Walmart rolls out a *YAWN* new logo
July 8th, 2008 by Scott Wolf
A week ago, the nation’s largest retailer, Walmart, quietly rolled out a new company logo, which features a more friendly and humanized type treatment set in initial caps, and a six-pointed yellow burst-like mark set to the right. The company name is also no longer hyphenated, but one single word.
Any time a company as large as this drops a new logo or refreshed branding efforts, I feel obligated to offer scathing criticism my honest opinion. I’m sure the objective here was to shed their generally invasive and unfavorable image for something more comforting, and they certainly did land in that direction. But the logo just looks a little weak. Specifically the yellow asterisk. Or daisy. Or is it half an orange? Or a combination sun and star? Or is it a spinning preloader that’s supposed to be loading the real mark if I’d just be patient for one more minute?
Whatever it is, I’d ditch it for just a logotype. That actually doesn’t look half bad. The fact that I can’t immediately identify the typeface leads me to believe it was custom-made, which is good in my book. Not sure how long it will be until this logo makes its way into and onto their thousands of stores, or in their advertising, but it has made its way onto Walmart’s website, which doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be around for good. It’s pretty simple to change out a logo on a website. And actually, the mark has been around for some time now. It appears by itself in the bottom corner of recent TV spots as well as spots from 2007.
So with that said, anyone like it? Anyone else dislike it? Anyone have theories as to what the mark means?
If you’re looking for more info, check out what Brand New has to say.
This entry was posted by Scott Wolf on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 and is filed under Brand Strategy, Creative, Design, Typography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 9th, 2008 at 10:08 am
It’s definitely an asterik. Save Money* – especially if you’re a small business in one of our markets. We’re here to drive you out of business. Live Better* – but only if you’re a male employee. If you’re female, beware of our glass ceiling.
July 9th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
The symbol in the logo looks like a sun (or star, same thing) to me. I think it’s supposed to symbolize that Walmart is trying to be more friendly and not be as dark and ominous as its image is. Also, its previous logo had a star in it, so this would be the modern version of that star. This one definitely accomplishes a warmer feel to it compared to the bold, cold and soulless logo it had. This does not mean that I support them. Just their logo.
August 1st, 2008 at 1:16 pm
I’m a usability analyst for their online shopping site. The type is not custom but def. looks better than before. Yawn for sure but then again how else can you be when you are trying to appeal to anyone and not scare anyone?
Hey, what’s with your pic? You look like you are in pain.
September 6th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Well, it’s not the most exciting thing, because, it’s not supposed to be.
This treatment, appears to be much more versatile and friendly than their previous incarnation.
I think it represents WalMart well.
If you judge a logo by it’s purpose that it.
If you judge it by it’s artistic snootiness, maybe not so much.
WalMart isn’t about “high design” or anything artistic. And that’s what a logo’s supposed to do, isn’t it? It’s not supposed to be about satisfying the ego of the designer. For WalMart, it’s about creating something that’s NOT overly innovative, artistically celebrated or (like all too many ad agencies strive) designed for awards. It’s designed to be accessible to the middle of the bell curve, not snotty designers.
September 27th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
If you looked at Walmart’s strategy before judging how they are representing themselves, you’d see growth is coming outside of the US, and the redesign of their previous five point star mark worked against them in assimilating to non-US markets and cultures.
This new asterik is less US specific and allows them to ‘fit in’ to other cultures without looking like the dumb American on the block. (Key word is looking…)
I agree with Paul Rand in that a well designed logo is supposed to draw its quality from what it’s representing, not the other way around.
Frankly I expected a more substantial critique than just one persons artistic opinion.