Net-fix or Net-miss?

A few weeks go by and another new high-profile logo redesign to critique and discuss. This time it’s the turn of Netflix, who just unveiled their new “N” app logo. Whether you like it or hate it, it seems too have been a PR success with a lot of interest and opinions flying around on social media. Is it meant to represent a film strip, a red carpet or the stream in streaming media? I guess that’s up to the individual but to me it looks like a Superhero emblem and a nod to the summer blockbuster.

Recently, Instagram introduced it’s new App logo with an accompanying video explaining the thought process behind its development. Netflix didn’t release a vid and either assumed that no explanation was necessary since it’s a wordmark and not an icon or they simply wanted to keep an air of mystery surrounding it and leave it up to interpretation. The cynic in me is always a little suspicious of logos like Instagram’s that have to be explained in order to convince their audience. It makes me think that they are either not sure of their own branding decisions or that they simply chose a design they thought was cool and reversed-engineered the story behind it to make it seem that there is more to it than there is.

Luckily for people who dislike the new Netflix logo (and there are a lot of them), they are not getting rid of their current one. They are merely adding to their branding options and adaptability. Making it more compact makes sense with watchable devices getting smaller and the battle for screen real-estate becoming increasingly more competitive.

Netflix are calling their new logo “Another piece of statement Jewelry”, what do you think? Send me a message and let me know what you think.

–Dan Rosen, Art Director