New Twitter Logo, BUT WHY?
Twitter recently unveiled a their new logo aimed at encompassing the brand in a single unifying mark, simultaneously abandoning the many other forms previously associated with it.
I didn’t even know this happened until I updated the app on my iPhone a couple of days ago, saw the change, and went “uhwhaaa?” I mean I get that it’s not a big deal, and the new mark is quite elegant, but I’m also not a huge fan of how twitter has abandoned many of it’s original “playful” branding for a more business-centric and “corporate” look. I can’t base this on “facts” or “real information”, because I’ve got shit to do, but just from using Twitter on a daily basis I’m getting the vibe that this place isn’t as corporate as it’s creator’s wish it was.
Here’s what’s trending right now in the Philadelphia area:
- #YouDontKnowStruggle
- #intdesignerchat
- #YourTextGotIgnoredBecause
- Finding Nemo 2
- 8 of the Biggest Marketing Faux Pas of All Time
- Toy Story 4
- S.S. Coachella
- Pretty Little Liars
- Rush Limbaugh
- Sam Claflin
I fancy myself a kind of amateur sociologist so I feel pretty confident in saying this: Twitter is more about entertainment and entertaining news than about serious issues. Yes, serious things run rampant as well, but they’re not nearly as interesting as Rush Limbaugh’s recent blunder of claiming the villain “Bane” in the Dark Knight Rises was named after Mitt Romney’s company BainCapital. I mean… WHAT AN IDIOT! LOLZ.
So what’s really bugging me about the recent identity change is how this place used to know it’s audience and now it’s basically cut ties with what made it fun and quirky and replaced it with a sterile welcome screen and very sleek iconography. The first thing to go was the fun clouds and bird illustration, now the logo. What’s next? If they get rid of the “overcapacity” error page all hope for the “fun” brand that was Twitter will truly be lost.
Far be it from me to question the marketing team of Twitter, but I’m sad to see all the fun branding that I associated with this company at it’s inception be tossed aside because more corporations and news reporters are on board. It’s fucking boring.
Check out the new brand page here: Click me
And check out the LA Time’s article on it here: Click me
About Jimmy
Eh, I understand why Twitter would want to shed the playful look. I think of several major news stories that broke first on Twitter — the death of Osama bin Laden, the Costa Concordia disaster and the Hudson River plane landing, just to name a few. Along with millions of other users, I was able to watch these stories evolve from a single tweet into a major breaking news alert on every network simply by watching the word spread in real time from my iPhone.
I think it’s all a matter of creating a world that’s relevant to you, using Twitter as an instrument to breathe life into personal interests and passions. Of course it’s naive to think that Twitter will ever rid itself of celebrity gossip and mind-numbing trending hashtags, but I can’t picture the creators wanting that to be the main focus of the medium anyhow.
Well said!
I still loved the playful brand when I came aboard, and I wish it had been kept. I also understand the need for brands to grow and evolve, and that this movement towards a more “corporate” identity was probably inevitable as the people behind it probably began to grow and evolve as well.
I think there is something to be said about how making a company appealing to everyone also kind of means appealing to no one. It’s kind of that Apple design aesthetic where “the design gets out of the way.” It’s interesting, but damn is it boring. I really fell in love with how creative Twitter was and the saddest part is to see them lose that creativity a little bit.
Oh well