Congratulations, you survived 2017! *hold for applause*

Last year was an incredibly fascinating time in the world of design! We saw Material Design go from trend to industry standard, watched in awe as software became increasingly smarter and more helpful, we went authentic and said no to overused stock photos, and as always; brands changed. 

Brands change, they always have and they always will. Let's examine what brands got it wrong in 2017 and why in the first of a two-part blog. 2017 In Review: The Worst.

Listed below are my top ten contenders (in alphabetical order) for worst design choices of 2017. Note that I'm not saying logos here. While we'll be critiquing the new looks, I want to focus on how in some cases the design around the logo aided in the rebrand being a letdown.

DROPBOX

A good logo with horrible execution. Dropbox in an attempt to modernize forced their vision so heavily it came across cringe-worthy. They even have a page dedicated to their new design. Instead of focusing on the user they focused on themselves and tried (unsuccessfully) to fit in with the crowd.

EBAY

The death of a brand? While (eBay, EBAY, ebay?) was never going to win any awards for any of its past logos they were iconic. Strong colors made the brand stand out absolutely anywhere! The latest iteration threw on tuxedo black and began using monotone imagery to convey its color. In doing so it ditched the four primary colors and went with every color imagianable seemingly at random.

FORMULA 1

Let's not think of Formula One's new logo as a finishing line, but as a single lap in a race. While the brand certainly polished their look, they distanced themselves too far from their roots and angered longtime fans while leaving newcomers confused. Maybe it's time to lift the hood for another tune-up on this one!

HYATT

While 2016 marked a merger between Starwood and Marriott, 2017 meant a unified look, at least that was the plan. Ignoring the kerning between "OF" the brand took the safest route possible and ignored all the interesting possibilities and removed all elegance the former mark held.

JUVENTUS

Controversial. The new mark for Juventus summed up in one word. The rebrand as a whole is a success. We have an outdated mark being refreshed and applied in a consistent and fresh manner across all mediums. On the flip side, this is a logo for a sports team. In a move literally never seen before in sports a team left its roots in the past and turned itself into a lifestyle brand. 

MOZILLA

When you think Mozilla you probably recall the brightly colored Firefox Web Browser icon. But, Mozilla is a conglomerate of upcoming tech giants providing everything from hosting to savings plans. This new look (loved by most in the industry) takes them further away from a major company and closer to to a one trick pony, or fox.

REDBOX

With the "honor" of kicking things off, we have Redbox. Overnight they took a professional looking mark and transformed it into one so childish it strips away any prowess the brand held. In the age of digital content, Redbox took a step towards Blockbuster and further away from Netflix.

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS

This one caught a lot of negative attention like, a lot... Situated miles from Beaverton, Oregon and the headquarters of Nike the two brands have collaborated multiple times to bring everything from uniforms and merchandise into the future. Maybe they should have learned a lesson from their most recent Superbowl loss and ran with their success instead of trying to get tricky.

SKYPE

Skype, a long time Windows property decided to unify with the entire Microsoft family from branding all the way down to a new user-interface. We are greeted with a mismatch of the "S" icon and the "Skype" text set in Microsoft's Segoe UI font. Let's hope Windows sends out a forced updated to the logo, soon!

UKIP

The "refresh" from UKIP takes things from bad to worse. From a questionable tagline to a lion that too closely resembles the Premiere League mascot we get a total letdown. To make matters worse, members were given a vote to select the new logo and somehow picked the better of the two available options!

Thanks for reading my annual Worst Logos of the Year article. It really means a lot to me!

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