Luxury Brands that Have Gone A Different Direction
Every now and then, brands need a little bit of a revamp to brighten up their brand image. How do they go about this? Simple, by changing their logos. When undergoing changes within a brand’s logo, it’s often because of one of two reasons -- the brand has a new Creative Director or they simply want to change their branding to keep up with the modern market. What’s more exciting than bringing something new to the table? However, the issue with that is, what if your target audience likes you just the way you are, and have been for the last 20+ years?
Celine
We all know and love the accent mark of the infamous “Céline” logo but in 2018, the fashion house announced a new logo taking out their accent mark. With this huge shift, the brand signified an entirely new era that introduced Hedi Slimane as their new Creative Director. The accent mark on the ‘E’ was removed to simplify and proportion the brand’s name. The spacing between the letters were also balanced out, which brought more closeness between each letter. A simple change like this one left many brand followers upset and sad, mourning the leave of former designer Phoebe Philo. Many fans have said “only women can design for women”, expressing their lack of excitement for Slimane taking over.
Burberry
After 15 years of being the creative officer of British brand, Burberry, Christopher Bailey lost a sense of modernism and remained in the past, leaving the brand going down in the market. In 2018, Christopher and the fashion brand parted ways and the brand saw this as an opportunity to capitalize adapt to this new generation. In comes Riccardo Tisci, who previously was the Creative Director of Givenchy. Tisci changed the brand’s font from serif to a sans serif and also added a new monogram that read ‘TB’, which honored Thomas Burberry. This gave the brand a whole new image and brought it back up in the market.
Balenciaga
“. . . inspired by the clarity of public transportation signage,” said the brand of Balenciaga after changing their logo. Now, a timeless bold stamp for the brand will sit cleaner and can be read in a more legible manner. Although, it changes the brand’s heritage a bit, Balenciaga has gone in a more modern direction moving forward. With new handbag styles, Balenciaga has stamped it’s new logo on various styles. This attempt is a big step in the fashion industry and a great way to keep the brand fresh and up-to-date.
Who knew typography was something so analytical and systematic? Certainly not your average everyday people. With brands, however, typography and branding is everything. Days, months, and possibly years go in to developing and establishing a new logo. Although simple-looking, the execution takes a lot of psychology, statistics and marketing skills and I believe these brands are going the right direction.
cover image via Twitter