logo explorations
m iniso
MINISO miniso
logo explorations
M INISO m iniso
logo explorations
case studies
UBER:
Ride-hailing app Uber’s attempts to improve its public image have now extended to yet another full rebrand of the business, including a new logo which ditches the all-caps look for a simple ‘Uber’ written in a custom-designed typeface.
The clean new appearance seeks to place past travails firmly in Uber’s wing mirror and will sprout everywhere that the Uber icon currently appears such as its Twitter account, website and mobile app.
To harmonise its estate of Uber will also rebadge its Uber Eats division with the same lower-case look in the Uber Move font, championing the capitalised ‘U’ to signify the business at a glance while retaining the familiar jet-black backdrop.
It last rebranded in February 2016 to show it is a “fundamentally different company”. Now it appears to be doing that again. Below is the old branding. n a statement, an Uber spokesperson told Mashable: “We’re excited to unveil a new, simplified logo for the Uber app that brings back the U, is easily recognizable, and is scalable across the 660 plus cities we serve.”
Uber’s new look also reflects a desire for it to be known as a ‘platform of mobility’ by ending current confusion sown by a symbol on the current Uber app which most customers fail to associate with the firm.
The redesign process took nine months to conclude and was aided by brand consultancy Wolff Olins together with type foundry MCKL.
Earlier this summer Uber appointed its first chief privacy officer as it continued efforts to clean up its brand.
DUNKIN DONUTS:
Established in 1950 with a single store in Quincy, MA, Dunkin’ Donuts is the world’s biggest baked goods and coffee chain with more than 11,300 restaurants worldwide — 8,500-plus in the U.S., 3,200-plus across 36 countries. This week, the company announced it would be changing its name to Dunkin’, dropping the Donuts part. For the record, it will still sell donuts. A new identity has been designed by Jones Knowles Ritchie, as part of Dunkin’s new agency appointments along with BBDO New York and Arc Worldwide.
The new branding conveys the company’s focus on serving great coffee fast, while embracing Dunkin’s heritage by retaining its familiar pink and orange colors and iconic font, introduced in 1973. Beginning the first of the year, the new branding will appear on packaging, as well as the company’s advertising, website and social channels. Going forward, the new “Dunkin’” logo will also be featured on exterior and interior signage on all new and remodeled stores in the U.S. and, eventually, internationally. The brand tested the new logo extensively, including on exterior signage at Dunkin’ locations featuring its next generation design concept over the past year.
Retaining the familiar pink and orange colors and iconic font that were introduced in 1973, the new branding will appear on packaging, as well as the company’s advertising, website, and social channels. The new Dunkin’ logo will also be featured on exterior and interior signage on all new and remodeled locations in the U.S. and, eventually, internationally.
I’m taking a not-too-wild guess that one of the key drivers of this change was the popularity of Dunkin’s coffee offering and avoiding any possible confusion to new customers as to whether only donuts are served. They remedied this in the early 2000s when they annexed a coffee cup to the wordmark but it has always looked like an unfortunate appendage to what is otherwise a new-classic American logo. Now there is no more coffee cup. And no more “Donuts”. Just Dunkin’. The biggest update to the logo is making the apostrophe pink in keeping with the well-known color palette. Any major changes — made at the same time as dropping “Donuts” — would have probably yielded catastrophic backlash. So, all things considered, this new logo is pretty great. The challenge is wrapping one’s head about the name change.
Where they might be pushing their luck is shortening Dunkin’ to DNKN’. I kind of like the boldness of it and it’s undeniably recognizable but I wonder if it somehow hurts the brand at this point — like, what else is going to go missing? They lost not just “Donuts” but also all the vowels? I’ll admit, though, those cups look great.
The rest of the packaging and graphics are not a drastic change but instead build on the rounded sans serif visual language that has been in play for many years and they now double down on it with a little more simplicity. The instances where the type goes at a 45-degree angle in a pattern are really nice. Overall, this update positions Dunkin’ somewhere between the higher-end aesthetics of Starbucks and the accessibility of McDonald’s — if you ask me, that’s a pretty sweet spot to be in. Adopting a single-word name will increase the brand’s flexibility as it continues to dominate its market and, probably sooner than you think, will most like spawn lifestyle-ish apparel and other covetable items that I don’t think would have been possible with “Donuts” weighing it down.
problem identification
Made in China, High quality products, with questionable brand identity
If you want high-quality and affordable products through a wide range of product categories including cosmetics, home goods, digital accessories, stationery kitchenware and much more under a single hood, yes you are at the right place, Welcome to Miniso. Miniso is a Chinese retailer and designer brand specialises in house goods and cosmetics founded in 2011 by a young Chinese entrepreneur Ye Guofu and co-founded by Japanese Designer Mr. Miyake Junya. Headquarter in Guangzhou, China under the company called Aiyaya.
Miniso has won the hearts of many by providing affordable products, cute and trendy in colours, and varied range of products, from fuzzy room slippers to a usb cable. It has achieved amazing sales due to their amazing “three high, three low” business model: high efficiency, high technology, high quality; and low price, low cost and low margin. In 2018, the company’s sales revenue reached $2.5 billion.
However, even after gaining immense success worldwide there’s still speculation about Miniso’s true brand identity and it’s originality.
Miniso claimed to be a famous Japanese brand, despite operating in Mainland China and had no outlets in Japan. Then there’s the name. In Japanese it’s written as Meiso but in English it’s called Miniso. It claims to have found success in Japan with the name “Meiso” but it apparently, does not exist in Japan. Well, actually that’s not completely true. The spirit of Meiso can be found in three of Japan’s largest retailers – Uniqlo, Mujirushi Ryohin, and Daiso – in it’s eerily similar design to all three.
First the brand’s logo should be instantly recognisable to people living in Japan and even to some in other countries. When one first enters a Miniso store, the first thought that crosses our mind? Is it Uniqlo? From the logo to the ambience and way of displaying their products, seems like a brand that comes under Uniqlo.
Inside the Meiso shops we can find shelves lined with “authentic Japanese merchandise” using not so authentic Japanese labeling. It has been criticised for using grammatically incorrect Japanese script or mixing Japanese and Chinese script. For example, Kurenjingu Zao (face soap which uses the Japanese katakana word for “cleansing” followed by a Chinese character for soap that isn’t used in Japanese.)
Miniso’s marketing strategy is similar to Japanese retailers such as Muji, Daiso, and Uniqlo due to aesthetics and design. Miniso has been accused by many to be selling things that one thought was sold exclusively by Muji. Due to the Japanese-influenced branding strategy, the company’s products have been criticised as “made in China to look Japanese”.
Although in terms of the certain products, Miniso has given a good competition Muji in their product range, but coming to think of it, Does MINISO have it’s own brand identity?
People often tend to remember the brands that are unique, different from the rest of their competition. For example, Muji is exclusively known for its subtle colour palette and amazing products. People enter a MUJI store because they “want” a product from MUJI.
What Miniso needs is a logo which does not resembles to that of Uniqlo. An identity that helps people remember MINISO as MINISO and not as a brand that sells cheap products.
Miniso has been officially termed as “copycats” as the most serious claim the brand faces is one of cultural appropriation, as critics say the brand is trying to portray itself as culturally Japanese.
Miniso first established in China, and the majority of its stores still operate there. Even so, it has pursued an aggressive expansion plan in countries connected with China’s One Belt One Road economic policy and first began expanding in Asia: Taiwan, Hong Kong, Cambodia, and many more countries.
MINISO is the global promoter of “intelligent consumer products”. Following the philosophy of “simplicity, nature and good quality” and “returning to nature”, it gains popularity among consumers with its designer product at an affordable price.
Proposition :
Miniso being a Chinese brand can create a brand identity that is more Chinese, and since MINISO is know for it’s high quality products it can proudly change the myth that has been formed of most Chinese products. “Made in China, means low in quality”. Miniso can change it’s marketing technique and stop pretending to be something that it’s not just because it sells better, which is Japanese.
Miniso can build itself on the colours they offer and it’s aesthetics that is clearly reflected through their products: minimal.