When was the last time you thought about your logo? If you can’t remember, it may be time to consider a logo redesign.
The process of updating your brand’s visual identity is one that many companies undergo every few years, whether it’s to keep up with the times, fit into a digital world, or to signal larger changes company-wide. In this article, you’ll learn when it may be time to redesign your logo, how to go about doing so, and some famous examples from which you can draw creative inspiration.
There are several reasons why you may think it’s time to redesign your company’s logo:
A successful logo redesign serves as a great case study for your business. What did these companies do right that you can emulate in your redesign? These examples can help you see precisely how a successful logo redesign is done. To learn more about logo evolutions, check out Namecheap’s guide on what you can learn from famous logo evolutions.
The fast food joint delivered a fresh new look in early 2021 to further enforce the brand’s commitment to quality food, taste, and even healthy choices. Embracing logo trends at the time with a retro-inspired design, Burger King made great use of color to inspire thoughts of condiments, fresh veggies, and of course, beef.
To move in this new direction, Burger King dropped the blue swish in its old logo, which implied an artificial element that the brand wanted to move away from. They also wanted to appeal to an audience that spends more time online than ever, so they made practical changes to the logo and other design elements so they can be used successfully on social media and websites.
The internet powerhouse has kept a core element of its logo, the word Google, intact throughout multiple logo redesigns. Holding on to this wordmark helped the brand retain the trust it has built between end users and its productivity products — particularly its search engine. The most recent iteration of the Google logo is no stranger to this core concept, keeping the Google name while utilizing its unusual order of colors in multiple aspects, which is a deliberate nod to Google’s disruption of the tech industry and the world at large. It’s a great illustration of retaining brand values while keeping up with the rapid pace of the 21st century.
The credit card company successfully moved to a simplified combination mark without giving up its core elements. The new logo retains the overlapping circles but moves the wordmark underneath and scraps the overlapping lines in the center. Retaining these core essentials was, well, essential for a brand that has built the trust of its customers over decades of work in dealing with their sensitive financial information. In this case, the colors were kept the same and the general shapes were retained, but elements throughout, such as the typeface and the location of the wordmark, were updated to better reflect a changing world.
Learning what not to do while redesigning your logo is just as important as seeing successful examples. Here are two famous cases where logo redesigns were not received well by the loyal customer base.
The ride-sharing app underwent a major overhaul in 2016 when its founder and CEO, Travis Kalanick, stepped down after a controversial tenure overseeing the company. The rebrand was cumbersome and complicated, changing within each region the app operated. The drastic switch was not well received by customers, and the brand eventually reverted back to the black and white look its users had grown to expect from the brand.
The classic clothing brand made an infamous change to its logo in 2010, when it drastically changed the font and logo shape placement to create a completely different look that barely connected to the old design. The reaction from customers was swift: So swift, in fact, that Gap reverted to the two-decade-old “classic” look less than a week after the new logo was unveiled.
Undergoing a redesign requires carefully assessing every element of your logo to determine what gets tweaked, what completely goes, and what stays unchanged. These steps in the logo redesign process can help you prioritize these changes and make big decisions about these seemingly small adjustments.
In addition to redesigning your logo, there are two other main ways to make changes to your brand’s visual identity: a logo refresh and a rebrand. In short, a logo refresh focuses on a renewed look and feel to your logo, while a rebrand strips your brand visuals back down to basics, even revisiting your brand’s mission and vision, to create something entirely new.
A logo refresh will retain similar visual elements while giving them a fresh new look. This may involve updating the font, adding some refinement to logo shapes, or replacing a certain color with a similar one. The result will look similar to your current logo, but more appropriate for the current times. It’s more common for a brand to pursue a refresh before they pursue a rebrand.
A rebrand touches on every element of your brand identity, not just your logo, and makes some significant, drastic changes. All visual elements tied to your brand will be affected by a rebrand. Core mission, vision, values, and overall branding and marketing strategies will be addressed in a rebrand as well. The result will look drastically different from your current brand identity, including your logo.
In this video, we'll show you how to redesign your logo for free using Namecheap Logo Maker.
A free logo maker is just the ticket to begin experimenting with what a logo redesign could look like at your company. Namecheap’s Free Logo Maker lets you create unlimited versions that you can use to play around with the elements of your logo that work for your business and change those that need updating — all without opening an account. The logo maker takes you through typeface, shape, and color options to help you build a logo that’s simultaneously timeless and a reflection of the new era your business is about to enter. Visit Namecheap’s brand design maker to learn more about Logo Maker and its companion services, Site Maker for websites and Card Maker for business cards.
When redesigning a logo, focus on making small adjustments to your existing logo. It’s important to keep some familiarity in the design so you don’t lose brand recognition. For example, instead of making dramatic changes to the color scheme, you could simply adjust the existing tones to be warmer or brighter.
Redesigning your logo is most commonly about addressing an outdated logo design. A logo redesign can be a great way to give your brand a fresh, modern look. Other possible reasons for a redesign include a change in the business (like a merger or the introduction of new product lines), a desire to improve brand reputation, or changes in your target audience.
Yes, you can use AI to redesign your logo. Tools like Namecheap’s Logo Maker utilize AI to generate unique logo designs. Carefully review any logos produced by AI to ensure they match your vision for your brand and make additional adjustments to the design if necessary.
The cost of a logo redesign can be as little as zero dollars. If you use a free logo maker online, you won’t need to pay anything for a logo redesign. Larger companies often work with a design agency, which can cost thousands of dollars to complete. Another option is to work with a freelance graphic designer, which typically costs much less than working with an agency. Regardless of how you plan to redesign your logo, don’t forget to account for the costs and effort associated with updating your logo on websites, business cards, and other promotional materials.
Namecheap’s Logo Maker is the best tool to design logos. You don’t need any coding skills to use it, and you can create as many logos as you want for free. Logo Maker walks you through the process step by step and makes it easy to edit and download your unique logo designs.
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