The Subway rebrand
6th October 2016
2016 seems to have been a year for rebrands, from the Cooperative reverting back to their nostalgic identity to Instagram simplifying their icon, there definitely seems to be something in the air; and Subway are no different. The fast food giant have recently revealed their new brand identity which has caused mixed reviews.
Continuing their flat design look, they have scrapped the italic, introduced both colours opposed to just the green and served up a geometric font. As well as in keeping with their long logo they have also introduced a very successful adopted style amongst other brands and created a secondary ident using just the ‘S’ in their logo, which utilises the two arrows on either end of the general identity to create a white space for the ‘S’ to sit.
Thoughts?
Mixed reviews in the reasoning for some design decisions and somewhat confusing in places. Such as their secondary ident, the curved edges on the inner parts of the logo that create the inner part of the ‘S’ is quite old school and almost cheapens the brand. Not looking for opportunities in their logo but shoe horning it in even if it doesn’t work. They have obviously tried to copy the ingenious Fedex logo, but not quite pulled it off as well. The italic retraction, although italic isn’t the most attractive of features in typography, the movement feel of their old logo fit well with the ‘fast’ nature of their fast food USP, which makes it confusing in their reasoning behind the geometric introduction. However, the two directional arrows ultimately creating a big ‘S’ is brilliant. The inners may need crafting a little more but the idea and colour palette doesn’t step too far away from their original identity, keeping consumer recognisability but moving with the times. What do you think?
