What's WRONG with The NEW Discord Logo? 🧐 2021

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Is the new Discord logo bad? I don't think so! In this video, I show you the reasons behind the new Discord logo and why they changed it. I also explain why Discord would rebrand this year in 2021 and their logo design decisions.

[mathieul]

The reason people don't like the new logo (I'm a designer myself) it's because the new one is too corporate and lost it's soul. It's too "perfect".
And the new font doesn't work well either, should've stayed in capital

[davidpruitt]

"Probably the reason why you can't describe how bad the logo is is because you don't know what you're talking about.. in the nicest way possible. " 🤣🤣

[HanDaimond]

Clyde's redesign is great.
The "Discord" font... not so much.

[Scoutth]

it's just the "i" or the typefont that just... seems TOO playful. It almost feels like the play-doh logo typefont. The new logo though I think is a step up.

[sonnybrown]

Bro if "non designers" and "clients" aren't liking what you're liking as a designer, maybe you're the problem.

[bentoby]

So... here's the thing. From a designer's point of view, all the changes make sense.
HOWEVER, let me try to explain the people's feelings.
From a community point of view, the change makes it feel more "corporate" especially the color and font. The new color is vivid yes, but it's also very loud and doesn't feel as uniquely "Discord" with it's old pastel color.
The font/text feels for the community to be too forceful in it's playfulness (not that I agree but I've seen a lot of people feel that it seems like comic sans).
The largest thing I believe is that people are used to the old logo. Change doesn't often come smoothly.
Should discord change their logo back? Certainly not, but while the logo can be objectively better, people's opinions are subjective and if you're a brand, your community's opinion should also matter.

[Diamndnite]

I have no gripes with the actual logo change, it’s really the way they changed the way the word ‘discord’ looks and the blurple that they are using now that I have a problem with. I may be just a graphic design major, so I might have no room to talk since I’m just starting out in the field. But I feel the word discord has lost its character, identity, and appeal, it’s reduced to the unnecessary minimalism movement that’s going on with corporate companies. I also find the original blurple to be easier on the eyes, I like the less saturated version, it compliments the white in the text/logo well, compared to the new blurple. The new more saturated blurple is a bit harsh on the eyes for me, it’s not complimenting the white through contrast well at all. But ultimately that’s just my opinion and at the end of the day that’s all I can contribute, it’s not necessarily right or wrong.

[jmadara]

The Discord logo always reminds me of Mickey Mouse’s pants.

[DJPastaYaY]

Im learning a lot from this. How like logos have a specific function and its goal is not just to look good but to actually work. Hopefully I can use that observe other logos in a designer mindset and use that to help make my own logo even better. Thanks!

[Jackerco]

in the most respectful way possible, I just don't think you understand why people dislike it. From a graphic design perspective its just a more perfected version of the old logo, but from a cultural and branding perspective it sends the wrong message. Its feeding into the dead 2D corporate artstyle thats been slowly taking over the past few years and its taking away the personality of Discord. We want wumpus, lighter blurple and the Discord personality, not the new emotionless and corporate artstyle theyve been using instead. The biggest issues people have lie in the new typeface and their new general artstyle and branding that theyve started using; not the actual icon itself.

[unitedlegacy]

I love the new branding, the only thing I don't like is the "i" in the wordmark. It just catches my eye everytime.

[carsonhenderson]

The “I’m right because i’m a graphic designer and if you don’t like it you’re objectively wrong” attitude is off-putting bro.

You sound like a music theory snob explaining why freeform jazz is actually amazing when anyone with ears can tell you the opposite by just listening to it. Or a pretentious food critic thinking he knows better than people with tastebuds.

[Charles_Bro-son]

"Downgrade of the century" might as well be the exaggeration of said time frame xD

[harryfieldson]

Not a fan of the font but all of the Clyde changes are necessary and improved

[Justakatto]

You seem to ignore Somthing very important when it comes to graphic designing. The client, or the end user. You make the design FOR the client, not for yourself.
It doesn't matter if the designer thinks the design is good. He's not the one using it. Personally, I don't care about the font or the logo. Old ones definitely looked better from a *USER* perspective but I don't care much about the changes. What I do care about is the color. The old color looked nice, was easier on the eyes. This new color literally hurts my eyes to look at. There are entire threads in discord's own support site talking about the issues that are caused by the new color, this is not some random outcry that's gonna disappear in a month. Their product is actively causing health issues. And FYI, headaches and eye pain are considered health issues.

[terra]

I can see the points presented, and I acknowledge their importance. I think this was a well worded and well thought out video but I would like to respectfully disagree with some things presented in the video (I apologize if I have misunderstood anything and misrepresented what you have stated in the video):

As a designer myself, I see what you mean and agree that design is first-most meant to be functional, not an artwork. I have worked on many many logos myself and what many people fail to think about is the psychology and metaphysical aspects of design that have deep influences on the brand and its perception. As fun and extra-exciting it would be to do design work purely for the art of it, we can recognize that the artwork is not for us - it is for the end consumer. That being said, however, I do not believe it is fair or accurate to say that design truly is "objective" (most of the time) and to mostly write off the opinions that were shared from others in this video.

I am absolutely sure that the design team that worked on this project knew that the original, mostly gamer, user base that have used and loved Discord would not appreciate the logo change for the most part. That is just the innate collateral when transitioning from gamer-centric to general consumer-centric branding - "Niche" to "Accessible". I do not believe, though, that this should discount that audience's opinions on the platform and its changes. Are the opinions likely less informed than for designers such as you and I? More than likely, yes. But, in my opinion, if we treat any sort of creative field with mostly objectivity, we start to create "too much" comfort.

For the most part, all things are always changing and always evolving. I personally do not like the objectivity mindset because it narrows the capacity to adapt. One way to separate a brand could be by doing something completely different. Of course it always depends on a companies' mission and values going in, but assuming they wanted to heavily stand out in a saturated market (let's say the candle market for now) they could achieve something like this by having a logomark that is highly geometric, sharp, pointed, with thick shapes, and little-to-no variation in line/shape size. That sounds more like a sporty logo or a tech logo to me - but this would change that mold. The company (assuming they are putting in good values and actually practicing good business b/c that's what matters above all in the end) could be known for it's unique edge and sector in the candle space. Although there is a lot of psychological patterns to consider, if humanity had always used sharp and pointed logomarks to represent candle brands from the start, then the current "earthy" and mellow/soft, linework-y logos that fill that industry might not be as "expected".

I think the same can be applied to the Discord rebranding. Let's isolate it to just the Blurple color. I do not believe this to be a objective matter either. Yes, you could argue the new added saturation makes the company more iconic or standout, but in my mind, it doesn't make sense when applied to their new values moving into the "Accessible social hub" kind of space. Naturally, this space will include a much larger range, now, of ages (Generalizing, of course. I acknowledge that people of all ages play games, but currently it is mostly the younger crew). This would mean that (moving from a primarily young to young-adult) many more people in their 30's, 40's and so on will be targeted to use Discord. Their eyes could use less harsh colors and saturation. Additionally, this could be seen as a negative move for those that acknowledge blue-light dangers when it comes to screen and eye health. The older, less saturated color was much easier on the eyes and, to me at least, is more supportive of a more-inclusive environment than something as polarized as the new Blurple. To me, gamers are those that appreciate the more heavily saturated colors, especially given their general age bracket.

As a UX Designer too, the length of this comment is giving me nightmares, so I will cut it here 😅 I appreciate this video and bringing up the topic, Will -- I'd appreciate anyone's additional thoughts and opinions/critiques on the topic or anything I've said here.

— Much love,
Daniel A. (TERRA)

[Vanilla.coke]

I feel like people look over how much harsher the new blurple colour is on the eyes. Especially on screens, that colour and what they've done to it is just like a punch in the eyes to me

[klarajel]

I basically agree with everything you said but I just don't really like the philosophy: You don't understand it, don't talk, I'm the professional.
Yes, you know what you're talking about but majority of people aren't professionals in this and I think brands should corporate with "normal people" on some level because, after all, we're buying and using your products 🤷‍♀️

[lybmae]

Clyde is adorable, the font is super disappointing.

[JoseGutierrez-hljz]

As a gamer I didn't like it much, but is the change, after time has passed, I started to like it more and more. As a designer, the logo is much better, the only thing weird is the I, just as Will says, the "i" letter for me, catches my eye in a weird way. This new logo clearly shows how the company is moving from only gaming to everything. I use discord to work too, so this kind of things makes the environment more serious and I like it, now I need an option to have 2 names / avatars.