Dear Medium: Your New Logo…Sucks. Here’s v3.0
Note: This medium post was published 3 years ago (Oct 2015). It was in reference to the now defunct green logo that Medium had temporarily switched to. The current logo is fantastic…I’m a big fan.
It’s hard to accept change. New UI’s, rebranding efforts & complete product overhauls are common place nowadays & well…expected. And while sometimes hard to accept & sometimes absolutely thrilling, overall — Change is good. Change is a catalyst for discovering the unknown & occasionally finding a way of doing, living & experiencing things in a better way. Even when change is right, it’s often met with a small chorus of curmudgeonly reactions & a whole lot of foot stomping…followed by quiet acceptance by the naysayers.
But, change for the sake of change, is not always necessary. Today I throw myself into that grumpy old man group & say “I hate your new logo”. I know, I know — hate is a strong word (perhaps I just dislike it, like I dislike drowning, catching on fire or pizza stains on my white t-shirt…there’s really just nothing nice about it). Your old logo was powerful & evoked with crystal clear clarity what your site was about. It was elegant & sophisticated. Your new logo, while certainly a lot of thought & hard work was put into it, feels sophomoric & lacking character. The meaning & soul has been sucked right out of your logo & it’s left looking devoid of any connection to your product or a strong brand.
Oh — & it kind of looks like an “N” with a polygonal pattern overlay. Just sayin’.
To me, “Medium” means a platform for people to be heard. A voice for all. I’m Medium. You are Medium. We are Medium. Why not express that in your logo? When it comes down to it, the original “M” logo was perfect. But, if you really wanted to refresh, why not simply tweak the wonderful logo you had & embed additional meaning into it to describe your service? Marry the letters “I + M” to represent the user’s voice in “I’m Medium”. Simple & not too far off from the original.
This hastily assembled logo proposal may very well suck in the eyes of others, just as the new logo isn’t very appealing to me. However, in my humblest of opinions, it strikes a deeper meaning. I’d love to hear what others think of the recent logo change & perhaps have other designers offer up their creative interpretations on a Medium logo refresh.
All that said, kudos to the hard working design team. Seriously. I may not agree with the outcome, but, I appreciate the serious planning & process that went into the design. It’s not my intention here to criticize the skill level of the designers or the thought process of the company leaders whom ultimately selected this new logo. I just wanted to share a user’s opinion, for a user based company.
