The road of design is covered with bad ideas, poorly executed and heavily financed by misdirected corporations that have money to burn. After a long streak of success in the apparel market, the clothing company, The Gap, decided to redesign its logo to counter slumping sales. It’s a common pattern: market leader loses vision, faces new competition that is lean, innovative and hungry, society changes along with consumer preferences, sales slump, and then someone decides to redesign the logo.
Company executives often look to change in the logo as a way to make their own mark. Many designers will jump at the opportunity to redesign a logo, whether it’s necessary or not, simply for the attention that follows. In The Gap’s case, the logo redesign was done silently and announced publicly without warning to consumers and the media. As soon as it was announced, there was an immediate uproar proclaiming that the new logo was a mistake. The Gap and the agency that was hired for its rebrand were thrown into damage control mode, pointing fingers and covering up the mistake, saying that the new logo was launched to find out where the public stood on the old one. After a management shake-up, The Gap quickly returned the logo to its original design.
