Oct 1st, 2019 – Dad asks me to check his mails on his Yahoo Mail ID!
Me: Yahoo! Haven’t opened this in a while. Big news that it has got a new logo now.
M.R.K: Have you read about the new logo?
Me: Yes! Looks like Yahoo has a vision to own the future!
M.R.K: Why do you say so?
Me: The bold logo looks so confident, don’t you think? And moreover as they said, they wanted this to go with the new trends online, so have not refurbished an older version, but created a whole new one.
M.R.K: Yes, I have seen that too. What else?
Me: They have stuck to their earlier colour combination to portray their foundation stays where it was! And also, they have the exclamation that…..
M.R.K: (cuts me off) I have read all this online. Now, I want to know what YOU feel about it. Look at the logo once again, tell me something new that you’ve observed, not read.
Me: I guess the logo makers have covered everything in the explanation. I guess they have plans to use their trademark exclamation for merchandising as well.
M.R.K: For a while forget about what you’ve seen on the net. You just have the logo! Now tell me.
Me: Could you guide me on what to think about? I am blank inside!
M.R.K: What to think? (Laughs). You have studied branding, right? You know when a company wants to get a new logo or opts for rebranding. Come on, man! Apply that.
Me: Okay, let me see what I can get.
(After few minutes of deep thinking)
Me: You see they have inverted the colours here! Like the font goes white, and the purple in the background.
M.R.K: Okay. What do you make of it?
Me: Let us observe the second half of the logo! The two Os and the exclamation. As soon as I see the logo this parts catch my attention.
M.R.K: Interesting. And why do you feel so?
Me: Due to the inverted colors, white around and the dark solid circle inside, it feels like a pair of eyes! And not just normal eyes, but the ones that are deeply focusing on something.
M.R.K: That’s a nice observation!
Me: When you feel someone’s looking at you constantly, you tend to look back. It’s the same with this. I guess they replicate a customer-focused approach going ahead. As yahoo is planning to streamline its results and services to be more on-point with the customer needs.
M.R.K: Good. And what about that exclamation? That is a part of the second-half as well.
Me: Firstly, it adds to showcase the focus and surprises that Yahoo’s customers will be treated to. Also, the merchandising is not the only use for this. That shape at a tilt (22.5o angle) makes it unique. You cannot find a similar one on google image search, as all the known exclamations are usually perfectly vertical.
M.R.K: Yes, the uniqueness needed for brand association!
Me: Exactly! And this can be used in plenty of ways.
- It can be the rain from the clouds when you talk of weather (Yahoo weather)
- It can be transformed to a rocket aimed for the sky during Diwali! <Festival Greetings>
- It could be the raised hand of an enthusiastic student! <Yahoo answers>
- It could be the spoon in the ice cream, in the remote possibility that Yahoo enters the online food space! <I’ll call it FoodY!>
It gives Yahoo an immense possibility of expansion. And this is one important thing a logo for a parent brand has to possess – scalability to its multiple services or child businesses!
M.R.K: That’s good, man! You’ve done well in this assignment. Hold on to this mind-set of observing things from your end. That’ll take you a long way!
