Have you seen the latest logo buzz in the industry? It’s Yahoo!’s newly unveiled logo which is much more ‘plain’ than how we used to know it.
Now in a word, it’s boring. Much more boring than how it used to be. Let’s all agree how Yahoo!’s former logo was more iconic. We’ve known it since the 90’s when we started learning about the internet and Google was still an unknown entity in the world wide web.
From a personal, visual, and graphic perspective, the logo change is unideal. Having worked on logos for quite a while, these visual elements are about identity and recognition and frankly, this is just another Y among the sea of sans-serif letters we always see. The original logo was more iconic. The playful “Y” was more friendly in every aspect. But the question comes to mind, must it be playful in the first place? What’s the core brand message it conveys anyway?
Yahoo! makes the world’s daily habits inspiring and entertaining. By creating highly personalized experiences for our users, we keep people connected to what matters most to them, across devices and around the globe. In turn, we create value for advertisers by connecting them with the audiences that build their businesses. via
It feels like it wants to appear a lot more serious but at the same time friendly by way of an vertically arched type treatment making the outer letters Y and O subtly bigger. Not to mention that tilted exclamation point which is all rounded. The color preference also appears to be more mature. I feel though as if this is just a ride on the hype of very very minimal type logos – you know, the one which feels like they were just typed, only a little more personalized. But hey, maybe that’s the (exclamation) point.
Yahoo!’s been around for 18 years now and surely we’ve seen and used it for a number of reasons. Standing by its mission/vision of delivering the world to us in our own created and personal digital experience (basically), maybe something more generic and bland isn’t such a bad idea to be a basis of, is it?
But I think this is more than just a simple change of logo (it better be!). Honestly, I have been using Google ever since it’s boom years ago. Given that Yahoo! didn’t initially hold our YM ID’s which we used to chat pre-Facebook, do you think we’ll still have these Yahoo! mail accounts? I think this is more of an attention grabbing stint to chase some eyeballs starting from the very first logo of its 30-day challenge. They need the media mileage.
And while we’re at the topic of comparing Y! with G, this logo shift, might be more of a desire to copy Google’s personal and versatile use of its logo to further support their stance to deliver that personal digital experience. Below are some of the Google Doodles for reference. You can check more here.
More than just an iconic Y!, Yahoo might actually want to own the word Yahoo in our heads more than ever, just as Google is now a term, hence a plain look. Its agenda might be to rid of the iconic Y and simply make the word/type represent in every simple, fun, or complicated way, specially in a digital age where typing the name of a brand onto those URL bars via your own devices, might play a role in branding and recall. If Google can make it with a simple serif font, then twist it to whatever they desire whenever, why can’t they? If this adds value to bringing a personal experience, then it might be a smart move after all.
The internet has not been very kind to logo changes. But more than just to please the millions hovering and potentially even trolling online, I believe Yahoo! actually knows what it’s doing for the benefit of its brand. From a business standpoint, this logo change might actually do the company good by, first off, bringing in more views and buzz over what’s Yahoo!’s next move, which it has now accomplished.
As a human being, nostalgic and resistant of change by nature, the new logo still does not ‘connect’ with most of us, myself included. I’m not a fan of that bevel shading. And hearing the yodel alongside the new logo is rather… well, feels a bit wrong, am I right? Nevertheless, we’ve yet to see if this step will work in a few weeks and months. After all, they know about the brand and business more than we do, so time will definitely tell.