McDonald's is Revolutionizing the Corporate Identity

One of the most recognizable brands in the world will now look fresh and modern.

It is no exaggeration to say that the famous McDonald's "golden arches" are one of the most recognizable symbols in the world. And probably one of the most boring. And also tricky, if you judge for the possibility of making any changes. But a talented designer can do what seems almost impossible.

A few years ago, McDonald's advertising consisted of a real mishmash of different images - a logo, recognizable red container for fries, clown Ronald McDonald, etc. This is a problem that McDonald's decided to fix last year through a comprehensive review of the company's global visual identity. The network is vast - it includes about 35,000 restaurants in 120 countries, of which 17,000 are in the United States alone. It is complicated to manage it, and such a mess of images only complicates everything. The world is changing very quickly, and a company that wants to be on top must always look modern.

The task of changing the identity was assigned to the Mitchell team headed by Marketing Director Silvia Lagnado. They took a simple idea as the basis: "McDonald's is more than just hamburgers and French fries." But how do you put it into practice if a lot of consumers have the opposite opinion?

Interestingly, the team drew inspiration from the old McDonald's advertising campaign "You deserve a break today," which was held in 1971 in Chicago. The agency Turner Duckworth, founded by designer Turner Duckworth, whose most famous work is the famous "smile" of Amazon, was also involved in the work.

Working on a new way of working the network, the team was always asking questions like, "Is this good? Is it a good thing?" And if something caused pleasant emotions, it was left, but if not, it was got rid of. The result was a fundamentally new visual identity, which is based on the same "golden arches." It turned out to be very simple, but at the same time dynamic and even funny. The static, it would seem, the logo has found a new life, as it turned out, it has an enormous potential. And if earlier the arches were just arches (unless once written with their help letter "M" was turned over, turning it into "W" - "woman," to the International Women's Day), now they became supports for a bridge or child's swing, if not a bicycle path.

But it didn't just arch. "We also got french fries, whose slices can live their own lives, turning into subway passengers, or stripes on the Wi-Fi pictogram, or dominoes." And the famous red bag can be a boat for them, for example. In other words, when developing a new identity for the old company, the designers have shown maximum creativity, completely revising the images that have long since become commonplace.

Historically, McDonald's was a red brand with the addition of yellow. But after the "overhaul" the golden-yellow color of the arches now occupies a central place, complemented by red accents. According to designers, too much red in the brand seemed aggressive and shouting. Also, this color has become almost the hallmark of all fast-food restaurants. The presence of yellow in advertising and decoration will distinguish McDonald's among competitors.



As for typography, it was decided to abandon the "vicious" practice of using different fonts. Now everywhere will be used the font Speedee, inspired by the same arches. And even at the promotion of a brand various patterns and badges will be actively applied are simplified almost too primitive but from that not less recognizable images of hamburgers, bags with potatoes, glasses with drinks, etc. They are planned to be used both in advertising campaigns and in the design of restaurants. Designers especially emphasize the fact that, despite their simplicity, all the badges they created necessarily have symmetry violations. And it is not accidental, because the food is never absolutely symmetrical and does not have the right shape.

Updating the visual identity of McDonald's is an example of how you can update the image of any brand, even initially, and it seems that there is no room for maneuver. And no matter how boring a trademark may seem, it can always be made bright and modern.

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