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Airbnb's New Logo is an Absolute Home Run
By Allan Chochinov - Jul 16, 2014
And we are not intending a pun in the title at all. The thing is perfect.
We were excited to attend the press preview of Airbnb's new identity last week in Tribeca and have to say that the new marque is pretty brilliant. Co-founder and friend Joe Gebbia kicked off his remarks with a shout out to Core77 as "the first site to ever write about Airbnb"(!)—back when it was "Air Bed and Breakfast"—and then took us through the evolution of the brand to its new birth this morning.
The heavy lifting was done by DesignStudio, a London-based shop who basically embedded themselves at Airbnb HQ for months (and is now led in SF by immensely thoughtful founding partner Paul Stafford).
All we can say is that if they wanted something completely universal, instantly memorable, drawable, customizable, and hackable by every homeowner, front lawn sign maker, and (we're guessing soon) restaurant and shop window, DesignStudio and the folks at Airbnb have hit it out of the park... and, well, right through your bedroom window.
They're launching a Create Airbnb site today to let you make your own version, so we figure by tomorrow this logo will have worked its way around the world into myriad interpretations and some pretty smart embodiments...especially since this is such a beloved brand with countless fans with Photoshop, phones, tablets, and painting apps in their arms.
Ready, set, go. And congrats to the team.
Ed. Note: Additional thoughts on Bélo here
Allan Chochinov
Allan Chochinov is a partner of Core77, a New York-based design network serving a global community of designers and design enthusiasts, and Chair of the new MFA in Products of Design graduate program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Allan lectures around the world and at professional conferences including IDSA, AIGA and IxDA, has been a guest critic at various design schools in including Yale University, IIT, Carnegie Mellon, Ravensbourne, RMIT, University of Minnesota, Emily Carr, and RISD. He has moderated and led workshops and symposia at the Aspen Design Conference, the Rockefeller Center at Bellagio, Compost Modern, and Winterhouse, and is a frequent design competition juror. Prior to Core77, his work in product design focused on the medical, surgical, and diagnostic fields, as well as on consumer products and workplace systems. He has been named on numerous design and utility patents and has received awards from The Art Directors Club, I.D. Magazine, Communication Arts, and The One Club.
10 Comments
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automation anywhere logo is better than airbnb!Report as spam
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It looks identical to a company called Automation Anywhere.!Report as spam
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Couldn't even finish reading the headline, before I was deciding if boobs or a nut-sack was staring back at me. Have to wonder if this really is a home-run and how everyone seemed to miss it.!Report as spam
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Totally tits, literally and figuratively.!Report as spam
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I'm sorry, but it looks like a weird amalgamation of every single sexual organ.!Report as spam
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I suggest you all look up Automation Anywhere and their logo (which came first). Straight copycat design.!Report as spam
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Wow - it's amazing to see how unflinchingly designers defend their fellow designers.
This is just bad work. Awkward logo. Try-hard branding.
This is a case study in how strong group-think is in many design/product organizations. Obviously no one had the (pun intended) balls to stand up and say that the logo looks like two varieties of genitalia.!Report as spam -
Looks like boobs.!Report as spam
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Not impressed with the Airbnb live stream event at all. By the end, it had become one big infomercial promoting merchandise and a harsh grab at free advertising. Congrats to Airbnb on getting a logo and overhauling the site, because they needed that, but if they wanted their customers to do more promoting for them, they really should have just been honest about it. (They also should have had someone design a better logo... the color is awful and the design has been labeled a "sexual Rorschach test" by Gizmodo.) Dressing it up as some big peace/love/unity thing and expecting the customer not to notice what they did, well, I guess they think we're stupid. (Or their ad/marketing/design firms do.) If they wanted us to help promote the brand, they could have just asked. Most of us wouldn't mind, as long as we'd previously had a great experience with them. However, pretending they're doing more than that is a major turnoff.!Report as spam
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It's definitely cute, but I don't fully understand the unchecked acclaim coming from Core77. It could be easily argued that this type of treatment enhances the separation between Air and BnB, which would be effective if this was an airline. The shape of the logo also appears more romantic then architectonic, making it a little more ambiguous then it needs to be. Identities are ultimately tested both by time and the ability of the organization to put it in the right branding context. We should all be a little more subdued and patient, especially when judging new identities, before we go ahead and immediately declare them a "home run".!Report as spam
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