The Anatomy Of A Successful Logo Redesign

Familiar logos are like overly attentive suitors: They’re so naggingly present that their charms are lost to you–until, one day, they’re gone. Then you realize just how much you took a shine to that Gap, Tropicana, or American Airlines icon. The replacement logos only serve to remind you of what you liked before everything changed.

That’s how we usually react when a brand is overhauled–we notice only the “bad” redesigns. But occasionally, a company’s logo undergoes such a subtle transformation that it’s barely noticeable, even though if you were to compare the old and new, you’d see an actual improvement. That was the case with Mail Chimp’s recent revamp. The online marketing service commissioned graphic designer Jessica Hische to make their logo look more modern without drastically redirecting it. Writes Hische: “They just wanted a facelift–one of those classy facelifts that make your friends ask you if you’ve been sleeping better lately or lost some weight because you look like a more vivacious version of yourself and not like a different person.”