Medium’s new logo is punctilious
I fell in love with Medium in 2014 when it looked like this:
Stridently clean.
Clarity married to purity.
Letters formed from wide pillars.
Then, at the end of 2015, Medium updated its brand to appear like this:
And I wrote my thoughts in a response entitled, “I’m sorry”, which seemed to resonate with “the hearts” of 275 other Medium users.
Saved you the click and pasted my first impression of the green polygonal logo below.
I’m sorry. I can’t say I like the new logo. You did your homework, that much is true. The green pile of polygons that form an abstract “m” do not convey the beauty of the clear, black and white thinking that the former Medium logo conveyed. The new logo is not an obvious “m”. When I opened up my phone tonight, I said aloud, “Wha-” and then I realized it was the Medium app. The old logo was masterful; it exuded a brand with the intelligence of WSJ and the personal touch of Facebook and the simplicity of Google. If Medium continues to grow (which I hope it does and I think it will), I believe the new logo will not remain as it is to reach Medium’s next, next level. Just an opinion. On another note, watching Medium grow has been the most interesting story of a brand’s journey I have ever experienced.
I’m a logo nerd. So when a brand I love updates its logo, I drop everything and write about it.
Today, Medium updated its logo to this:
Sitting in Starbucks, I peel open my MacBook air, and load Medium for the day.
At the top of the browser, something new catches my eye. The first words out of my mouth were, “No way…”
This new logo is a spitting image of the old one.
The green Medium logo from 2091 is gone. The classic clean logo is back. The brand deities be praised; Medium is new.
But it’s different. Subtly.
The new logo is irrefutably reminiscent of the 2014 version. But what’s changed?
It’s less blocky. More heterogenous. As if the attitude and youth of Katniss Everdeen merged with the ancient English lore of Geoffrey Chaucer.
It’s medieval modernity. And evokes a paladin-like aura of “classical edginess.”
Writing under this logo, it inspires me to shred my t-shirt in public. I want to bare my body boldly. It makes me feel weird. But energized. I don’t know how to describe this.
While the oldest logo was stark and admittedly plain, and the green TIE fighter logo was disjointed and abrasive, this new logo is a breath of fresh mountain air.
It brings back the simple strength of Medium, a place where ideas are expressed and writing is honored. It’s time to think big thoughts.
Oddity is replaced with universality. Ambiguity with clarity. Zaniness with simplicity.
Thank you, Your Friends @ Medium and Ev, for this new logo. Good move.
The Medium saga continues and it continues to be a brand adventure I love to follow, with popcorn and soda in hand.
I’m excited to write under this banner.
Onward — but first, and also — could I get a t-shirt?
