Several brands promoted redesigns in 2020, ranging from Target’s Shipt delivery service, which swapped out its spaceship for a shopping bag early this year, to Rite Aid, which traded its shield logo for a mortar and pestle in November. Other notable new logos this year include Nissan, which updated its logo for the first time in two decades. The carmaker unveiled a 2D, streamlined look over the summer. In addition, Toyota ditched its brand name for a logo with the redesign of its brand identity in Europe, following in the footsteps of the likes of Apple and Nike.
Yet, not everyone applauded all the changes. Ad Age looks at a few of the year’s redesigns that elicited more jeers than cheers.
Smucker: It has to be abstract
In September, J.M. Smucker Co. debuted a brand makeover, meant to communicate that the company is more than just a seller of jam. Smucker also sells pet food and coffee, for example. But the new logo, created with branding agency CBX, showing a more abstract collection of shapes rather than the strawberries of yesteryear, didn’t sit well with customers. One complained on social media that “graphic design has gone too far.”