Burberry has a ‘new’ logo
A leap backwards for a brand that moves forward (Prorsum)
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Turns out you can take a backwards step for your brand to move forwards. This is exactly what Daniel Lee, the new Chief Creative Officer of Burberry, has done for good or bad, but hopefully good.
To preface this, I’m just focusing on their new logo as much of their brand and other distinctive assets are likely to stay the same, but time will tell. Their reveal of the updated visual identity did also include photos, taken by photographer Tyrone Lebon of many well-known British faces like rappers Shygirl, John Glacier, and Skepta, plus models Liberty Ross and Lennon Gallagher, along with actress Vanessa Redgrave and Chelsea midfielder, Raheem Sterling. But so far that’s all we have to go off.
So what I’m going to do is break this into the GOOD and the BAD and maybe take a stab at what I’d have done.
Let’s start with the good.
THE GOOD OF THE LOGO
Right off the bat, this new logo is obviously more aesthetically pleasing, is more likely to captivate your attention and as a result will probably do a better job of recalling the logo when thinking of the brand, even if it’s a bit intricate for my taste. But all positives.
Objectively, keep your distinctive assets close and be unwavering in keeping them without the need to change them — or at least not far enough that they lose their distinctiveness. This goes for logos, colours, icons, patterns, packaging, mascots and more. Refine where necessary but keep the essence of what made it distinctive in the first place, present.
Subjectively, going back to the ‘‘Equestrian Knight Design’ (EKD) icon was a good choice for the direction of the Burberry brand.
