AgileBlog

It’s Alive!

The days of the logo, as we’ve come to know it, are slowly fading. As we become more immersed in the interactive world of our multimedia devices, brands will have to morph to stay relevant…literally. The public was introduced to this on a large scale with the latest rebrand of Aol. The logo exists simply as white type on a white background, revealed only when various random objects and imagery pass behind it. This keeps the brand super flexible, proving to stay relevant as the world changes. The brand is no longer just a logo, but a reflection of the world around it. (Genius! But will it ever be able to save Aol?)

More recently, branding agency Wolf Olins has done it with their rebrand of Current TV, utilizing an ever-waving flag that translates just as beautifully on print as it does on screen. And it doesn’t stop there. This trend is becoming an increasingly more accepted way to approach branding projects as seen among some of the more exciting rebrands as of late, including the expanding blocks of PWC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), the empty space in Myspace, the refreshed TBS smile, and a growing list of others.

Although the idea of a “living logo” may seem like a novel concept, the idea is nothing new. As an avid collector of vintage design books, I stumbled upon a logo (predating 1966!) for department store Goods & Chattels where the objects left and right of the ampersand change out to represent new merchandise. And who can forget the Nickelodeon splat?

Despite the fact that this concept is not entirely new, it feels new. It feels “right now” because it hasn’t been until “right now” that consumers are fully able to experience brands on such an interactive level. Smart phones, tablets, LED billboards, flat screen TVs everywhere; people are constantly seeing brands in motion. Proving to be more than just a trendy solution, living logos now have the opportunity to be most effective, and will undoubtedly become standard practice in logo design.