6 Rebrands of 2019 that got the Design Community Talking

I know, I know it’s 2020 but I’ve been looking back on logo redesigns of last year, and I really wanted to write an article about them. We had some big ones (and will have more redesigns in 2020 no doubt) including Firefox, Staples and Zara to name a few. I thought I’d write a quick article to discuss some of the best from 2019. Leave a comment below and mention your favourite (or not so favourite, that’s OK too!) of last year.

1. Mozilla Firefox

A simplification was undertaken at Mozilla for their Firefox logo. It’s certainly got more modern traits of a logo, with elegant lines and some striking new colours within the symbol itself. A major change in their logotype is also a key feature of their revised logo. It has to be said, the iconic fox seems to be made way for more of a ‘swoosh’ shape. All in all, I think this is a positive rebrand and a much more sophisticated look over.

2. Zara

This Spanish apparel giant had quite a lot of people talking with their brand new wordmark. Four letters, and an already very stylish logo – what could go wrong? Well, designers around the world hated the new kerning of letters for the revised logo, mainly because of just how much the letters overlapped each other. It’s still, to this day, has a lot of people generally hating the new Zara logo and has been very controversial. Is it readable? Perhaps – just. The elegance and class of the old logo makes this re-design, or brand evolution, a negative one.

3. Staples

Another massive retailer, this time Staples, went a big rebrand after it changed it 25 year old logo for a much more literal design. Now, the literal sense of the staple stands beside the world… Staples, funnily enough. The CMO Mashall Warkentin stated that the symbol “is symbol of the commitment we are making to our customers.” And, many viewers, both designers and consumers were divided about the look of the new logo.

4. Slack

The rebrand of Slack uses a simpler colour palette and is generally trying to be more refined and scalable. But, is it? Has it actually gone backwards in its evolution? Many would question the new Slack logo, where the old logo does, in fact, carry more modern web-based traits than the new logo. The colours used in the revised logo look like a bit of a mish-mash of tones and hues.

5. Android

A lot of the cues behind the revised Android logo look to be based around the Google rebrand to make it more accessible. The famous Android robot character remains, but in a much more vibrant (and visibile) green colour. But my favourite part of the new logo is the typography used in the logotype. It’s so much better than the retro looking Android type of logos gone by. And, all in all, the logo does align much closer with the Google Brand.

6. Volkswagen

A new, sleeker look for automotive company Volkswagen could be considered damage control after the company has had so much trouble with emissions scandals. However, it probably also directs itself more towards the way of an electric, more streamlined future. Automotive companies are moving towards lower emissions, cleaner more purposeful lines and Volkwagen is just another one of those companies.