PayPal revealed an updated logo for their service on April 30, 2014. The last time PayPal revamped their logo was in 2007, so the brand was overdue for a fresh look. Fuseproject, a design firm that has worked with heavy-hitting brands such as Jawbone and Nivea, took on the rebranding project in December, 2013. With a roll-out date of April 30, the five month project was a massive undertaking for such a short time period.
Many people may be asking themselves, what is so monumental about changing a logo? In the case of PayPal, where the logo is seen in a variety of settings, from mobile apps to billboards, changing a simple image can be very expensive and time consuming. PayPal rushed the completion of the new logo in order to align with PayPal’s newly offered mobile payment abilities. PayPal’s president wanted a logo with a modern design that would lend itself better to mobile applications while still looking appealing on storefronts.
PayPal’s original logo (designed in 1999) was replaced in 2007 with a two-tone blue color scheme and a rounder font. This was also when the double P “monogram” was introduced for PayPal. Fast-forward to 2014, where we have a logo that has the same double monogram P overlapping itself with a brighter blue color and more modern font. The logo is more compact than its 2007 counterpart, allowing it to work better for mobile device applications. The logo needed to be simplified in order to be more easily recognizable in a tiny format.
The overlapping double monogrammed Ps were designed to represent people coming together, which is a major theme of PayPal’s (first-ever) American TV ad campaign. PayPal’s new advertising campaign is set to launch this summer in the form of print, outdoor, in-door, and TV ads. PayPal will also advertise globally in Germany, Australia, and the U.K. PayPal’s new payment products will help ease e-commerce, facilitate real-world transactions, and hopefully expand the reach of PayPal’s mobile apps.
The future looks promising for PayPal. Touting 148 million users (up 16% from the previous quarter), analysts conclude that PayPal has a promising year ahead. A Yankee Group survey showed that 15% of the U.S. mobile phone users have used the PayPal app recently.
Along with the rebranding, PayPal has announced plans to help merchants accept payment via barcodes shown on their smartphone, or a four-digit PIN in a PayPal enabled payment terminal. PayPal will be utilizing the ambiguous new slogan, “Powering the People Economy,” in their global advertising. This slogan will be used to promote the idea of people being in control of their payment method, in the fastest and most simplified payment platform available.
In an age of complexity, logos are going simple. PayPal’s new logo design had to go beyond visual appeal, it needed to work in a ½” square for a mobile app, as well as a hand-sized sticker for the front window of a retail store. Not only does it have to look good big and small, it needs to convey the image of a modern company that believes “people rule,” which is a slogan they use at the end of one of their TV ads. So what do you think? Did PayPal make a contemporary, identifiable, and mobile-friendly logo? We think, yes.
