AOL rebrands - new logo design

Aol rebrands. Graphic designers everywhere gnash their teeth and weep in sorrow for the unnecessary slaughtering of design principles. (ok maybe not…) Is this a rash move on AOL’s part… or branding brilliance in disguise?

Aol in Motion

First lets take a look at the brand in motion, it looks a bit strange as a series of still images.

I like the simplicity of the type of the logo, but it worries me that the dynamic and changing aspects of the brand only seem to come out via video. My first reaction to seeing the still image at the beginning of this post was WHAT THE F??? The still images of the logo look very amateur and elementary. Remember when you cracked Photoshop open for the first time? Text+image=logo…. right? I think the idea behind this branding is more clear in video format… but this is problematic since it will probably be displayed as a static image most of the time.

Lets look at some of the pros and cons of this redesign:

The pros:

It’s different: we didn’t expect this. It’s a bit off the beaten path and it grabs your attention (at least a designers attention…good or bad.)

It breaks outside the rules of traditional logo design, which could be a good thing.

The cons:

It breaks the rules of logo design. It’s not simple and easy to remember. It’s constantly changing.

It’s really different from the previous design. Good designs are often re-aligns not complete redesigns.

It does not yet appear to be a coherent identity system.

Who is responsible for this?

The new branding was designed by branding agency Wolf Olins (who seems to have a similar approach to their branding and logo…)

The new AOL brand identity is a simple, confident logotype, revealed by ever changing images. It’s one consistent logo with countless ways to reveal. Historically brand identity has been monolithic and controlling, little more than stamping a company name on a product. AOL is a 21st century media company, with an ambitious vision for the future and new focus on creativity and expression, this required the new brand identity to be open and generous, to invite conversation and collaboration, and to feel credible, but also aspirational. We’re delighted to have worked so closely with the AOL leadership team to create something bold and exciting that sets AOL apart,” said Karl Heiselman, CEO of Wolff Olins.

Read the rest of the press release over at Corp.aol.com

I see where they are going, AOL wants to shift away from the old dial up ISP days and move towards being an Internet portal much like Yahoo and Google. I think that the branding is only one part of this.

While I agree that branding can be perceived as controlling, I disagree that branding is a stamp on a products. There are lots of great brands out there that are flourishing within the bounds of their ‘identity standards’. VW, Apple, Zipcar, The City of Melbourne to name a few. These brand identities are in noway stuffy, stiff, or controlling. Its the rules within design systems that allow freedom. This design appears to be too far ‘outside the box’ to work as intended.

It will be interesting to see how far the branding system is taken when it goes live in December. I’m kind of underwhelmed by what i’ve seen so far.

What do you think?

Chime in in the comments below and let me know what you think.

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Posted in Graphic Design, Web 2.OH, design