Jun 15, 2020
Cadbury's new logo costs millions — Here's a review and breakdown!
Cadbury spends millions on the new logo, here’s the breakdown.
Cadbury is one of the most popular chocolate brands, that you can find almost in every store around the world. The company was started back in the early 19th century by a guy called John Cadbury.
The chocolate pack on the left was first introduced way back in 1905, more than 10 decades ago, making the company 100+ years old as we speak right now. It is quite obvious that a company of this influence would need to rebrand to tap into the present-day generations.
Cadbury just rebranded; let's break down details you might have missed!
1. The signature logo
Put side by side you might assume the old logo looks exactly like the new logo, in fact, this started an outrage online amongst the design community one side saying the new logo looks lazy and the other side applauding the new design.
The new signature sits straight-right on the baseline, yet the old signature seems to be ascending off the baseline at an angle of about 15 degrees.
To best understand the “WHY” behind this design decision, I looked up the science of signatures:
I came across a number of articles, about handwriting. People who sign going up, what you would call ascending signatures to tend to have a sense of ambition, optimism, and creativity. Whereas people who sign straight on the baseline, what you would call straight signatures to tend to be emotionally balanced.
Bottom line: It could be true that the new logo captures a unique subtle balance between all generations.
Let’s move on to the Weight and Ligature
This went from a thick bold signature to a lightweight signature quite close to believable handwriting.
I want you to focus on these 3 letters d, b, and u. I went ahead to redraw the ligature between these letters.
The new signature is a bit more fluid when compared to the old signature. In this video, you will see me redrawing characters of the logo.
Let me explain; When connecting d, b, and u drawing the old logo, it is a bit tricky to achieve without lifting your brush whereas, with the new logo, it is a free-hand ligature all the way from d to u. Done with the logo, let us move on to the packaging.
2. The Packaging
Put side by side, the Dairy Milk product logo went from a normal weight serif typeface to a bold uppercase Sans serif. There are two most important things I want us to detail on the packaging.
The Hierarchy and Color Right off the butt, it’s super obvious on comparing these two packages that “the color and visual hierarchy didn’t change”
The color remained purple, right on top is the master brand, the sub-product brand comes after followed by the ingredient brand and the at the bottom is the flavor brand/name.
My interpretation: Cadbury the brand cuts across a number of generations — all the way from the Traditionalists to Gen Z. If you are familiar with the concept of photographic memory, its common people to shop without reading the packaging. If the brand happened to change the color or hierarchy, trust me, a lot of people would struggle shopping and to the company itself, this would have been a billion-dollar mistake.
One last thing I want to point out; on the Dairy Milk product logo. The two milk glasses were separated away from the word milk now pouring into the chocolate. Which I think was a smart decision freeing the ingredient brand away from Cadbury Dairy Milk.
I see a future where other Cadbury products with milk as an ingredient in them like Cadbury Creme Egg could use the flagship Milk glasses on the packaging.
3. Designer thought
I think this branding project is a success, for *(1) the design is contemporary, hitting the right audience, and *(2) it has preserved well the brand/business roots.
As a designer, I believe design can never be perfect, there is always room for improvement. And with that said; Here is what I would refine on this brand design.
Dissecting the Dairy Milk logo, the counter-form in the word “Dairy” is a bit unsettling for me. And I would consider getting rid of the ligature between R and Y.
Disclaimer: This is my opinion; you could presume a unique feeling towards this brand design which is completely indifferent.
I trust you’ve learned a thing out of this breakdown. If you interested in having a 1 on 1 chat, be sure to hit me a DM on my Instagram @wxyzana
