Rebrand—Rebland

A company is a living and breathing thing in this world. Successful businesses and corporations grow and adapt to their surroundings. In order to stay current these companies need to update their missions, rethink their marketing, and put a fresh coat of paint on the walls.

Brands are signatures, and there will always be some reservations about updating the branding for a successful company; however, it must. be. done. Unless a company hit gold the first time, like the Nike swoosh in 1971, chances are their branding will need a facelift after some time.

Here are some of the most notable logo changes in 2014. As you will be able to tell, flat design is so hot right now!

8. Fandango Movie Guide

This one probably flew under the radar for most people, but the changes are a step in the right direction.

Originally, the black outline with yellow and red, oh, and some shadows, wait, and it looks like a ticket, and an 'F'…  In short, they cut the unneeded elements out of the old mark. The new capital 'F' is in proportion and people will be able to recognize the ‘ticket’ look of the mark.

The previous typeface had too much spacing and the letters didn’t even look like they came from the same family. What is going on with that ‘D’ in the original logo? The updated title has more a defined and harmonious presence.
 

7. Netflix Online Movie & TV Network 

Dramatic isn’t it?

Take a good idea, and then make it better. Netflix tossed the drop shadow and updated the font. The arch still works and the letters are easier to read. The logo on the left may be iconic, but the new logo will give Netflix more freedom. And that’s what this country it all about, right?!
 

6. ThinkGeek Online Retailer

ThinkGeek is a beloved online market for many things geeky, from Star Trek robes to HTML baby books. The old logo never quite hit the mark for the product or the audience. The logo is silly and maybe a bit geeky—with the brain and the typewriter font—but it was never quite right. What is that, a cigarette?

How exciting, a new logo for ThinkGeek! Oh…that’s it? While I appreciate the aesthetics…the colors, the backward-ness and the slogan…where’s the geek?!

With a thousand ways to make a logo geeky, they used absolutely zero. Our recommendation would be to create a simple ‘base’ logo, and then make a series depicting various geeky themes, like Mario, Dr. Who, and Star Wars. This could have been your Google doodle, guys!

 

5. Cricket Wireless Provider 

We all know the 90's were a crazy time, but what were you thinking?! Are those cricket legs? Grass? We don’t even know anymore. Forgive and forget is what they always say.

The updated Cricket logo came paired with an entire new brand approach, now found in all of their advertising, and it’s a huge improvement. Keeping the green mark in the 'K'? Fantastic. Keeping the whole logo as a cohesive unit, even better!
 

4. Hershey Chocolate Company

Hershey’s summer redesign received quite a lot of attention. Most people hadn’t really thought of Hershey even having a logo. It simply looks like the iconic chocolate bar. Well, apparently this was their business logo, and to be frank, it needed an update. In the old logo, nothing is aligned with intention, the letter embossing is difficult to work with, and a photorealistic chocolate kiss is not print friendly.

The new design, however, has received some scrutiny for what the flat kiss candy resembles. Sure, maybe it looks like something your dog might leave in the back yard, but hasn’t the Hershey’s kiss always resembled that? Eventually people will stop teasing the look of this logo, because, deep down, we all know it’s chocolate.
 

3. Olive Garden Italian Restaurant

After 32 years, Olive Garden finally updated their tacky old-world logo. Would you believe that the new logo finally has olives on it? Honey, those purple things on the right were grapes. The logo that they have been dragging around since the 80's is one of the most difficult logos to work with. Texture, background, shadows, gradients...oh the inhumanity! How would a newspaper publisher even create a black and white version of this logo? It’s been a long time coming, OG, and we are happy for you!

 

 2. Foursquare Location-based social network

Foursquare announced their rebranding early this summer, along with a new business approach. Essentially, they are dividing the app into two separate experiences and keeping the Foursquare name with the new ‘Yelp-esque’ travel and recommendation app.

Now that users won’t be checking into locations with this app, the previous logo/icon had to go. The logo grew out of its lowercase, heavily stroked look and traded it in for a crisp, uppercase, geometric typeface. The icon mimics the classic ‘pinpoint’ look found on maps, but with their own signature 'F.'

No opinion yet in regards to the split being a good business move, but the branding is a step up.
 

1. Airbnb Travel Rentals

Airbnb had a very interesting time this year rebranding themselves. Founded in 2008, Airbnb started out with a modest “lighter than air” type logo. The subtle shadow, large white stroke, handwritten bubble script font, and the light blue gradient were meant to give you a cloud-like euphoric feeling. The perfect innocuous logo for a new company.

Well…the times have changed, the company grew, and Airbnb got a makeover. They rebranded with an identifiable mark, dropped the gradient and shadow for a flat design, and adopted a sans-serif font.

The controversy around this logo is fierce. So far the new mark has sparked major ridicule. There is even a song about it by the awkward British synth-pop band, The Brett Domino Trio, and within the depths of the Internet, much, much more.

There have also been claims of plagiarism. Automation Anywhere has an extremely similar logo:

Since this comparison, Airbnb and Automation Anywhere released a joint statement:

“In early 2014 both Airbnb and Automation Anywhere began use of new logos that, by coincidence, have similar designs. Airbnb and Automation Anywhere are working cooperatively to address this issue, and Automation Anywhere is in the process of transitioning to a new logo design that is not similar to the Airbnb logo.”

They say all publicity is good publicity, but one could argue that point.