Boring logo design: How not to stand out

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Have you noticed that logo design has become predictable and boring? 

To conform to user- and device-specific accessibility norms, many designs — from logos, websites and apps to cars and gadgets — look the same. 

Some call this approach “blanding”: sanitized branding that follows copy/paste replicable patterns at the expense of authenticity. 

I call it dull, monotone, devoid of originality and inhibited. Too intimidated to try something new. 

We have lost our aesthetic oomph in design.

Even Jaguar stopped roaring and got rid of its leaping jaguar.

Now, look at prominent, well-established brands and their newly introduced logos. Many have exchanged their charming typography with a bland, unremarkable mishmash that blends in rather than stands out.

They have switched their logo typography to identical semi-bold, sans-serif, all-caps fronts. 

Judge for yourself: 

Notice a pattern?

You, on the other hand, don’t need to comply. Your logo can be colorful or not, original and daring. But it should be unique because you want to explore fresh approaches to compete 

Bottom line: Don’t fall in line. Dare to be different. While a minimal and bland logo design serves everything and everyone all at once, it constrains creative possibilities and brand differentiation.

And you want (and need) to stand out.

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