Why every new logo looks the same
Rounded letters, one bold weight, no serif. Brands keep arriving at the same place. Here is why, and how to avoid it.
IV
Ines Varga
Design editor
Line up the logos of twenty recent start-ups and you will struggle to tell them apart. Most use a geometric sans-serif typeface, all lower case or all capitals, in a single heavy weight, often in black. It is not a conspiracy. It is the result of the same pressures pushing everyone in the same direction.
The pressures
Logos must be legible as a tiny app icon and on a phone screen.
They must work in one colour, on light and dark backgrounds.
Teams test several options with customers and pick the least disliked.
Designers look at the same inspiration sites and the same successful rivals.
A logo that fits everywhere often ends up belonging nowhere.
Each pressure is reasonable. Together they remove anything unusual: serifs vanish because they blur at small sizes, colour vanishes because it complicates dark mode, and quirks vanish because a focus group finds them odd.
How to stand out anyway
The most memorable recent identities keep a simple logo but add a distinctive system around it: an unusual colour pairing, a custom illustration style, a sound, or a way of moving on screen. The logo stays practical. The personality lives elsewhere.
It also helps to ask a different question in testing. Not “which one do you like?” but “which one would you remember tomorrow?” The answers are often surprising.
Three questions to ask before a rebrand
What does our brand do that nobody else does, and can the identity show it?
Where will people meet the logo most often, and does it need to be that small there?
If we removed our name, would anyone still recognise us from the colours and shapes alone?
The last question is the most revealing. Many strong brands pass it easily because of a colour, a shape or a way of writing, even if their logo itself is simple. Many recent redesigns fail it completely.
Simplicity is not the problem. Sameness is. A plain logo inside a distinctive world can be memorable for decades. A plain logo inside a plain world is forgotten by the next scroll.
“A logo that fits everywhere often ends up belonging nowhere.”
— Ines Varga
IV
Written by
Ines Varga
Ines writes about furniture, homes and the slow craft of getting objects right. She trained as an interior architect and still sketches every chair she reviews.
