The Anatomy Of
A Successful Logo
Redesign
Belinda Lanks
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.”
The process, which the Brooklyn- and San Francisco-based designer outlines on her website, demonstrates the power
graphic design can have even (or perhaps especially) when handled with nimble restraint.
Here, Hische details every nip and tuck:
At first blush, the old and new logos aren’t radically different, except that the “M” now connects with the “a,” while “Mail”
and “Chimp” are no longer joined in one continuous stroke.