Beyond ‘Blanding’: How Logo Design Is Getting Its Personality Back

Color palettes are also evolving away from flat, pastel-heavy schemes of the early 2020s in favor of bolder high-contrast combinations. Gradients have returned with a more mature application, often with limited color ranges and smoother transitions, while textural overlays and noise effects are being used selectively to add depth to logos without overwhelming the core design. These aesthetic updates reflect a broader push for brands to feel more tactile and human, even in digital-first experiences. In terms of typography, brands are demanding custom wordmarks and novel letterforms that cannot be mimicked with ready-to-use fonts. Meanwhile, variable and responsive type systems are increasingly being employed so that logos will naturally adapt to changing screen sizes or themes without losing their core. There is also a return to serif and semi-serif type, most notably for luxury and editorial brands that seek to convey an air of timelessness and credibility.

At the same time, many once-popular design choices have begun to fall by the wayside. Generic, faceless icons that characterized app design in the 2018–2021 period are now considered all-too commonplace. So are those logos that enthusiastically embraced generative AI appearances with very little human consideration, being found subsequently weak in coherence or brand narration. Global brands like Pepsi, Airbnb, and Adobe have responded to such situations in redesigns of their graphic identities in richer color schemes, with crafted items, and iconography that invoke stronger emotions.