Although they are related to each other, this time our main topic is not logomania! So what do you get when you remove the logo? Is there a need for a great graphic design to get a place in the mind of the consumer?
Until now, it was thought that there were a few concepts that made the brand memorable. The marketing tactics of the 21st century are after breaking the rules again. One of the concepts was logos created with a typography that would stick for decades. The other two are the colors or brand faces that are identified with the brands themselves. The last two are essential criteria especially for the fashion world. Harry Styles and Billie Eilish are only associated with Gucci. Kristen Stewart or Lily Rose Depp are Chanel girls, Anya Taylor reflects the spirit of Joy Dior, Lea Seydoux reflects the spirit of Louis Vuitton. As for colours… Tiffany&Co.’s blue, Hermès and earth-toned orange are among the ones that have gained a place in our minds enough to establish a connection between color and brand.
As long as visual-oriented communication tools dominate our lives, brands will continue to communicate on colors instead of logos.
It’s like we want to see Pedro Almodovar in every red in the cinema or Wes Anderson behind the pastel tones. For the Fall/ Winter 2022-23 collection, Pierpaolo Piccioli took the color issue one step further and collaborated with Pantone and chose his signature colour. Almost all of the clothes in the collection, the invitation, the show area, and Zendaya are dressed in this special color tone. Nobody called the letter V, Valentino. The new symbol of the brand was now the exclusive pink! Logos alone no longer make the brand visible, in short. It seems that the purpose of the logos to make a club feel like it was a few years ago. If we ignore the special collaborations, it is usual, like Fendi x SKIMS, Fendace and Gucci x adidas or Gucciaga! The aim here is to show that you own these special collections.
BOTTEGA GREEN, PRADA TRIANGLE
When Bottega Veneta stepped away from social media last year, everyone started to talk that it would be difficult for the brand to survive with this attack. As I said, the rules were changing. Bottega became a giant, taking refuge in the shade of green. He did not hide behind a logo. When we quickly moved forward two years, he made a similar breakthrough in marketing. Your brand new idea in the ’70s, about Andy Warhol, carried the campaign idea to 2022. The motto was: “Just my initials are enough.”
Bottega Veneta reinterprets the campaign created by Andy Warhol in the 70s. Originally, it simply said “When Your Own Initials are Enough” on white.
Albert Romanini, a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, says in an article he wrote: “The consumer now wants smaller logos and even avoids logos that are clearly put in our eyes.” The neatest example of this proposition came from Prada. By removing the Prada logo inside the triangle, which is one of the symbols of the Italian fashion house, it has begun to leave a hollow geometric shape in its latest collections. But this was not Prada’s only breakthrough. Miuccia and Raf did not forget to add a hollow triangle on each outfit as they quickly sent them to the runway. According to Lyst, the ubiquity of this signature has only tripled the search rate for the brand online. Moreover, Prada does this step by step. When the brand was first established in 1919, it had a magnificent logo. In time, they got rid of the gaudy emblems in the logo and proceeded in an increasingly minimal line. Prada was the last in the triangle. Now sometimes he’s not even there. Of course, the decision taken at the point reached today is also important from a legal point of view. Prada will be able to sue for copyright on products with a brand triangle on them.
MONOMASS: YOU ARE THE ONLY WE ALL!
Who is the only one? How can everyone move forward together? Around 2018, brands such as Burberry, Celine, Berluti, Balmain, and Saint Laurent left their classical typography behind and produced ordinary logos with a single font and size letters, which was started to be counted as just one example of uniformity in the fashion world. However, as time went on, we saw that this was not the only problem and the goal was to address a more minimal approach, so the importance given to the logo was thrown into the background.
According to digital consumer trends, the validity of virtual reality existence is not hidden in the logo. The story you tell and your stance on issues such as ethics and politics make a difference. Therefore, the font or logo design you use does not matter much. For this reason, all those magnificent or stylish characters have left their place to monotonous logos.
Collections such as Fendi x Skims or Fendace, and collaborations such as Gucci x adidas build their presence only on logos. For the consumer, these double logos are a real attraction!
British media researchers call the world of society and culture, which has changed its shape with political events such as Black Lives Matter, which has influenced the pandemic’s entry into our lives, affected society and fueled change, as the “Monomass period”. It’s about to be a recipe for the 2020s. In fact, the term indicates that two existing approaches can go side by side. On the one hand, we see the rise of individuality and the importance of everyone’s opinion and encouraging individuals to share their ideas. On the other hand, these singular voices grow like an avalanche and create a trend. When we all make our own voices, we can make a real impact by raising the volume. If we adapt this to the language of fashion and brands… By making logos the same, they do not cause their names to be deleted. On the contrary, they prefer to be part of a trend by creating a trend. Because today, consumers mostly avoid putting brands and big logos in their eyes. Moreover, the fact that their logos are a precedent does not mean that the stories they tell and the products they design are the same. They prefer to shout with what they do or say, and they prefer silence when it comes to the logo.
PRADA
Another reason why brands choose uniform logos is not to tire the consumer with complex structures. To be remembered with a single color, to aim to be more permanent in the minds of the consumer with easy logos. This is why many important and big technology brands in the world, from Spotify to Google, are going to lighten up. For example, there is no logo anywhere on the glass bags of Coperni, which is a candidate to be the next period’s it bag.
By removing Bottega’s logo, Prada exhibited a similar self-confident stance on the brand name. He built his campaign last winter on the phrase “Feels Like Prada – it feels like Prada”. Prada has carried this ad campaign to market stalls in Shanghai to cafes in Paris. The brand later said that this was due to its desire to get away from the world of fashion and capture a nostalgic feel. Here the goal is to introduce a mood rather than a name.
IS ONLY ONE COLOR SUFFICIENT?
Since the introduction of Instagram and TikTok into our lives, we have started to live completely visual-oriented. So no wonder brands invest more in catchy colors than logos. Which isn’t really new, Supreme, Hermès and Tiffany&Co. Since the day they were founded, they have built their existence with a focus on color, not logo. Bottega green and Valentino pink are also new additions to the game! Valentino’s pink has entered the lexicon as Valentino Pink PP, contrary to Valentino Garavani’s love of red, Pierpaolo Piccioli’s pink color is about to be patented, and Hedi Slimane is about to innovate in every brand she goes to. At least Piccioli waited almost 10 years for this, though.
During this period, Valentino’s designer Pierpaolo Piccioli created his own color with the help of Pantone. It is called Valentino Pink PP in the color scale.
All these colors stem from the efforts of brands to want to communicate more clearly. You may not feel connected with just the logo, but you can lose your heart to a new brand with the world of a color you love. In fact, Bottega Veneta expanded the idea and built his special application, which he developed in the absence of social media, on this shade of green. According to trend analyst firm Wunderman Thompson, colors will overtake logos as the fashion world continues to establish its presence predominantly on the internet. According to Wunderman Thompson’s report, “Colors can be transferred more easily in the digital world, they can be adapted more easily.
Born out of necessity during the Second World War, Hermès dark citrus tones and Tiffany&Co.’s blue have already taken a place in our memories. That’s the story! Even the color in Michael Basquiat’s work, which we saw in the Tiffany campaign featuring Beyonce and Jay Z, was used on an order from Tiffany. In the 2000s, Pantone even added Tiffany blue to its color codes. Last year, the brand announced that its color is now yellow by making an April 1 joke, and the internet fuss created a huge wave of fonts that Zara only changed. Because such a breakthrough alienates the consumer all of a sudden.
HERMÈS
ARE THE LOGOS STILL VALID?
There was a campaign that people using social media could not miss in February! BOSS announced t-shirts and sweatshirts with its logo printed on it, with photos of celebrities such as Hailey Bieber, Kendall Jenner and Lee Minho, and the hashtag #BeYourOwnBoss. Of course, these photos taken in front of a flat base were not selling a dream or a new world. However, it was giving the alarm that the name of the brand had changed and the logo had changed. BOSS was especially trying to lure the Z generation’s love of logos. This attack is not necessarily inferior to a logoless approach. Because the interaction he received on social media managed to put BOSS back in the league of the strongest.
BECOME A SIGNATURE
A few years ago, there was an ultimatum circulating on the Internet as a joke, supposedly shared by Chanel. “Chanel is the name of a designer, the name of a bag, the name of a perfume. However, we kindly ask you not to make a Chanel-like interpretation for every jacket you see in tweed fabric.” Not every coat we come across in winter is Moncler, and not every high-soled white sneaker is Alexander McQueen. Brands’ signature styles or signature products often replace the logo. Competitors or those who market fake products establish this misconception. Creating a signature style is the most important. Bottega Veneta’s green Little Jodie bag was the third most searched item on the internet last year. There is no brand logo on the bag. But Bottega’s unique style, knitted pattern increases the brand’s awareness.
It’s a relatively new brand. But how many of you directly think of the Jacquemus logo? Instead, the first time you hear the name of the brand, you picture yourself on the coast of Southern France, in Hawaii or in lavender groves. It’s not the size or visibility of a logo that matters! Creating a signature style and dreaming will continue to be a marketing tactic that will never get old.
TIFFANY&CO.
Article: Aykun Tasdoner
Photos: Imaxtree.com
Taken from ELLE Turkey May 2022 issue.
