Let’s Take a Look at the New Yahoo Logo and Branding

When we think of the modifications that companies implement to excel, the temptation might be to concentrate only on changes they make to their personnel and product lines. However, a branding alteration can prove a big boost to business, and the new Yahoo logo is looking to do that for an entity that has fallen on hard times this decade.

Yahoo's new logo from @pentagram is (still) meant to look like it should be be yodeled. https://t.co/5fUmTmopzD pic.twitter.com/jbd3OpjcZR

— Ad Age Creativity (@creativitymag) September 24, 2019

The web services provider debuted its updated identifier yesterday in a move that The Verge signaled as its attempt “to remind you that Yahoo exists.” Continuing to up the snark quotient, the article notes that the first transformation of the symbol since 2013 “lacks the personality” of its predecessor and calls upon a lowercase, sans-serif type that “makes it resemble a startup that’s just bought its first print ad campaign on the subway.” Ouch! While one can ponder the efficacy of trying to counter Google’s dominance, the Yahoo logo deserves respect not only for its role in striving to prevent a monopoly but also its design principles and color elements.

As noted earlier, enterprises must take many measures to stay captivating to consumers. It is easy to chide Yahoo as a place to visit only for the outrageous comments sections in its articles, but the powers that be still believe in the model that Jerry Yang and David Filo incorporated in 1995. Therefore, the Yahoo logo serves to capture “the exuberant personality of the brand” and reimagine it for the future. Such ambitious sentiments take their inspiration from the angled “y” and “!” that tilt at 22.5 degrees and work, according to Pentagram—the company behind the redesign—to support “various platforms and scales, from the small canvas of a mobile app to the side of a building.” Purpose is always great to evaluate, but in an especially color-crazy period, what about addressing the shades that the Yahoo logo is enlisting?

On that matter, we must admit that we chuckled when seeing that “hulk pants” was part of the secondary purples that Pentagram used. Appreciation for hues aside, we are interested in seeing what the enhanced Yahoo logo could inspire for the company’s overall identity. The Verge and TechSpot noted that the modification will also factor into Yahoo Mail’s identity, but what else could come as the now 24-year-old business exists as a, if you will, millennial? What does its overseers want for it to become, and will consumers greet their concepts with yodels or snores?