The New Gap Logo. What a Waste.

I’m not a huge fan of waste—that’s pretty much the driving force behind this entire blog. When I saw the new Gap logo today, all I could see is waste.

First of all, new logo designs cost a ton of money. The creative process aside, the re-branding of EVERYTHING will cost The Gap millions of dollars. Every store's signage, bags, clothing tags, business papers, etc. And for what gain? Readability? Yes, Helvetica is very legible, but Gap wasn’t at a loss for brand awareness in the first place. Did they want to re-energize the brand? Well, there’s plenty of energy being put into ripping the new logo to shreds. So far, I haven’t heard a single positive thing about it. Is this their marketing equivalent to the New Coke release, and then regressing back to the Classic Formula? I sure hope so.

Now to shed some light on the board room conversation that SHOULD have resulted in this new logo:


CEO: What font does American Apparel use?

Senior VP of Marketing: They use Helvetica.

CEO: Hallvetika? Is that some sort of Viking fat lady opera? Who cares, we’re using it. Hmm, all caps or initial caps?

Creative Director: Initial caps, it will look more like a one word sentence. Because ‘Gap’ has so much to say.

CEO: YES, a sentence punctuated with three exclamation points!!!

Senior VP of Marketing: Instead, let’s give a shout-out to our old square logo by hanging it off the corner of the p like a flag.

Art Director: Like “We surrender?”

Senor VP of Marketing: No, in the dark blue of our old logo. It’s our corporate “flagship.”

Senior Fashion Buyer: But everyone knows you don’t wear blue with black in the fashion world.

CEO: Who cares, we’re a lifestyle brand, not a fashion brand. We’re using black Helvanagon with our old blue box.

Creative Director: I’m afraid my aging mother will have difficulty reading the black p with the dark box behind it.

Art Director: I can put a lighter gradient behind the p, to make it easier to read. But I’ll warn you, gradients don’t reproduce well in standard or vector based web graphics. They don’t print well either, but they do look hella boss on tattoos. I should also warn you that that this logo won’t translate very well in black and white.

CEO: Fifty dollar Starbucks card to the first one of you who tattoos this bitchin’ logo on their lower back. And who needs black and white? I’ve lived my life in color since the 60s. Sell your 500-pound radio already, and get a plasma. Other than that, I think we’re ready to ship it! Any of you fools gonna finish that last donut?


All joking aside, this new logo most likely took months to design and test. I’m sure many wonderful ideas were brought to the table. Unfortunately, the best idea was ignored: keeping the old logo.