Deutsche Bank comes to mind as a timeless classic. I think that as a trend it is getting a bit old, but there are still a lot of brands putting minimalism to good use. I won’t get into the discussion on whether the minimalist approach is good or bad. I kind of liked the old logo, and some time will have to pass before the change sinks in. I will not lie: I am not a fan of this change. Once again: invisible when small but it will stand out when enlarged. The icon does neither, so you are left wondering what was the purpose here.Īlso even with horizontal alignment, the old logo does a better job.Īnd there are some details overlooked. With similarity you would make the corners sharp, and add some horizontal movement. With contrast you would highlight the curves and roundness. Knowing that, you could go two ways with the icon: contrast or similarity. The new typeface, Graphik, is all about being horizontal, with flat stroke endings and some sharp corners. This created a consistent dynamic with the mountain visible in the brandmark. You see, the old typeface was quite quirky, with diagonal lines pointing in every direction. What really bugs me though, is the interplay between the wordmark and the icon. Kerning is pretty tight, but it is a common, if unnecessary, practice in logos. Fortunately Basecamp dodges this bullet by displaying the logo pretty big on the screen. Still, the grotesk typefaces, like Graphik, often have the problem of poor legibility in small sizes. Also, if a typeface is used throughout your company’s visuals, it is often a good idea to use the same font in your logo. But it is pretty subjective, so let’s leave it there. You might argue it looks a bit bland, because typefaces of this kind have been heavily overused over the last couple decades. It actually seems to be a pretty popular Helvetica look-alike, with some big names using it (Accenture). There is nothing wrong with it typograhy-wise. It is gone now, replaced with Graphik, by Christian Schwartz, also used throughout the app and BC’s website. The previous version utilised Whitney typeface by Hoefler and Co. But if someday someone decides to print the logo on, say, a conference stand, these details will come out in all their doubtful glory. And, fair enough, things I write about are not visible at small sizes. The shape of the icon being stroked also means that verticals and horizontals have the same weight. This is acceptable as a sketch for a logo, but as a final design, this is simply sloppy work. The outer borders of the icon were actually made by applying a stroke. The reason for this is because no one actually took time to work on them. The joints seem neither rounded nor sharp, which creates confusion. Circles show points with missing handles. The differences in thickness of the highlights indicate that the curves are not smooth. At the bottom the curve actually looses all roundness, creating a big flat area.īC’s icon’s curves highlighted with Speed Punk. The arches at the top and at the bottom are lumpy. And if curves are on full display, type buffs simply have to check them out. It is so frugal, that the quality of the bezier curves is really visible. The new icon has been stripped of any details, leaving a bare, black-on-white mark. Usually in this segment I will not be talking about the graphic side of a logo, but this time an exception has to be made. I will do my best to review them from a typographic standpoint. Until now that is, because a few days ago Basecamp performed an unannounced re-branding.Ĭhanges include a new icon, and a new word-mark. We have virtually never been surprised by anything, negative or positive. One of BC’s qualities used to be that the creators were always very forthcoming about any upcoming changes. Me and my team have been using the app for around two years now, and it has been a joy. Basecamp’s functions are highly intuitive, and any cons I could point out are few and far between. BC’s website boasts 3 million accounts already signed up, and, I can attest, for a good reason. Many of you know this brand, as Basecamp stands among the most popular project management apps currently on the market.
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