LOGOMANIA

A logo is tangible evidence of what a brand wishes to be known as. It’s less ambiguous than a brand’s inferred ‘aesthetic’, which, despite being forged through season after season of collections, can often only be distilled into several vague adjectives. A logo, on the other hand, is a certain thing. A logo is sure. Unwavering. Absolute.

What happens, then, when a logo changes?

Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Burberry, and Balmain’s new logos favour heavy-lined, sans-serif flats and a bold-faced rendering that attempt to wipe out the past and start on a clean slate. While Alessandro Michele’s Gucci leans into counterfeit culture with an irreverently misspelled “GUCCY” emblazoned front and centre.

Regardless of the intention, today’s logos are made vehicles for creativity, engendering a whole new genre of printmaking and artistic interpolations. Welcome to a brand-new logo-manic universe that’s less concerned with what you remember to be true, and more preoccupied with the unseen, the unknown, and the familiar made a tinge unfamiliar.