NOTE: This is an archived version of the first incarnation of Brand New. All posts have been closed to comments. Please visit underconsideration.com/brandnew for the latest version. If you would like to see this specific post, simply delete _v1 from the URL.
Update / 09.14.07: It has been brought up to everyone’s attention, through the comments, that I used the wrong logo as the “After” image, rendering the rest of the post somewhat moot. I explain how I ended up with the “After” image in the comments. Even though I could change the whole post so that future visitors would not see the mistake, I would rather embrace the actual events and leave as is. The correct logo is in the comments as well. Apologies to our beloved readers for the oversight.
Web 1.0, if you will, left an indelible mark in the field of identity design: Google, eBay, Yahoo, and, of course PayPal. Logos that are more used, seen and interacted with than Nike, Apple and Starbucks’. A world (wide web) without any of these in their current design state would likely cause an implosion of confusion. Yes, I am afraid these logos will never change. PayPal, however has recently tiptoed into a new identity. Not that anyone would notice. According to this “behind the scenes” blog entry, hundreds of designs were reviewed, but ultimately, and after testing with customers, the internal brand team decided to stick with something painfully close to home. And now, with a new logo in place, the hard part begins, as “there are millions of logos that need to be updated”. So as a service to the millions of users out there that have a PayPal logo on their web site, I have put together a handy guide for how to make a smooth transition into the new logo. Experience with horizontal and vertical scaling of type is necessary; please do not attempt if you have never fidgeted with the proportions of a carefully designed typeface.
STEP 1.
Place old and new logos side to side. Assess.
STEP 2.
Delete outer stroke, and retain inner shapes of old logo.
STEP 3.
Establish an x-height between logos, use the P.
STEP 4.
Overlay logos (red, old / blue,new) for reference.
STEP 5.
Close the tracking and fudge the kerning. Reeeeally fudge it.
STEP 6.
Screwy, huh? Now the fun begins: Scale each letter of the old logo to the following, irremidiably irregular and senseless specs.
STEP 7.
Add a ™, change the color in Pal, and you are ready!
ALTERNATIVE.
You can download new buttons and thingamajigs here.
Jump to Most Recent Comment
Geof Harries’s comment is:
So that's how the pros do it!
On Sep.12.2007 at 11:51 PM
matt’s comment is:
i just threw up in my mouth a little, but it was very convenient!
On Sep.13.2007 at 12:29 AM
pedro’s comment is:
Interesting production steps and a "how to" demo. But overall whats the point from before and after. Does this help the brand and ultimately all the money and time to invest for this change. Notice some odd letterspacing (a-y) too. Would love to seen some of the other hundred ideas or at least the ones tested.
On Sep.13.2007 at 12:38 AM
Daniel’s comment is:
the kerning is REALLY bad.
On Sep.13.2007 at 02:44 AM
Blake’s comment is:
Wow, somebody has a lot of free-time, or missed a deadline writing this one up. Funny stuff. Kerning ain't all there...moreso, I'm not understanding the reason behind this re-brand. Is it even a re-brand? Seems pointless to me.
On Sep.13.2007 at 07:53 AM
elliot100’s comment is:
I hate to nitpick, but given you've matched the heights of the Ps in step 3, you don't need to vertically scale them again in step 6 - the other scale factors need revising as well. Sorry.
On Sep.13.2007 at 08:03 AM
jj’s comment is:
This is the best post ever. So funny. Yet so sad at the same time.
On Sep.13.2007 at 09:44 AM
Ty’s comment is:
You've really outdone yourself this time, Armin.
I actually respect the step that PayPal has made with this one. Their logo is recognizable and equitable, so it's a given they won't change as much as any designer would like. But they are moving away from 1.0 to a more professional brand that translates well to other media besides web.
It's an update reminiscent of the About.com update (which I might add was much more poorly done than this), and is more indicative of PayPal maturing out of its nascent .com infancy.
On Sep.13.2007 at 10:10 AM
DaveE’s comment is:
To me it's very "VISA" like. Looks like just another credit card brand. Not much to notice, not much to remember.
There is one thing though--All the versions I've looked at on the PayPal site and the "new buttons" page seem to have slightly rounded corners. Anyone else notice this?
On Sep.13.2007 at 10:28 AM
Bb’s comment is:
The new logo so close to being a great next step for PayPal. Too bad money can't buy good kerning.
On Sep.13.2007 at 10:35 AM
Peter Marquardt’s comment is:
"We need a new logo"
"OK..."
"Let's take this one that's basically our old one, but messed up"
"Why...?"
"Duh! Because we need a new logo!"
Von Glitschka’s comment is:
Splashman’s comment is:
You nailed it, Von.
I see zero value in this change. They went from a 1.0 to another 1.0. "More professional" and "maturing," Ty? Please explain.
Ditto all the comments on the kerning of the a-y pair. After my initial "WTF", that was the first thing I noticed.
If anything, the "new" logo is a step backwards. Echoing Peter, this has to be the most inexplicable makeover I've seen on this site yet.
On Sep.13.2007 at 02:40 PM
Armin’s comment is:
> I hate to nitpick, but given you've matched the heights of the Ps in step 3, you don't need to vertically scale them again in step 6
Elliot. Darn! I thought I had it all figured out. You are absolutely right. I usually trust my smart guides in Illustrator, but I probably pulled a little too hard on it. So, let's assume that I was wrong 0.028% vertically. Still.
> Wow, somebody has a lot of free-time, or missed a deadline writing this one up. Funny stuff.
Blake, it wasn't that bad. From 10:30 to 11:30 pm. No clients were hurt in the process. But it would explain my 0.028% margin of error.
On Sep.13.2007 at 03:03 PM
Drew’s comment is:
Uh, hey guys.
Maybe I'm missing a joke . . .
If I am, I don't want to ruin the party or anything but . . .
That's not the new logo.
I'm not even sure where you got that thing.
The story is right but the logo that you've posted is not even the logo on that blog, nor on their new site, nor the logo on their new buttons.
If you're gonna rip on it, rip on the right thing:
If I get a chance, I'll try to string together the actual story about how this logo came about as it did come through our office here at HA.
(and was later redone or modified by the client - I'm not sure)
But please, please - get the right logo!
On Sep.13.2007 at 03:09 PM
Splashman’s comment is:
Yes, Drew, you're right. It's hard to tell the difference on the tiny versions in PayPal's "logo center," but the slightly larger version on the blog entry is definitely missing the pointy stuff. Drew, where did you find that larger version? And Armin, where did you find yours?
The mistake doesn't make a whit of difference to this conversation, IMHO. Most of the comments here are still applicable and appropriate.
Armin, I assume you're busy applying poultry embryos to your visage?
On Sep.13.2007 at 03:38 PM
David’s comment is:
What´s the fucking point?
Yes, it´s not the greatest logo ever created (it may be VERY far from that) but this is a simple marketing adjustment towards a more professional and less 90´s appearance of Pay Pal. In regard to what they were aiming for i dont see why the redesign should not be a success. Obviously the designer wasnt given the opportunity to start from scratch.
Ty’s comment is:
Splashman,
On the whole, professional-looking corporate design lacks outlines and gradients (some gradients are nice like, AmEx). By moving from the outlined, gimmicky 1.0 nature of the first logo, it is no doubt a step toward more professional design. By no means am I saying that it is now the standard-bearer of professionalism.
Is it a great makeover? Not really.
Is it any good on its own? Certainly not.
Is it more professional and mature relative to the previous logo? Indeed.
On Sep.14.2007 at 10:21 AM
Jon Dascola’s comment is:
So after following all of Armin's specs, just add a stroke to the logo and click those little "round cap, round join" buttons. Hope that clears up the confusion between the two logos.
On Sep.14.2007 at 02:58 PM
Prescott Perez-Fox’s comment is:
I wonder what the uptake will be for this new logo. Considering how many people like bloggers have a PayPal button on their site, I have no doubt their old logo will live on through the years. Personally, I find the white one easier to read.
On Sep.14.2007 at 03:51 PM
Dan’s comment is:
Hey Armin, not wishing to be too much of a pedant, but in step 3 where you talk of establishing the common x-height, you use the 'P'. That's an upper case letter. I would've thought such a fundamental wouldn't slip past you so easily. Any fule kno that the x-height is always referencing lower case letters.
Point of pedantry over.
On Sep.14.2007 at 04:23 PM
Dan’s comment is:
Hey Armin, not wishing to be too much of a pedant, but in step 3 where you talk of establishing the common x-height, you use the 'P'. That's an upper case letter. I would've thought such a fundamental wouldn't slip past you so easily. Any fule kno that the x-height is always referencing lower case letters.
Point of pedantry over.
On Sep.14.2007 at 04:23 PM
Armin’s comment is:
> That's not the new logo.
Drew, darn, again. Another right call of my wrongness. So to illuminate how I ended up with the wrong logo...
1.
I was looking all around for a bigger version of the logo to post in the opening image, since everything on paypal.com was tiny. So tiny I hadn't even noticed the rounded corners.
2.
I turned to brandsoftheworld.com and the second option, uploaded on September 2007, looked just like the tiny things on this paypal page, what with the yellow gradient and all. I was surprised that the logo would already be up there, but I assumed that paypal may have wanted to disseminate the logo more quickly.
3.
Hence I ended up with the wrong logo.
4.
So... You can ignore my sizing diatribe.
5.
A correction will be made on the main post. Apologies for the misleading information. And thanks for the correction.
> Any fule kno that the x-height is always referencing lower case letters.
Dan, I had just done a style guide recently and I had the "X=Subjectively decided Height of logo" thinking cap on and wasn't referring to the typographic x-height, which you are right, is the height of the lowercase. Thanks for pointing out.
On Sep.14.2007 at 05:18 PM
Splashman’s comment is:
Ty: By your definition, the new is "indeed" incrementally "more professional" than the old. If the old is 1.0, the new is 1.02. Color me unmoved. While I happen to think the "old" is superior to the "new", I won't waste your time or mine arguing a subjective definition.
Dan: I (and likely many others) noticed the same thing, but I understood what Armin was trying to communicate and didn't think it worth whining about.
On Sep.14.2007 at 07:44 PM
Scott’s comment is:
Von Glitschka and Splashman have expressed exactly my thoughts. A few minutes ago I went to PayPal's website to transfer some money and immediately noticed the new logo...and wasn't impressed. I searched for an explanation of the new design horror and found this entry. What were they thinking? Maybe an outlined font isn't the hippest design in 2007, but substituting a squishy-looking rounded corner design that looks like the product of a freshman design major is hardly an improvement. Where on earthy are you all getting this "more mature" and "more professional" feel? Sure, it looks like they just ripped off Visa's new logo (as Dave mentioned), but turning their old typeface into a Comic Sans or Arial Rounded-esque font has prevented them from even keeping the sharp, electronic image that Visa's aimed for with their rebranding. My conclusion? PayPal's new logo is a total flop.
On Sep.15.2007 at 10:29 AM
darrel’s comment is:
That logo sucks as much as Ebay/PayPals software and customer service suck.
On Sep.17.2007 at 10:34 AM
l3utterfish’s comment is:
which do you guys think is the FONT used in the new new logo.. the latest one posted in the comments?
On Nov.07.2007 at 03:53 AM
Dave’s comment is:
Sorry that excuse is lame, stay after class and write 1000 words on: "Round corners - do they exist and if so why can't I make them"
1. Type PayPal in verdana bold italic, good size.
2. Rasterise
3. Select all, feathered (depending on scale say, 15pt for a 1000px wide logo)
4. Fill selection with any colour
5. Reselect, unfeathered with a reduced tolerance
6. on a new layer fill selection with 003366 and 336699 respectively
7. Accept that buying and selling anywhere carries risk and the biggest cause of online transactional problems is people that don't bother educating themselves about these risks factors and the processes that are put in place to avoid them.
On Nov.07.2007 at 04:47 AM
TheUprock’s comment is:
Dave, are you serious? Rasterize a brand identity redesign? Pass that crack this way, buddy.
And if you're going to point out an error, try to be a bit nicer guys, and not so accussing. We're all only human...
On Nov.07.2007 at 12:09 PM
Edzo’s comment is:
Hey all, got this page looking for some peepal logo for a client. Please remember people, these changes are done by managers, or worse, executives. Do I REALLY have to elaborate on that?
The best way to make a killing without killing yourself when doing any kind of redesign is to take what they have, brush off the dust, spray it with something shiney and collect your dough as they OOH and AHH over it.
Besides, the logo's not the problem, they name is. GayPal, PeePal, HeyPal... got a dime?
Personally I'd like to get money from a company like MoneyBitch. I'd be like, where's my Money Bitch? But no, instead I have to ask my PAL!
I once worked for a company who's name sounded like "Empty Tortoise" They did a logo redo too.. and guess what? Looked just like the old one and they shelled out 10 grand for it.
That's when I quit.
On Jan.22.2008 at 06:36 AM
Comments in Brand New, V1.0 have been closed.
