Click through the gallery above to see our round-up of the brands that have changed their logos over the years…
Companies that have changed their logos
As Google causes all sorts of drama by releasing its new logo, we look at brands that have updated their designs over the years, and the reception those changes have received. The conclusion? CHANGE IS SCARY AND WE DON’T LIKE IT…
by Aby Dunsby
Have you still not noticed that Google changed its logo yesterday? Go on, Google it… The all-seeing, all-knowing cyber lord has ditched the ‘serif’ style of its former incarnation and opted for what it describes as a ‘simple, uncluttered, colorful and friendly’ new logo, made out of a bespoke typeface called Product Sans. Wow, the new Google looks so pretty and carefree that you almost forget that’s it’s an all-knowing, ultra powerful entity that probably knows what you ate for lunch in 1995.
Gap
Back in 2010, Gap changed its logo for the total of one week, but the new logo was met with such horror that it was quickly changed back to the original one, which the company had been using for the past 20 years. If it ain't broke…
BP changed its logo in 2000 from a green shield with a yellow ‘BP’ emblazoned on it, to the round green, yellow and white ‘sunburst’ which its says represents Helios, the sun god of Ancient Greece. It also looks a lot like a spirograph you might have produced when you were 8.
BT
Ah, the running BT man of our youth! From 1991-2003, BT had the same recognisable logo of the blue BT and a red and blue man known as ‘the piper’, which is actually a bit sinister when you think about it – remember the Pied Piper. He wasn't someone we'd like to connect with. Which might explain the move to a more modern/boring logo in 2003.
Airbnb’s new logo met with a media backlash when it was released, with many slating it for its phallic qualities. We always thought it looked light a nose, actually. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Sigmund Freud.
Apple
Apple’s logo has, and always will be, the simple apple with a bite taken out of it. Right? Wrong. Its first logo was designed by Ronald Wayne, and depicted Isaac Newton sat under a tree with the apple about to fall on his head. Which is far more clever, but wasn't helped by the fact that the logo looked more like a picture from an ancient encyclopedia than it did a modern symbol of technology. It only stood the test of time for a year, before Steve Jobs commissioned someone else to come up with the recognisable apple logo.
In perhaps one of the most subtle logo changes in history, this June, Facebook changed the ‘a’ in their logo, although it still made the headlines. If you didn’t notice, you were probably too busy stalking your ex on Facebook and gawping at their new holiday pics.
Square Mile
Waheeey! We had our very own logo change back in 2006, ditching the blue 'SM' for the immensely sleek, slick 'square mile' logo. It definitely had everything to do with us moving with the times, and nothing to do with all those calls we kept getting from people asking if we sold nipple clamps…
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