After a thirty day challenge that promised a lot, the new Yahoo! logo stays “true to Yahoo!’s roots”, aka: whimsical, purple, with an exclamation point. The company considers that the new logo embraces the evolution of its products.
The new logo was designed by Yahoo!’s own team, formed by Bob Stohrer, Marc DeBartolomeis, Russ Khaydarov, and an intern Max Ma. The final result was announced with pride, by Marissa Mayer herself:
We knew we wanted a logo that reflected Yahoo – whimsical, yet sophisticated. Modern and fresh, with a nod to our history. Having a human touch, personal. Proud.
It gets better, as the company CEO goes on, explaining, in detail, the thoughts that inspired the final result: no straight lines in the logo because “straight lines don’t exist in the human form and are extremely rare in nature”; letters needed thicker and thinner strokes to convey the “subjective and editorial nature of some of what Yahoo! does”; the logo has “mathematical consistency” and so on.
The logo blueprint follows in the video below, which also features the iconic Yahoo! yodel.
What do you think? Brilliant branding move, or just meh?
Yahoo has worked with a number of agencies, including Golin-Harris, Peppercomm (who was fired), OutCast Communications & Hill & Knowlton among others.