It seems like we’ve written quite a few blog posts about logo changes. And honestly, we like it! It gives us a chance to see what was done, why, and what we can learn from them. Mastercard is no different. Last week, they introduced their updated logo. The word Mastercard was removed from their logo and now it’s just the red and yellow overlapping circles.
If you can picture their logo right now, you’re part of the 80% of people that could recognize the Mastercard logo without the company name. And that brings us to the first lesson we can learn from Mastercard. When you’re going to do something big like change a logo, research is so important. If they hadn’t done their research and the 80% turned out to be much lower, they would have made a big mistake. They also researched the ways consumers have evolved and took into account the way we all do things now – which is more digital. According to a press release from Mastercard, “the flexible modern design will allow it to work seamlessly across the digital landscape.” So, before you go and make major changes to your logo, do your research!
We also learned change can be a good thing. They’re evolving with the times and where we’re currently at. Oftentimes, we prefer images over text, so why not use that knowledge in our logos? Mastercard is joining a small group of companies with no name in their logo like Apple and Nike, so completely removing your name might not always be the best idea. But seeing what Mastercard did can encourage us to take a look at our current logos and see if anything could be updated. Changing or removing some color and dropping a few words that aren’t necessary are just a couple ways to update a logo.
Finally, seeing what Mastercard did reminds us how much you can learn from a company just from their logo. Obviously, Mastercard is a large, well known company and many of us knew who they were. But now, their new logo shows they’re relevant and willing to evolve with their current and potential customers. We know not everyone notices logos as much as we do. But if you are one of those people who pay attention to something like that, aren’t you more willing to do business with a company who looks modern instead of one whose logo is old and outdated? No, it doesn’t mean they’ll do a poor job at serving you, but depending on the business, it is something to consider!
We can learn a lot from other businesses just by watching what they do. Changing a logo for a company like Mastercard is a big step and we’ll continue to keep an eye out for how people are responding to the new look!
