‘Woolworths logo looks more like a pumpkin than an apple’
Woolworths’ radical logo redesign has come in for immediate, and fierce, criticism from one of Australia’s best known designers.
Vincent Frost, creative director of Frost Design, told Mumbrella this morning: “That has to be the worst logos I have seen from such a large scale company in a long time.”
“It looks like a pumpkin, not a peeled apple. I haven’t seen it with the typography or how it’s going to be rolled out, so I will reserve my full judgement until I have seen the complete package. However it certainly feels immature and down at odds with what I feel it could have been.”
Frost’s views are widely respected within the world design industry. He is jury president of this year’s Adfest which is being held in Thailand, and was recently Australia’s representative at the venice Architectural Biennale. Within the Australian media and marketing industry, he was also behind the redesign of B&T magazine and Creative magazine.
He added: ” The opportunity to redesign this establishment’s identity is a dream job that we would have loved to have helped them do something strong, effective and timeless.”
Early reaction on Mumbrella was also negative, with one commentator describing it as “lacklustre”, adding: “It doesn’t actually say anything unique about Woolies.”
A spokesman for Woolworths said: “Our most important critics are our customers. It’s ultimately for them to decide.”
The logo first appeared in some Woolworths stores last year, and today saw the rebranding of the Woolworths web site. Although the design clearly mimics that of an apple, Woolworths says it is also intended to represent a “W”, and is reminscent of a Woolworths logo of the 1970s.
The logo was designed by Australian agency Hans Hulsboch which was also responsible for the updated Qantas logo. When this was introduced in 2007, Qantas’ PR strategy was praised by marketing experts for not seeeking out news coverage. By contrast, today’s relaunch was trumpeted with an interview with Woolies marketing boss Luke Dunkerley in the Sydney Morning Herald
At the time, academic Mark Ritson said about the Qantas rebrand: “Whenever a company changes its identity, most of the media coverage is always negative. If the new identity is too radical, journalists hammer the organisation for bad design. If the new identity is an incremental update, the media accuses the organisation of wasting money. Qantas kept the flak to a minimum by not making a big deal about the new identity.”
Hulsboch explains the thinking behind the Woolworths logo here.
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Depends on what it looks like in mono, deep etched next to the typography
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As a customer, I don’t particularly like the logo and more importantly, I don’t particularly care. Is it really worth the massive cost to rebrand everything in this financial climate? I’d love to see the justification for doing that when people are going to be loosing jobs.
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Bring on the haterz…
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as long as they keep up the discounts on Lindt 70% dark chocolate I don’t really care what the logo looks like.
Perhaps this is just a smokescreen AKA “new” Woolworths.
Look forward to the old branding making a triumphant return 😉
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As nextbrett put it, it just looks lacklustre on its own. Seems like a massive waste of money at this point… when paired with text on their website, it doesn’t look particularly striking or strong. Meh! @justkyp
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I like the “W” in the middle and the green fresh look.
In the future more people want fresher food as opposed to packet and can food.
I think its a good positioning.
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Firstly, I am wondering whether their decision to update the branding was based on consumer research or management pondering. When I first saw the logo by itself I was very worried, however when viewed with the lighter font woolworths, it does work ok.
I do doubt that the logo will improve the consumers association of woolworths with fresh food and i could see them dropping the Apple/pumpkin, or decreasing its prominence over time and sticking with the lighter font.
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Here at Woolies we’re surprised at the negative comments from those quoted above – they must have been hard to find as the feedback we’ve received has been overwhelmingly positive with people commenting on the freshness of the new look and how impressive it looks in situ. And it’s not surprising really, given it’s been something over two decades since the identity was last refreshed, so it was time for a refresh.
Just to get the timeline straight here. The new identity was launched in August. This week marks the start of the rollout in earnest across all marketing material. The article in the SMH this week is simply a good old fashioned piece of journalism where the journo in question wanted to know how things were going with the new look. I think its only right we responded to these questions as we would with any journalist.
Qantas not searching out PR for their logo relaunch? Seriously? Does no one remember the days of speculation over the future of the kangaroo? The frenzied concerns over an icon’s imminent demise? The TV coverage when it was revealed the kangaroo was safe. Hardly not making a big deal.
The new Woolworths logo is a big change. It was only right the press, and through them the public, were informed. It’s not like you can hide the thing when it’s going to be on 780 stores. The public will find out sooner or later! They’re a clever bunch. And the dreaded “flak” really failed to materialise.
Look out for the new Woolworths icon at a store near you soon.
Benedict Brook
Media Relations Manager
Woolworths
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Some valid points regarding the details of the launch – however when I read through the comments I would consider it quite constructive, honest and valid criticism.
Personally I believe a logo can remain relevant without great change for much longer then 20 years – take Redhead, Coca Cola, Victa for example. If anything the criticism highlights the disconnect with the strategy behind this new ‘identity’
The public, that clever bunch, also judge identity much more harshly – on a much wider scale and inevitably there will be more factors that impact on the ‘identities’ success then whether it looks like a pumpkin, apple peel or W.
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No wonder Vincent gave it a frosty reception, obviously his company didn’t get the job! It would have been interesting to see his other contenders for worst large company logo!
But seriously, the full picture is not just the W, it is also the red “Woolworths”, the motto “the fresh food people” – the message comes across well and given that Woolworths traded as Safeway in Victoria (and elsewhere), it freshens up the image brilliantly.
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“ The opportunity to redesign this establishment’s identity is a dream job that we would have loved to have helped them do something strong, effective and timeless.” Vincent dearest, there may be a reason they did not ask you in the first place 🙂
Egomaniac
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Vince is frosty.
Dry your eyes princess.
We really need to set the record straight. Woolworths is a very successful company. It is run by very clever people. They would have done their homework seriously on who was going the design their new image. And you missed out.
However, Coles needs some serious work, why not apply the famous pompous English design wand over that identity.
All Black
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The Official Name Of The Woolworths Logo Is An Apple
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