Is less always more?

Well I wouldn’t go that far, but yes there has been a lot of solving all problems with minimalism, hence today’s corporate ID solutions. Question - why is this happening? Could the answer be - (but first, are you reading this post on your mobile phone?) there is your answer - the smallest of screen capacity combined with the shortest of attention spans (us humans). The ease with which the human can read quickly and absorb information is more often with a minimalist approach and therefore the use of sans serif for logo design is today commonly used.

Let’s look at this through the eyes of some curated company logo solutions. I found this grouping on a post I recently read which I thought was a good sampling for this topic.

These samples give one an idea of the attempt to transfer an ‘older concept solution’ on the left and convert it to a ‘newer more modern concept solution’ on the right.

When you compare the design changes, you must not forget that they should first serve to solve for the specified audience within the creative brief.

That being said, with the redo of the recent company JAGUAR logo, you must ask - who is the audience: are you? your parents? urbanites? college students? the ‘nouveau riche’ … ? These are just some of the questions that need to be answered before you can give an educated opinion.

If you indeed come up with the decision that the targeted audience is for example: attracted to quietly bold visuals with attractive but more possibly feminine/trending inclinations, so be it. And maybe your art directors agree with your direction - as we see here in The JAGUAR brand/logo look redesign. I would then ask, could there not be the possibility to incorporate some ounce of personality? Is the only solution to go towards non-descriptive? pure minimalism?

Another possibility about the JAGUAR rebrand/logo design, is today’s need for flexibility in where and on what will the logo appear. The more the places and the more diverse the sizes and ‘surfaces’ on which the logo will appear - the more it makes sense to go simple and typographically sans serif.

Coincidentally, in a recent Domtar publication - Paper Matters - an article discusses the different colour palettes which attract different audience ages. According to it, millennials enjoy - orange which represents energy and pink which has become less specifically female crossing borders (so to speak). Therefore, could the JAGUAR’s audience primarily be the millennials?

I located an example of what I consider a better solution, combining both the needs for today’s devices and the various global challenges - the company TOAST - to quote their website definition - a restaurant point of sale and management system that helps restaurants improve operations, increase sales and create a better guest experience. If you think about it, it needs to accommodate its digital component as well as acknowledging the end user = for people to eat ‘real stuff’.

There is a tie-in that should be mentioned which is the importance with the associated design and structure of the icon. For this dimension we will save that for another time, though note how well both the type design of the word mark and the symbol/icon agree with each other.

Never negate this visual importance.

My often used inspirations are derived from the review of the use of type and its individual forms presented for each letter - providing for the designer a start to their journey of iteration and solution.

Here, they used a typestyle which has ‘soft curves’ and therefore is easily associated with food. Not choosing a capital letter to begin the word enhances ‘familiarity’. If you take a close look at the letter a, the irregularity of the letter width in the bowl where the juncture hits the stem, begins to create character. This can personify the irregularities of food - it needs to be appetizing not perfect.

For me I would say, that creating a little more ‘uniqueness’ could better demonstrate the psyche of the brand, as well as command more recognition through its uniqueness.

Utilizing nuanced components within your brand logo helps to create a unique visual identity which reflects the objectives of your brand.

In many of today’s logos, the recent trend is towards minimalism. Is it an all or nothing proposition? Personally, I don’t think so.

— the brand auditor —