An important part of building a brand is a distinctive, timeless logo. Unfortunately, way too many people think it’s a good idea to fuck with the tried and true. They’ll change the logo (sometimes even change the name *coughEloncough*). They think refreshing their identity will invigorate consumers. More often than not though, they risk losing users who’ve grown to the brand over the years.
Add Reddit to the growing list of companies who, faced with a dwindling userbase, many of whom quit based around a multitude of questionable decisions, decided that the solution is a new logo! Hey, let’s not address why we’re losing users, let’s mess with a logo we’ve used pretty much since 2005! Even better, let’s make the logo so sickeningly cartoony that it looks like something that comes on after Bluey on Cebeebies!:
See? This logo will look hideiously dated in five years tops. What was wrong with the original? Was the smile not big enough? Was it too simplistic? Is “keep it simple, stupid” too hard for the modern internet user to comprehend?
The reaction from redditors is mixed, but trending towards the negative. /u/vasilescur says “It feels like we’re moving backwards. The design world already went through the cute 3D character phase.” /u/KdubbG adds “Anyone else think it looks like Snoo needs a shave?” /u/omerikomm goes as far as to say “I seriously hate this logo.. the icon looks creepy af and its just.. looks wrong.. idk how to explain it something just feels off”. To which I must add: Why did Reddit blow millions on “updating” something that didn’t NEED to be updated rather than put that money to good use fixing its infrastructure and business practices? It wasn’t even designed inhouse, it was made by Pentagram, an otherwise-respected design agency. It seems incredibly out of sync with their general “KISS” mantra which has kept most of their logos looking fresh even decades after being introduced.
“It’s only a logo,” I hear you say. That it might be, but it also shows how far Reddit has diverged from the vision of Aaron Swartz. It has become a billion-dollar corporation, yet it’s still insisting on pricing out independent third-party developers. Swartz was so adamant about free speech that he even allowed the creation of neo-Nazi subreddits as a Jew. Now, subs are being banned for content only mildly offensive to the majority of people. Whatever happened to “don’t like, don’t read?” Whatever happened to good old-fashioned debate? Nobody’s suggesting that a serious threat to kill the Jews should be allowed to stand, but if people want to post things not to everyone’s tastes, live and let live! Swartz is probably spinning in his grave so fast that he could power a major city.
In summary: Reddit’s solution to its multitude of issues is taking the broken clock metaphor and smashing it with a hammer instead of putting fresh batteries in.
Ramblings of a post-Madonna prima donna 