Last week, Gap abruptly changed their logo. Nobody liked it. The switch from the brand’s classic blue box logo to a lowercase Helvetica font with a blue square in the right hand corner inspired much vitriol across the internet, the twitterverse, and in the comments section on Gap’s Facebook page. Some gems from this site include, “I think [the logo] could be slightly more boring if they really made the effort. They can’t even do boring right anymore,” and “What I think of when I look at that new Gap logo is a pharmaceutical company.”
We weren’t fans either, but tried to understand the change, noting that Gap had been using the font in their 1969 denim campaign for some time.
Gap listened to their angry fans, and late last night, released a statement that they would return to the “iconic blue box logo.”
“Ok. We’ve heard loud and clear that you don’t like the new logo. We’ve learned a lot from the feedback. We only want what’s best for the brand and our customers. So instead of crowd sourcing, we’re bringing back the Blue Box tonight,” Gap posted on their Facebook page last night.
A week is pretty quick for Gap to be ditching their new logo. A huge brand like Gap doesn’t make a change to their logo on a whim. Tropicana even waited out the hate for their new logo for about a month before deciding to go back to their original logo a few years ago.
“We’ve learned a lot in this process,” Gap Brand North America president Marka Hansen said in a statement. “And we are clear that we did not go about this in the right way. We recognize that we missed the opportunity to engage with the online community. This wasn’t the right project at the right time for crowd sourcing.”
The full release from Gap Brand North America President Hansen:
“Since we rolled out an updated version of our logo last week on our website, we’ve seen an outpouring of comments from customers and the online community in support of the iconic blue box logo.
“Last week, we moved to address the feedback and began exploring how we could tap into all of the passion. Ultimately, we’ve learned just how much energy there is around our brand. All roads were leading us back to the blue box, so we’ve made the decision not to use the new logo on gap.com any further.
“At Gap brand, our customers have always come first. We’ve been listening to and watching all of the comments this past week. We heard them say over and over again they are passionate about our blue box logo, and they want it back. So we’ve made the decision to do just that – we will bring it back across all channels.
“In the meantime, the website will go back to our iconic blue box logo and, for Holiday, we’ll turn our blue box red for our seasonal campaign.
“We’ve learned a lot in this process. And we are clear that we did not go about this in the right way. We recognize that we missed the opportunity to engage with the online community. This wasn’t the right project at the right time for crowd sourcing.
“There may be a time to evolve our logo, but if and when that time comes, we’ll handle it in a different way. “
Tags: Gap






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Didn’t they say the same thing about 60 times? Haha, oh well, I’m glad the old one is back. :)
Aw, I feel bad for GAP. I just feel like they wanted to branch into new territories and I redesigning the logo was one of it. Even though it was a big failure, I’m pretty sure everybody’s happy to see the old logo back.
I think that the online presence (twitter feedback, facebook etc) as well as blogs like this one is what contributed to the rapid about-face.
Instead of re-branding the company, how about they come up with a better retail strategy, like items not going on sale after a week on the retail floor? Perhaps working on their sizing?
I’ve said it before, but they have got to really, really, regret letting go of Drexler.
I like their original logo, the one with the smaller case gap:
http://www.gapinc.com/public/images/1_About_Gap_Inc./1_firststore.jpg
That one is cute.
It’s perfect, isn’t it? I was thinking before someone showed it to us in these comments that they should’ve done a simplistic lower case font that would actually be closer to the new logo than the old one. It’s really just what I was imagining.
Dear Gap,Since you listen, and we appreciate it, here’s another tip. Get a brand, consultant. If you already have one, I apologize but their effects are not apparent. May I suggest our directional, talented writers at Fashionista?
Best,
Valued Consumer
who’d have thought that a logo would have caused so much hysteria?! honestly. the internet age and all that…
I’m glad that all this fiasco is over now and we can move on.
You will soon receive an invoice for using my quote here…
http://fashionista.com/2010/10/that-didnt-take-long-gap-goes-back-to-original-logo/#disqus_thread
Haha. Fair enough ;)
If Gap was so anxious to tap into the pipeline that is social media tweet-bookers, couldn’t they have done something as simple as this that keeps teh brand recognition: http://tinyurl.com/2et8mdh
It gives a next gen LED but retro 8-bit that all the kids like.
If they want to change their image, they should focus on making their clothes more desirable rather than agonizing about a logo. I want fashion to get excited about, not another pair of black pants or jeans – I own plenty of both.
I agree that the GAP needs to work on their sizing. In an effort to save money on jeans, (I used to buy the $350 ones before the crash) I now buy gap jeans on sale for $35. However, I can try on 10 pair in the same cut, size, color, and every single pair fits differently, some too short, long, too big, tight, etc. It’s a mess. Takes me about 10 pair of try ons to find a couple that actually fit. All the sales associates know this as well.
Gap got lynched.
Did anyone consider that maybe this whole logo re-design fiasco was just for publicity? Any serious designer would never propose something that horrible and it got exactly the reaction they needed.. everyone is talking about gap. bad press is better than no press.
I totally agree with this. There is no way that anyone in their right mind at Gap thought that the new logo looked professional. It was absolutely a publicity stunt.
I totally agree with this. There is no way that anyone in their right mind at Gap thought that the new logo looked professional. It was absolutely a publicity stunt.