The current trend of brands reverting back to logos from bygone eras just goes to show that good design will live on – even after death.
Big name brands NatWest, Co-op & Kodak have all undertaken ‘retro-branding’ in the past year or so.
You may have noticed that in the current economic climate, banking adverts are focusing on values over offers. Partly because they simply can not afford to compete for business like they use to, but mainly to try to reestablish customer confidence in the banking system.
High street bank NatWest has gone a step further than most by reinstating a version of their logo from the 1960s, when your bank was local and it reputation unimpeachable. This is a distinct departure from the ‘flat’, clinical aesthetic that has dominated recent years and adds a texture and depth more aligned with its current trustworthy rhetoric.
Other brands have delved into their past to revive marques of old but have given them a distinctly modern twist. Taking logos that customers remember fondly and implementing them in a contemporary way. Both The Co-op and Kodak are examples of retro-branding that look as fresh today as they did when they were first launched.
We expect to see more retro-branding in the coming years, as more companies look to get back to their roots… just don’t expect a certain technology company to revert back to Sir Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree.
