Idea #117 - Why Does Julius Pringles Look So Sad?

In recent years, some of the world’s biggest companies have forsaken the depth and detail of their logos. They have made the conscious decision to “debrand”. From Burger King to Burberry, multinational brands are deserting the complexity of their logo and migrating to a much simpler, minimalistic one. But what incited this landslide of logo debranding?

Today we watched Bloomberg’s analysis on the same to understand this trend in building brand identity. Some of the primary reasons for this shift are -

1. The pressure of a mobile first design - in an attempt to shrink a brand’s entire identity into a little box, it becomes essential to eliminate any excess software-rebetted intoxication.

2. Maturity - the logos of many of the top brands today were a result of playful experimentation amid the rapidly advancing design softwares. This has, in the current scenario, led the companies to return to sobriety - toning their logo down, from cartoonish to corporate, flamboyant to flat, and wacky to bland.

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3. Changing trends - logos are as vulnerable to trends as any other facet of a company. However, a less detailed logo also makes it easier to incorporate seasonal changes in the face of the brand when needed.

Despite these justifications, we believe that depriving a logo of its details takes away from the brand personality the very essence of what the company stands for. The term "debranding" is a perfect phrasing for this decision. After all, do we all not miss the spark in Julius Pringles’ eyes?

Written and Curated by Arya Kastwar