already been used: an apple, a bird, a star or a pyramid. Any attempt to do something new will result in a remaking of something that’s already there.
In this context, making new logs complex seems to be a logical way out: everything around is simple and in order to stand out one should add details.
However in practice complex logos are harder to remember. It’s confirmed by experiments: Vanmonster website asked 100 people to draw from memory 10 logos of famous automobile companies. Detailed logo of Alfa Romeo was for the participants harder to reproduce than four rings of Audi (rebutting your comments that Audi is more famous beforehand: both cars are equally popular in Great Britain where the survey was conducted).
Simple logos are easier to adapt for new media
One more advantage of a simple logo is universality (while the abundance of detail makes it harder to adapt the logo for a particular medium). Taking into account how fast new points of contact are emerging, logo simplification may ease the work of staff designers.
Here is the example: an old Yandex logo, which was last refreshed in 2008, was initially created for the digital environment. In the new logo designers made the letters thicker and reduced their height, so the sign became more visually compact.
Yandex has become more than a search engine: now the company specializes in grocery delivery, carsharing and even in developing autonomous cars. That’s why the company needed the logo which would appropriately look not only on smartphone screens but in the urban environment as well.
How company with a simple logo can stand out in the market
Because of the logo simplification tendency more and more attention is getting paid to the corporate style and its usage in brand communications.
While at the start of Logomachine’s work most customers came to the studio only for a logo design and we had to explain why the corporate style can be needed, now the number of clients who understand the importance of corporate style has increased.
In everyday life we can see how major brands stand out not because of their logo, but a color for example. You will easily recognise Coca Cola’s ad on the street even if the caption is removed from the poster: they stand out by their famous red color, which is used in every brand’s point of contact with the audience.
In addition, the corporate style helps in those cases when the company’s logo happens to be similar of someone else’s. When Airbnb presented their rebranding everybody accused the company of plagiarism — its new logo is supposedly the same as the Japanese company Azuma’s one (its logo was created 39 years earlier).
Whether Airbnb designers were inspired by the Japanese brand or not, it doesn’t matter as the company placed the emphasis on the corporate style — particularly colors and font: for example corporate red was named “Rausch” after the street where the company’s history started.
The logo is the base for a recognisable pattern, which reminds of hand-drawn hearts.
To conclude
A tendency for simplification has become universal, having spread not only on interiors, music or clothes, but also on logos. The main reason for logo simplification lies in functionality: we live in a world overloaded with information, that’s why the wish to remove additional details from the surrounding objects is understandable.
Additionally, simple logos are much easier to adapt for constantly emerging new media. The main instrument which sets the brand apart from the hundreds or similar ones is the corporate style, which for a long time was underestimated.
Thank you for reading this article till the end!
