Rebranding the City of Angels

Webposted by Guest Author August 24th, 2021 9:27 am

I love a good before-and-after: interior design, organization, beauty, fashion… But especially logos and brands.

So, without hesitation, I giddily clicked on the link for the rebrand of the Los Angeles tourism logo. I was not prepared for the instantaneous transportation back to the ‘80s of my youth! It was a spot-on, perfect ‘80s recreation. Really, why so blatant?, I wondered.

Part of what I love about a good rebrand is the explanation behind it – the criteria to follow and objectives to meet. Especially with a municipal or tourism logo – an extremely challenging design because of its need to appeal to literally everyone. But as your mom used to tell you – you can’t please everyone. As a designer, you try your very best, take the inevitable criticism in stride, and hope you’ve appealed to at least most people.

Objectives for this redesign were “representing all the things that Los Angeles meant to people” – whether they be local residents or global tourists. Another was appealing to “Gen Z and Millennial visitors from key markets with means to travel”.

With this in mind, my designer point-of-view says they met these objectives. No matter where you’re from, you’re likely to view LA as a city of energy, excitement, sun and beaches. This rebrand has all of those elements. And it coincides with the look of the currently-trending ‘80s, which appeals to Gen Z and Millennials.

I personally avoid scripts and gradients in my logo work for accessibility reasons, but the script here is easier to read than many and captures energy and motion. I would use the gradient as a supporting element in the branding as a whole, instead of part of the logo. But it did elicit a reaction from me that I believe the designer and client were looking for. An exciting rebrand and an instant recall of a sunny, beachy locale that I would love to visit again.