Small Tweak in Logo Marks a Deeper Shift at Facebook

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I wonder how much time, money and manpower was spent making the "new" logo.

“This is actually a huge change and it’s much more than the ‘a,’ ” said Howard Belk, co-chief executive and chief creative officer of Siegel+Gale, a branding firm that’s part of Omnicom Group. “It’s driven by mobile.” “Now that we are established, we set out to modernize the logo to make it feel more friendly and approachable,” Facebook creative director Josh Higgins said in a statement.
 
I can't imagine how many hours upper management spent in meetings over this minor change.
 
Probably a lot, it seems irrelevant but they wouldn't spend money if they didn't think their image mattered.
 
“Now that we are established, we set out to modernize the logo to make it feel more friendly and approachable,”

A minor change in the font makes it look friendly and approachable? It actually looks unfriendly and offensive...
 
I'm not sure which bothers me more; The fact that companies like this spend incredible sums of money on extremely minor changes to their logos, or the fact that most people are such small minded buffoons that changes like this actually mean something to them.
 
i assume left is the old and right the new logo. i honestly couldn't tell. so much for brand recognition, but i may not be the target group.
 
While it seems minor and trivial, tiny details like this actually can matter when you think about the scale of something like Facebook. If 1% of users have even a tiny bit more positive impression of their logo, that can affect lots of things. Ditto for the reverse.
 
It's not so much the logo change, but the way how they are spinning it which makes me wonder about Facebook's ambition over making its own walled garden mobile platform.
 
Bet that none of you know the fed is requiring all states to change the font on road signs in order for it to be easier to read from a distance at speed. The difference isn't even that dramatic.

I heard if the states didn't do this they lost their funding.

Moral: Fonts matter, or they wouldn't have spent the money.
 
Now this is a logo change.

mtv_0.jpg
 
Actually, I want to bring up something only somewhat related to this.

I am trying to teach my 5 year old the alphabet. Why are there 3 god damn different ways to make an "a"?!?!?

Any why in the hell can't kids books agree on using the same letter a???
 
Bet that none of you know the fed is requiring all states to change the font on road signs in order for it to be easier to read from a distance at speed. The difference isn't even that dramatic.

I heard if the states didn't do this they lost their funding.

Moral: Fonts matter, or they wouldn't have spent the money.

Are you talking about the change from Clearview to Highway Gothic? or the earlier change from everything in caps to Clearview? The earlier change is clearly a bigger one, but there are still significant differences between the two modern fonts: HIghway Gothic has a lot more diagonal ends on letters.

I don't think states have to go replace their existing signs or lose funding, it's just that they have to use an approved font for making future signs. Caveat: signs do need to generally be replaced about every 10 years due to wear.
 
Look! They updated the font "to make it feel more friendly and approachable."

tumblr_inline_mmb6019YjC1qz4rgp.jpg
 
God its huge, I cant imagine anything bigger after this.
 
"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced."
 
I'm not sure which bothers me more; The fact that companies like this spend incredible sums of money on extremely minor changes to their logos, or the fact that most people are such small minded buffoons that changes like this actually mean something to them.

It has nothing to do with being 'small minded'. Things in logos/advertising/etc like colors, fonts and other design choices often have a subliminal effect on a persons mood or perception. It's not always something that can be verbally articulated. When you're a company as large as Facebook, those things really do matter.... which is why you see companies spend huge piles of cash on seemingly small changes. You may not 'get it' or understand why, but it is an actual thing.

While it seems minor and trivial, tiny details like this actually can matter when you think about the scale of something like Facebook. If 1% of users have even a tiny bit more positive impression of their logo, that can affect lots of things. Ditto for the reverse.

x2
 
It has nothing to do with being 'small minded'. Things in logos/advertising/etc like colors, fonts and other design choices often have a subliminal effect on a persons mood or perception. It's not always something that can be verbally articulated. When you're a company as large as Facebook, those things really do matter.... which is why you see companies spend huge piles of cash on seemingly small changes. You may not 'get it' or understand why, but it is an actual thing.



x2

I'm aware of why it's a thing..and that why is why I think people are small minded buffoons. Honestly if a small font or color change makes you feel better or worse about a company, that is just unspeakably shallow.
 
Untitled_1.jpg


Bam... saved all companies billions... send check to me now!
 
A minor change in the font makes it look friendly and approachable? It actually looks unfriendly and offensive...

I don't like the new one, the old one seemed more "firm" and uniform, the new one just looks....blah.
 
Actually, I want to bring up something only somewhat related to this.

I am trying to teach my 5 year old the alphabet. Why are there 3 god damn different ways to make an "a"?!?!?

Any why in the hell can't kids books agree on using the same letter a???

If your five year old doesn't know the alphabet by now, you have bigger issues than people using different styles for a.
 
If your five year old doesn't know the alphabet by now, you have bigger issues than people using different styles for a.

To be perfectly fair, I don't know that we have enough information regarding the situation to make that determination. The same applies to the change in Facebook's logo font. I would assume that they spent considerable time and money researching the change and that their research led them to the conclusion that this was a change for the better, but it could just as easily have been because the new version of Office didn't have the old font anymore...
 
Now this is a logo change.

mtv_0.jpg

Ummm.. all they did there was cut off the bottom of the M, remove the outline of the V that went outside the M, and then scale it.

That is NOT a logo "change" by any means. That took all of maybe 30 seconds to do.
 
Ummm.. all they did there was cut off the bottom of the M, remove the outline of the V that went outside the M, and then scale it.

That is NOT a logo "change" by any means. That took all of maybe 30 seconds to do.

Oh.. and they took off the subtitle because they decided to not be a music channel anymore. That was the only reason I ever watched it. Once they changed, it was complete crap.
 
Bet that none of you know the fed is requiring all states to change the font on road signs in order for it to be easier to read from a distance at speed. The difference isn't even that dramatic.

I heard if the states didn't do this they lost their funding.

Moral: Fonts matter, or they wouldn't have spent the money.

Fonts matter when they are used on a road sign, making them easier to read. This can enhance safety for everyone as people will have road information at a farther distance and be able to plan their actions (lane changes, turns, etc.) sooner. I think this is a pretty reasonable and logical assessment.

Fonts don't matter or substantially contribute when the change is to, "feel more friendly and approachable". The idea and actions of the company are important, not what font the logo is in. Unless they change their corporate culture along with it, its the same crap with a different label. Fascism isn't any more appealing as a political policy or more "friendly and approachable" by spelling it out using Comic Sans MS.
 
That is NOT a logo "change" by any means. That took all of maybe 30 seconds to do.
Also the "TM"... that could've taken a lot of time and money and may've been the bigger reason for the change, because legally they couldn't use the old logo.
 
Less bold, different a & b. Not revolutionary, likely a subset of the brands font. Bold is am emphasis, so I can see why they feel thinning it would be "less aggressive".
 
I'm aware of why it's a thing..and that why is why I think people are small minded buffoons. Honestly if a small font or color change makes you feel better or worse about a company, that is just unspeakably shallow.

Guarantee things like this influence you more than you know.

I know, I know, you call shens...there is no way someone such as yourself could be so simple minded.

But the fact is, you're wrong, and it does influence you. Whether you want to believe it or not.
 
i assume left is the old and right the new logo. i honestly couldn't tell. so much for brand recognition, but i may not be the target group.

I was so un-sure of the change, I had to keep glancing back and forth like I was seeing double, and I still didn't realize the 'a' was different until I read about it.....how ridiculous.
 
:rolleyes:
we set out to modernize the logo to make it feel more friendly and approachable

I can't roll my eyes hard enough. It's fucking text; Unless you're illiterate, it's not any more "approachable" than the previous iteration.
 
Guarantee things like this influence you more than you know.

I know, I know, you call shens...there is no way someone such as yourself could be so simple minded.

But the fact is, you're wrong, and it does influence you. Whether you want to believe it or not.

Wrong. I can guarantee the text on a logo doesn't mean a thing to me. As an example I usually buy off brands. I'm concerned with unit prices and product composition. If the ingredients are the same in relative quantities I buy the cheaper unit price product, I don't really care what the logo looks like. My primary concern is the product, the packaging doesn't matter (as long as it's sturdy enough to fit my transport and storage needs). I view prices as $/lb or $/oz., not $2.99 for a package.
 
"More friendly and approachable" is a great euphemism for selling sex.
As you can clearly see, they went with a skinnier font.

And I'm only half joking.
 
"Now that we are established, we set out to modernize the logo to make it feel more friendly and approachable"

Hole lee she it. Their fresh projected image enables synergistic collaboration of shareable paradigms!
 
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