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Exclusive Marketing 7 Min Read

Is the minimalist logo trend shrinkin

brand personality?
Over the years, many brands have switched to flatter, two-dimensional logos. VW lost its
depth and shadow. La Liga dropped the symbol football and colour pinwheel. KIA ditche
surrounding circle, as did Intel, Pfizer and Burger King. But in this bid for simplicity, brand
seem to be losing out on what really makes them unique. Design heads tell Shannon Tel
about how they’re navigating this conundrum.
Shannon Tellis , • ETBrandEquity
Updated On Jul 5, 2023 at 08:02 AM IST
Read by:
31551 Industry Professionals

Read by
31551 Industry Professionals

Image used for representative purpose

Only halfway into 2023 and there have been plenty of logo rebrands —
Nokia, Pepsi, Baskin Robbins, LG, SEBI, Yes Bank and Meesho.

Some brands chose to dip into their archives. Baskin Robbins upgraded
to a serif font, ditching its pink and blue for a pink and brown
reminiscent of its 1953 logo. Pepsi paid homage to its heritage — its
brand name back in the centre of the ‘Pepsi globe’ — with a refreshed
colour palette.
Other brands opted for pared down versions of their logos to convey a
more modern look. To signify its shift from handsets to networks and
B2B technology, Nokia slimmed down its font, using negative space
creatively to convey a futuristic look. SEBI retained its traditional blue,
but aligned all the letters on the same plane for a cleaner look.

Advt

“Over the past decade, logos have undergone significant changes. They
have become more minimalistic, with a focus on clean design and flat
visuals. Minimal colour palettes are used and negative space is cleverly
utilised to add depth and hidden meaning,” shares Kunel Gaur, founder
and creative director of Animal.

Is this shift the result of a strategic plan? Or are brands trying to stay
relevant by succumbing to the unspoken-yet-widely-accepted rules of
contemporary design?

The world is flat

Many brands have switched to flatter, two-dimensional logos in the past

few years. VW lost its depth and shadow. La Liga dropped the symbol
football and colour pinwheel. KIA ditched its surrounding circle, as did
Intel, Pfizer and Burger King. Why are so many big-brand logos shedding
depth and detail for a spartan logo?

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Arnab Ray, creative director, Landor & Fitch, India, says the simplicity
drive is influenced by two factors — the scale at which logos appear due
to digital consumption and the number of mediums. “If you’re using a
logo on multiple platforms, it needs to be simple, have fewer colours and
be instantly recognisable,” he explains.

It also needs to translate across multiple platforms and sizes — from one
centimetre in the little circle of a display picture all the way to the
entrance to a factory where each letter is more than two metres tall,
adds Pratap Bose, CDO, Mahindra & Mahindra.

Carbon copies

But this quest to make the logo simpler has led to a different challenge,
that of déjà vu. “To keep readability intact on devices, brands will either
take out an emblem/symbol that used to be there or change the logotype
to sans serif, so logos end up looking very similar across brands,” says
Mira Malhotra, founder of boutique design firm Studio Kohl.
Just take the rise of fashion’s ‘little black dress’ logos, kicked off by Yves
Saint Laurent in 2012. Calvin Klein, Berluti, Balmain and Burberry also
unveiled stripped-down, black logos.

Part of the problem here is a tendency to fall back on what Ray calls
‘colour category codes’. For example, blue indicates trust, gravitas and is
usually associated with tech and finance companies. Red indicates
passion, energy and is often seen in the food space (Zomato, KFC,
McDonalds); black is linked to fashion.

“Newer brands don’t want to rock the boat. It’s easier to pick a colour
associated with their industry,” says Ray. “Some brands do break through
the clutter. The mint green of Dunzo really makes it stand out. Similarly,
neobank Jupiter uses coral, which distinguishes it from other fintech
apps.”

Colour equity — where a brand is associated with a certain colour — has

a role to play. When global brand consultancy Brandpie rebranded
Capgemini, they stayed with its original blue. “Within their competitor
set, Capgemini had a level of ownership over blue,” says Brandpie
creative director Scott Snashfold. “It was the colour they’re most
associated with, like Coca-Cola and red. That’s a powerful asset and so it
was important to double-down and retain blue within the logo.”

Screen fidelity

Widespread use of the sans serif font for digital because it’s cleaner and
more legible, especially in smaller spaces, has also contributed to
‘blanding’. Serif logotypes don’t work well enough in anti-aliasing (a
technique to smoothen jagged edges) and that’s maybe why they aren’t
used as much, says Malhotra.

But Snashfold believes this is a problem of the past. “Screens didn’t have
the fidelity they have today and sans serif was easier to digitise, so brands
and designers favoured it. But that is no longer an issue,” he says. “Today,
you see serif being used for headlines because it’s more distinctive, got a
bit more personality.”

Screen fidelity has also given designers the opportunity to play with
gradients. “Earlier you couldn’t do a gradient logo easily because you
would have to translate it into print and it would be easier to do one
colour or a couple of colours (but) that has changed,” adds Malhotra,
citing the Instagram logo.

However, some brands prefer to stick to spartan logos. That poses a

challenge. Take for example, ride sharing app Uber and home services
startup Urban Company. Although they occupy different categories, both
feature a similar black-and-white square logo, making the apps easy to
confuse on a mobile screen.

Attention on a mobile screen is definitely a challenge, says Snashfold.

“It’s almost impossible today to find a symbol that’s never been used
before in some shape or form and doesn’t have any connotations.”

Fit the purpose

So which way should the scales tip? 3D logos with character and
gradients (branding) or uncluttered, functional logos (debranding)?

Mahindra’s Bose says it depends on the brand. Since he took over as

CDO in mid-2021, Bose has overseen two redesigns — Mahindra &
Mahindra (Rise) and Mahindra SUV — and the formation of a new brand
identity (Mahindra BE). With each, he has adopted a different
dimensionality to convey either the brand’s heritage, its future outlook
or both.

For the ‘Copper Twin Peaks’ logo for Mahindra SUVs, Bose opted for a
3D format to convey a wealth of messages. A centre ‘M’ anchoring the
logo to denote 75 years of heritage; an outer ‘M’ to indicate an expansive
future and a revamped road in perspective to indicate opportunity. “The
best way to show multiple messages was through a three-dimensional
route,” says Bose. “Depending on how the light is falling, you’ll notice
different elements.”

Ray agrees; simplicity should not mean devoid of character. “You can
still show the personality of a brand through a simple design. If it’s a
jewellery brand, the logo should have some finesse; if it’s construction,
the logo could be bold. If it’s a food brand, it should have appetite appeal.
FedEx and SBI are great examples where the form/wordmark is simple
but has a singular great idea/story embedded to make it memorable,” he
shares.

Gaur believes some new trends, like custom typography or the use of
minimal but edgier colour palettes, could be the antidote to blanding.

According to Bose, “It’s a huge investment to change a logo. To change

back if it goes wrong is not only double the expense, but you’ve also
confused the customer in the bargain. What it conveys is that you aren’t
sure of what you are.”
What do current trends in logo design reflect about society?

Lowercase fonts

“Lowercase logos are more prevalent with startups. They tend to

humanise brands, make them friendlier but it’s a bit of a trade-off
because with lowercase logos, you can lose a bit of stature,” says Scott
Snashfold. Visual balance plays a role, adds Pratap Bose. “An O, L and an
A or a BE may look very different in mixed case. It wouldn’t translate as
well onto the product,” he explains.

Examples: Zomato, Blinkit, Rapido, TCS

Return to Serif

“Digital-first brands that use sans serif tend to come across as humanist
but functional, whereas serif adds a bit of character. The curves and
flourishes of a serif font mimic the human form, making it seem more
relatable. However, this is dependent on the medium,” says Arnab Ray.

Example: Burberry

Animated logos

“Almost every new identity comes out with a kinetic version of it, mainly
because of the rise of emoji, memes and gifs in popular culture and
digital conversation,” says Kunel Gaur. Logos that move or transform can
illustrate different aspects of the brand, making them even more
engaging, says Ray, citing MTV as an early example of this.