Yahoo unveils new ‘whimsical’ logo with dancing exclamation point

By Trevor Mogg September 5, 2013

Image used with permission by copyright holder

So the excruciating wait is over, the 30-day build-up complete. That’s right, folks – Yahoo has at last unveiled a brand new logo for Web users of the world to cast its expectant eyes upon. What do you mean, you didn’t even know it was unveiling a new logo?

In a bid to generate some buzz around its new branding, the company has for the last month been rolling out various redesigns on a daily basis, all rejected ones, presumably.

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And then, on the stroke of midnight last night, it finally revealed the logo that Yahoo chief marketing officer Kathy Savitt promised would be “fun, vibrant and welcoming”.

And here it is:

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Just kidding. This is it here:

new yahoo — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Yes, it’s still purple (although a bit bluer than before?), and yes, it still begins with a ‘Y’ and ends with a ‘!’, but that was pretty much expected.

Truth be told, it’s not really a massive departure from what we had before, although in a surprise twist the exclamation point has been animated – jump over to Yahoo’s homepage and you’ll see it dancing about, as if lost, before finally coming to rest in its rightful place.

And as you can see, to mix things up a bit, the Web company has also launched a reverse white-on-purple version. Nice.

Announcing the new look, Savitt said, “We wanted a logo that stayed true to our roots – whimsical, purple, with an exclamation point – yet embraced the evolution of our products.”

This is Yahoo’s biggest logo redesign since the company launched 18 years ago, and comes just over a year after former Google executive Marissa Mayer was brought in to turn the company around following years of decline.

Under Mayer’s leadership the company has concentrated its efforts in the lucrative mobile space, making a large number of acquisitions – Tumblr among them – and sprucing up existing apps and services such as Mail, Weather, and Flickr.

So. The logo. What do you think of it?

Contributing Editor

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

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