36 comments

  • Sacha GreifSacha Greif, almost 9 years ago

    I just realized that no matter how well crafted your content is, if it's set in Arial it might as well be lorem ipsum to me.

    I mean just look at these huge blocks of letters!

    arial

    22 points
  • Mike ArndtMike Arndt, almost 9 years ago (edited almost 9 years ago )

    I was hoping a new site would come with this. Disappointed.

    8 points
  • Eric Foster, almost 9 years ago

    The old logo was so emblematic. This new one, I dunno, I just don't get it.

    7 points
    • Zach TaylorZach Taylor, almost 9 years ago

      Agreed. It doesn't feel like an obvious iteration to me and I'm just left with questions, like:

      What was the purpose of dropping the D? What was the purpose of cutting the A in half?

      This text is humorous:

      "people might not get it right away and, like all great art, it challenges perceptions and perspectives"

      They're right. I don't get it. I don't get any sense that they had a purpose behind any of their design choices with the logo.

      They took a simple mark, clearly connected to their brand, cut out one and a half letters, and ended up with an abstract shape that bears no resemblance to their previous mark.

      2 points
  • Crampa ...Crampa ..., almost 9 years ago

    The community doesn't seem to be taking it well, and that's no surprise. Just look at the outrage when Facebook changes one feature.

    But it's necessary for companies to make these types of changes, and it sounds like DeviantArt's team determined it was important to rebrand. I wish users were more understanding of this.

    Anyway, the new branding looks pretty sick imo. It will be interesting to see how it comes together in the new layout.

    6 points
    • Andrew LiebchenAndrew Liebchen, almost 9 years ago

      It seems like "everybody" always hates redesigns. I have to think that the people who like the redesign (or at least are indifferent), have better sense than to wade into the fray with the haters.

      2 points
    • Maikel HaasMaikel Haas, almost 9 years ago

      The main problem of this, is that the community see DeviantArt as 'their' website and feel like they're supposed to have a saying in how the website should change/evolve.

      2 points
    • Dan LeveilleDan Leveille, almost 9 years ago

      Thanks, Michael! We're actually quite pleased with the community response. The initial response we see on any change is always pretty negative (like any community, but even more so on DeviantArt because of our vocal audience), and in comparison, the response to this change is actually pretty positive in comparison. It's also great to see artists using the mark: http://www.deviantart.com/tag/deviantartlogo

      We're all pretty happy with the response so far, though we have been prepping for it for quite a few months. :)

      3 points
  • Dan LeveilleDan Leveille, almost 9 years ago

    Here's a video showing the evolution of our mark:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg77AHDEHac

    6 points
  • Eric Cheung, almost 9 years ago (edited almost 9 years ago )

    The more I look at the logo, the more it looked like a character from Final Fantasy...

    Jumbo Cactuar

    5 points
  • Tom WoodTom Wood, almost 9 years ago

    I owe my career to this brand - because of dA and it's community I discovered what it was that I wanted to do, and had easy access to inspiration of the highest quality. The day I got a Daily Deviation still stands in my memory as one of my greatest achievements.

    I love the bold direction of the brand, certainly of late it feels like dA have fallen behind with respect to Behance or Dribbble - I (unfairly) assume I'm going to see a gazillion Naruto fanart images every time I log on, so this freshness and change of pace is welcome.

    The symbol/logo is well thought out and clearly represents the brand message, though it irks me that a diagonal line drawn through the logo doesn't meet the tips of the logo, they're slightly off.

    The symbol does remind me of the UK National Rail logo a tad, and the font choice and diagonal styling remind me of the TV ads for the Watch channel (or the Really channel, can't remember).

    Really looking forward to seeing the new design filter through the rest of the site - I wonder if the palette will see an overhaul to incorporate more of the bright bubblegum colours of the video?

    4 points
  • Ben LeeBen Lee, almost 9 years ago

    Love that DA is boldly pronouncing their mission statement and going in a strong direction. A mark is important, but identifying a "why" and getting your entire team behind it is vital. Loved the old mark, but any mark can be instilled with value/meaning/prestige as long as the product and team are great.

    4 points
  • Pasquale D'SilvaPasquale D'Silva, almost 9 years ago (edited almost 9 years ago )

    What a load of design masturbation. ✊

    2 points
  • John LeschinskiJohn Leschinski, almost 9 years ago

    Here's what the site's former creative director had to say.

    http://theryanford.deviantart.com/journal/7-Notes-On-Deviantart-s-New-Branding-498379381

    1 point
  • John LeschinskiJohn Leschinski, almost 9 years ago

    Be interesting to see how this pans out. dA was the reason I got into graphic design, and turned out to be my first real job as a designer.

    1 point
  • Austin Kettner, almost 9 years ago

    Really dig the logic behind everything. Looking forward to play with the iOS App.

    1 point
  • Catalin CimpanuCatalin Cimpanu, almost 9 years ago

    I hope you guys do a good job with the main website. The fantastic work put into ArtStation made me cut my time spent on DrawCrowd and DeviantArt searching for new artwork. A well designed search always does wonders.

    1 point
  • Dwayne CharringtonDwayne Charrington, almost 9 years ago

    Not a fan of the new logo at all. Looks like a Not Equals Sign. Not overly impressed to be honest. There was nothing wrong with the old logo, I don't understand the motivation behind the new logo other than "freshness" sometimes things don't need to be changed.

    1 point
  • Johannes WeberJohannes Weber, almost 9 years ago (edited almost 9 years ago )

    I really like the intentions. I like the colors and the typeface and the overall bold and loud communication-style. But the signet, the cutted edge and the pattern... hmhm...

    Signet: I just can see a crazy styled 'z' rather than two half-'a's but I think it's still better and more remarkable than the old one. Cutted edge: Never saw something like that before. Never. Well, wait...Although such graphical synec doches look really smooth and modern, I'm kind of tired of them. Pattern: Wouldn't it be better if there was no space between the horizontal repetition of the signet? Honestly, I needed 5min to get the origin of the pattern.

    btw: Nice to see a professional video of the logo-process! (Although would've loved a slower version.)

    1 point
    • Tom WoodTom Wood, almost 9 years ago

      It's worth watching the video on 0.25 speed on youtube. You see some cool ideas and the development of the logo is very clear.

      1 point
  • Collis Ta'eedCollis Ta'eed, almost 9 years ago

    Cool looking rebrand page, and nice to see some freshness on DA.

    The symbol itself feels like it reads 'F' and 'A', and I'm not sure it quite hangs together with the type in all its configurations.

    Some nice applications on those posters down the page though!

    1 point
    • Dan LeveilleDan Leveille, almost 9 years ago

      Our team had a lot of fun playing with the brand system and artwork behind it. More "freshness" is coming. We made some changes a few months ago, including a more intuitive navigation, but those are just the first steps. We're hoping to do a bigger site uplift soon with the new branding.

      0 points
  • Mike MaiMike Mai, almost 9 years ago

    Hey, that reminds me of...

    http://alumni.massart.edu/s/1432/images/editor/MassArt%20Logos/mca_logo_prime_RGB_gold.jpg

    0 points
  • Jeff CouturierJeff Couturier, almost 9 years ago

    I like the rebrand, but that page is one monsterous scroll-beast. Way too big.

    0 points
  • Zach TaylorZach Taylor, almost 9 years ago

    If they were going for an iteration on the old mark then they've failed because the connection between the old and the new isn't, in my opinion, readily apparent.

    The video does illustrate their process, but I don't think I should need to watch a video to understand the evolution of a logo.

    0 points
  • Josh Sanders, almost 9 years ago

    there is some odd visual tension on the new logo. All end points (read: first or last letter of a word (headlines or the actual wordmark itself) are cut at the 62 degrees. However, the crossbar from the original letter 'A' is still a right angle. Looks very odd sitting right next to the wordmark that is angled. I mocked this up real quick for a better visual, with a proposed easy fix.

    http://imgur.com/FO0cyCr

    0 points
  • Ed AdamsEd Adams, almost 9 years ago

    I get a crappy ~20 FPS on that scrolling animation on my Mid-2012 RMBP...

    Still, props for them for such a strong rebrand. I hope they can pull it off!

    0 points
  • Aaron GrandoAaron Grando, almost 9 years ago

    I dig the direction. Haven't been an active DA member for 7 or 8 years. But it needed a refresh.

    I do feel like the cropped headlines might be technically poorly-planned, though. It'll be tough to render with real text instead of image cutouts (unless they create a left/right crop custom webfont...which would be kind of awesome). Til then, I feel for the devs and designers who will need to re-cut a headline every time its bit of copy gets tweaked.

    0 points
  • David DarnesDavid Darnes, almost 9 years ago

    The brand has been the same for quite a while, so I'm not surprised by the amount of opinions on it. Hopefully this rebrand is the first step towards new developments on the network. They have a good niche and have really helped illustrators, who I assume aren't experts on the web, get their work out there.

    0 points
  • Victor LVictor L, almost 9 years ago

    This logo seems to be abstract on purpose, since I've been noticing people interpreting it in a bunch of different ways judging by the comments.

    0 points