
Revising MailChimp's logo - darkchyld
http://jessicahische.is/monkeyingaround
======
aarondf
This is one of those things that I read through and go "yep. yep. yep. and
yep." But I would have _never_ seen those things if not for a before and after
or having a trained designer point them out to me.

There's a big difference between understanding something and being able to
generate it ex nihilo. Years ago, I would look at code samples and think "ah!
how clever! why couldn't I think of that?" Now, having had much more practice
I can come up with all those once-clever solutions on my own. It's fun to move
from looking at other's people work and thinking you could never do it, to
realizing they've done it a good way, but you might do it a bit differently.

Now I just look at my code and say, quit being so damn "clever", but that's a
different topic.

~~~
joeblau
You know what's funny? I had the same feeling when I was working with Jason
Long who designed the git-scm.com logo [1]. I asked if he could help me design
a logo for [http://gitignore.io](http://gitignore.io) and he came up with an
awesome design [2]. It took elements from the original git-scm.com and used
them in a creative way to emulate a dot file. I showed it to my friend and he
was like "That's so easy to do" and my response was "yeah, but you would have
never come up with it 100 designs." My friend didn't refute that.

[1] - [http://git-scm.com/images/logo@2x.png](http://git-
scm.com/images/logo@2x.png)

[2] -
[https://raw.github.com/joeblau/gitignore.io/master/public/gi...](https://raw.github.com/joeblau/gitignore.io/master/public/gi/img/gitignore-
logo-dark.png)

~~~
ansimionescu
I started watching the Github repo [1], I love your website!

1:
[https://github.com/joeblau/gitignore.io](https://github.com/joeblau/gitignore.io)

~~~
joeblau
Thanks :)

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samsnelling
I will probably get downvoted into oblivion for this... So let me preface by
saying that I really like the new design.

At what point do you as a startup justify spending a huge amount of money on a
"designer" to tweak a font? Does it look nice? Absolutely.

Would I, as a business owner, pay a lot of money to change one cursive font to
a slightly different cursive font? I'm not so sure.

Sub question: What does a design tweak like this cost? From what I've seen,
sought after designers can go for some serious $$$.

~~~
mortenjorck
A fair question. It's essentially the design equivalent of optimizing your db
code: Will your business suffer because you get 8% fewer writes per second
than you could with some refactoring? Probably not. But it all adds up to the
responsiveness of your web application, and likewise, the easy-to-miss
typographic nuances add up to the overall impression of quality of the
product.

By the way, to be designer-pedantic... There are actually no fonts involved at
all here, as far as I can tell – the original logo appears to have been an
original calligraphic piece, and the new one is an iteration on that, further
refining its calligraphic form.

~~~
simantel
So long as we're being pedantic, the original logo used Wendy Std Bold with a
slightly modified "C": [http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/adobe/wendy-
lp/](http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/adobe/wendy-lp/)

~~~
mortenjorck
Wow, I stand corrected. The original logo also has subtle adjustments to one
or both of the lower-case 'i' characters to make them each different, which
was what threw me off.

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unclebucknasty
Here's a question:

I noticed that in the last step, she separated the words Mail and Chimp with a
space. Given that this article is kind of about subtleties making a
difference, does that introduce confusion as to whether the company is Mail
Chimp or MailChimp? When I look at the text portions of the page, I see it
referred to both ways (ex: in the page title and left sidebar). On the
MailChimp site itself, it's without the space. So, I assume that's correct.

So, could the logo confuse the branding? Or is it unimportant?

~~~
antninja
It's not a space. The l and the C are at the same distance as before. She just
remove the ligature. I looks more natural I think. Writing with a pen on
paper, I wouldn't write the l and the C with a single line. There's a natural
cut here.

~~~
unclebucknasty
Ah, you're right. It's not a space. That brings up and interesting point.
Because, in cursive, the removed ligature means there's a word break. So, that
and the upcased "Chimp" seem to suggest that it's two words. OTOH, I think it
is an easier read and more natural, as you suggest. I guess there's a little
"tension" between the design and the naming elements of the brand? Maybe one
that was introduced by the original cursive choice?

I am usually not a pedant, but it raised the question since the article is
about nuanced choices in branding.

I also may be sensitive to it because I founded a company with such a compound
name, that is also meant to be written without a space and with the first
letters upcased. We don't use cursive in our logo, but people frequently write
our name without the space as well. And I've always wondered what, if any,
impact it has on our branding, SEO, etc.

------
bonzoesc
"[http://jessicahische.is/monkeyingaround"](http://jessicahische.is/monkeyingaround")
has got to be the best URL I've seen in a long time.

~~~
zivins
There are plenty of gems in her work. Here goes the last hour of work...

[http://jessicahische.is/rememberingherlisafranktrapperkeeper](http://jessicahische.is/rememberingherlisafranktrapperkeeper)

[http://jessicahische.is/anaaaaarrrrrrrrtist](http://jessicahische.is/anaaaaarrrrrrrrtist)

[http://jessicahische.is/illustratingpenguinsinbathingsuits](http://jessicahische.is/illustratingpenguinsinbathingsuits)

[http://jessicahische.is/eatingcornflakesforbreakfast](http://jessicahische.is/eatingcornflakesforbreakfast)

~~~
melvinmt
[http://jessicahische.is/workingwithwesandersonomg](http://jessicahische.is/workingwithwesandersonomg)

------
jffry
Why not link directly to her site?

[http://jessicahische.is/monkeyingaround](http://jessicahische.is/monkeyingaround)

The blog you linked to (and you seem to link to it a lot) simply excerpted
some of the text from her site, and then included some of the images (but not
all) from her blog.

At least that post's author had the decency to re-host the images and put a
source link at the bottom.

~~~
cdvonstinkpot
It looks like the OP took your advice & did so, editing the post to link to
the url you posted in your comment, at least when I visited it.

~~~
sp332
You can't edit the URL on HN submissions. A mod must have changed it.

~~~
jffry
Thanks, Mods.

Thmods

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bluthru
MailChinys

~~~
lookingsideways
I saw exactly the same thing. The older logo was definitely clearer in that
area.

~~~
chris_mahan
looks like mailchimjs to me...

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nhangen
Am I the only one that feels the logo now reads as: Mailchimys?

~~~
DanBC
I agree. The 'm' is nicer, but the 'p' is not as nice.

~~~
k-mcgrady
I don't think it's a problem with the 'p'. The join between the 'm' and 'p' is
too large. Closing the gap between those two letters would make the join look
much less like a 'y'.

------
antninja
Instagram had a similar redesign recently.

[http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/hand_bea...](http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/hand_beats_filter_in_new_instagram_wordmark.php)

I recommend subscribing to the Brand New blog if you're interested in logo
redesigns. (They got the news about MailChimp weeks ago.)

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ChrisNorstrom
Well done. It's amazing how micro improvements to a logo can make it stand out
more, be more memorable, and more readable by getting rid of imperfections and
distractions like misalignments. Oddly enough the same can be said for plastic
surgery, less is often more. As others pointed out, the only little issue is
that for some the logo now reads "Mail Chinys" or "Mail Chimys". A slight
alteration to the curvature of the "p" can fix this. Basically by making it
rounder and less like a cursive "s".

------
benatkin
Looks fantastic, and I really like the presentation of how it was improved.

~~~
oulipian
For the most part it's excellent, and I love Hische's work, but the lowercase
'm' is not as distinct as before. It looks like it says "MailChirry".

~~~
benatkin
For people who dig cursive writing that last part isn't great. But many only
claim to like cursive writing. They don't actually use it or read it often.

I think phony cursive works well for this project, and goes well for the
MailChimp esthetic overall.

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JefWin
I'm embarrassed to admit that both logos look same to me and that the changes
this designer made are really trivial.

~~~
jamesdelaneyie
It's nothing to be embarrassed about!

Appreciating and understanding the changes to the full extent would require a
solid education in visual communication and typography. Just as you might look
at my disgustingly hacked together jQuery scripts, a visual designer might
look upon your typography with contempt.

That being said, Hische's changes concentrate on a more nuanced intuitive flow
of the letterforms that to the lay person, results in a more balance at-a-
glance look. It's hard, because it's very subjective, but Hische's redesign is
the equivalent to using a spirit level when laying blocks. Hardly noticeable
to the man-on-the-street under the microscope, but when delivered in context,
consistently and as part of a whole, lends a stronger and more concrete
presentation.

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aa0
Honestly, the old logo looks better. Not everything needs a symmetrical
aligned look..some things look better..organic.

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jaunkst
I cant help but say that the P, is almost read as a Y, I think the opening of
the Y tail, helps suggest that this is a cursive y. The spacing is widened,
and places the p further out. Maybe pulling the lower gap between m and p in,
reducing the spacing, and keeping the open loop.

------
uzyn
Noticed that not only the ligature between 'l' and 'C' is removed, the
designer's also, on a few occasions, type the client's name with a space
between the 'l' and 'C'.

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wellboy
Great post, awesome to see how much of a craft(wo)manship design actually is.
:)

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Sealy
The changes are subtle but nice. Does anyone know how much mailchimp would
have paid for a redesign like that? I just want to get a better understanding
of how the design industry would work in that respect.

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jamesdelaneyie
So good to see some design related news on here. Especially when it comes from
one of the nicest and best in our industry. Her presentation to the lay person
is not only informative but engaging as well.

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badclient
Putting the new and old logo on different color backgrounds makes it much
harder to notice the difference in the two designs.

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lttlrck
Mailchimy?!

Well atleast it wasn't about flattening anything.

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antidaily
Hacker news?

