You know Logitech, that company that makes the great keyboards, and the great speakers, and the great gaming mice? It’s going to start calling itself just “Logi” now, and that transition begins today.
When I asked exactly why it decided to karate chop its tenured brand name in half, the answer was simple: tech means nothing.
“Tech is everywhere,” says Logitech’s VP of brand development Charlotte Johs, a big “L-O-G-I” comically emblazened on the silk screen behind her. “Tech is in the air you breathe...it’s in your clothes...in the future, ‘tech’ doesn’t say anything,” she tells me.
In a way they have a point. After all, Gizmodo’s own tagline is “Everything is Technology.” There are precedents for the name-splitting, too: Remember when Steve Jobs decided to go all King Solomon on Apple Computer? Now it’s just Apple.
Seemingly a better fitting name for a new brand of Swedish furniture than one of the leading companies for tech accessories, the important distinction is that Logi isn’t a word. It’s not quite “logic,” which was of course the reference in the original name, and I highly doubt they’re referencing Logi the fire giant from Norse mythology. One definite bonus, though, is the company would finally be able to have the same brand in Japan, where Logitech is known as Logicool due to trademark complications. Logi, as far as I’m aware, doesn’t mean anything offensive in Japanese. Phew.
When I asked where exactly this delightfully zen new identify came from, Johs said Logitech’s Boom series of Bluetooth speakers—the company’s most popular product—was in many ways the very first Logi-inspired piece of tech. In other words, the Boom happened when Logitech started starting giving a shit about design. The name just didn’t exist yet, says Johs.
And so, Logi was born.
From looks alone, the new logo is a visual step up from its 34-year-old predecessor. It’s clean, modern and has all the visual cues of a 21st-century startup (even the lowercase!). The color palette accompanying the makeover is bright, vivid and “in your face,” another element ripped from its Boom speakers. But it also sacrifices decades of brand identity for a short and sweet logo that’s on the one hand completely unobjectionable and pleasant-looking, but on the other, kind of bland.
The name Logitech isn’t retiring quite yet. For one, it’ll remain the company’s formal name and be sticking around on a lot of Logitech’s older stuff like mice, keyboards, and even Boom speakers...at least for now. But Logitech says, that if everything goes accordingly, Logi will be the name inscribed on almost all the things it makes, because tech isn’t spoken anymore—it’s understood.
Note: Logitech flew me to Ireland to check out its design studio and other fun tech stuff (I drop-tested an iPad and destroyed the fuck out of it). They also put some grub and booze in me and also gave me a little notebook. I use it for D&D campaigns now.
DISCUSSION
Yeesh. Anytime a brand updates it’s logo the cynicism just comes pouring out.
This new logo is neat. Clean and modern but not too trendy or cloyingly metaphoric. The plan to slowly transition to the new name is a measured and smart way to do it (although personally, I don’t buy the reasoning for dropping “tech” from the name, even if the full name is from an earlier era. It’s all just sounds anyway.).
Logitech is a trusted brand but is often seen as boring and too-90s for its own good, which is a reputation pretty much entirely about its old-fashioned logo and branding, which they not only stuck with for too long, but often promote prominently on their products.
This addresses that while not really claiming to change the company’s identity, just bring it in line with how they’ve seen themselves for the past few years.
What’s to complain about?