Fixing a logo you no longer love

While some logos remain consistent over time, others need to be updated to reflect the current state of your business. There can be times where you look at your current advertising and realize you need vinyl signs with more relevance.

An article on Fortune recently examined some notable cases of redesigns that didn't quite have the desired effect. In some cases, simply changing a logo caused outrage because loyal fans no longer recognized the company they'd grown to love.

This can be seen in the fiasco that surrounded one of the companies mentioned on this list, Gap. The retail clothing staple existed for years with a very recognizable name and typeface, but shifted to black letters against a small blue box in the background. According to the article, the outcry that followed led to this logo lasting just one week.

Not all re-designs have to be this disastrous: Starbucks, which was also mentioned on the list, made a few minor alterations to its classic logo in 2011 that seemed to have been accepted more or less without incident. 

But of all of these, the logo controversy that is still stirring the most is Airbnb's curly new symbol, called the "Bêlo." Many have taken issue with the design, which some think looks vaguely obscene, and as a result the CTO of the company recently rushed to its defense.

Writing for Forbes, David Vinjamuri writes that this kind of defensive posture is exactly what businesses should not do when their branding doesn't go as planned.

"It reinforces the sense that the Bêlo video was a little precious and the company might be a little full of itself," he writes. "Airbnb would have done better to either admit error and withdraw the logo or acknowledge the humor without changing course." 

By taking this into consideration, your company can design custom logo decals and other visual signifiers that can promote high standards.