New WSO Logo - Branding / Icon

Fellow Primates - so it's been about ~8(?) years since we've taken a look at our logo/branding and we think it's time for a refresh -- our designers almost vomit when they look at our current icon and we have some major initiatives coming where a refreshed look would help.

....Especially as more traffic moves to mobile site (and our soon to be released mobile app!) People hate change and I'm sure this will be met with some monkey shit, but please hear us out and have an open mind as much as possible.

With that in mind, our goals are:

  • Maintain the blue iconic circle representative of the Oasis

  • Keep the Monkey since monkeys are awesome/fun and an aspiring monkey is really representative of the community

  • Make it easier to see what it is on smaller form factors

  • Make it hopeful and inspirational

With that in mind, for the icon, we are gravitating toward something like the image below:

UPDATE: final logo in case you guys missed the other thread is below - should start hitting site and other channels in 24-48hrs

Thanks,
Patrick

 

Honestly, the current logo is better because it represents the website: you have the monkey, obviously, but a laptop (since we are all here online) and the palm tree (since it it an oasis)... looks professional and iconic.

These new ideas are pretty bad... there's no reason why the O should be a different color, and the monkey looks really juvenile. I would honestly not change the logo

 
fuzzy_stocks:
Gonna be honest - I thought it was a screaming dinosaur before realizing it's a monkey.

haha yeah I thought a T Rex got mauled by a bigger T Rex and had its mouth torn off and was rarrrring in agony

edit: The eye helps on the monkey

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

I'm not a design expert but I think it's too abstract. Reminds me a lot of the new Pepsi logo. The monkey can be kept (although your site is named "Oasis"...) but if you're going to have a monkey, could it at least have distinguishing / sharper features (eyes looking up)? It's not at all obvious that it's a monkey from close up and zoomed out it could be anything. Seriously open the image in a new tab and CTRL+scroll the mouse wheel to zoom out. Compared to your current logo where the monkey, palm tree, and computer are all distinct even at very tiny sizes.

Maybe take a cue from some of the Reddit subreddit logos, which are small, circular yet distinguishing. It sounds absurd but the Wall Street Bets subreddit you can see even in a tiny circle logo the slicked hair and sunglasses.

https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/

Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes.
 

yeah, feels more modern. but then again i like minimalist design and that might not be what most people think looks good

Edit: also, i didn't even realize it the dark portion was the monkey's face until you posted the pic with the eye. thought it was a screaming dinosaur too

maybe three colors? white black and blue? and by shading i mean the rough outlines

Real Estate Professional Network Discord Server: https://discord.gg/xxWQ2nC
 

1 - yes, this immediately looks like a monkey to me 2- has the smile of a psychopath 3 - awkwardly shaped ghost 4 - not too bad, kind of growing on me 5 - pls fix, tx 6 - not bad either big one - reminds me of curious george but hey, i like it

Real Estate Professional Network Discord Server: https://discord.gg/xxWQ2nC
 

The big one is kinda nice! With the eye addition and the smile (although it looks a tad drafty here?), looking upwards a bit. Full of hope and ambition, just like aspiring juniors.

Nr4 could be the MD version

A Dutchman in London
 

No advice because my creativity dies years ago, but I do like the current logo quite a lot. I'm a huge palm tree guy. Saw a kid with a T-Shirt of it in an airport and dabbed him up.

The new logo with the eye is nice, but I'm not the biggest fan of change (with regards to anything).

Dayman?
 

The old/current logo is indeed too "stuffy" compared to the minimalist/mobile design trends we see now. Definitely taking out the palm tree and the laptop are good ideas!

The new suggestion is interesting, and people would get used to it, but it feels quite detached from the WSO brand. What about playing a bit more with the original monkey design? The original black monkey (or maybe navy blue next?) on a light blue circle would be interesting to check out maybe?

Would be good to change the WSO font too, to better fit with the new logo!

A Dutchman in London
 

i really like the white one, or gray with blue eyes

edit: give the white one blue eyes and blond hair and we'll be set

Real Estate Professional Network Discord Server: https://discord.gg/xxWQ2nC
 

theoretically no, but when we started iterating, we found that the more detail in the face, the less open to interpretation there was. any smile, mouth, etc can either make it look too serious or too goofy/childish - honestly, I think that is why SurveyMonkey did what they did with their logo :-)

Also, with the profile, I like that we can make the monkey look up (easier) without making it too busy to try and give off some indication of hope, aspirations and seeking help (all very relevant to WSO).

 

While the old logo does have its issues, I feel like it implies a monkey grinding out on a computer and the palm tree or oasis like WSO being a break in the midst of a grind. It has a lot of symbolic meaning. I don't see much of a symbolic meaning in this new logo (Although feel free to correct me) and the new logo doesn't really differentiate us from Snapchat/Insta/Reddit, etc although the WSO community is undeniably much more unique then those communities.

Array
 

yes, for sure the old logo is much more explicit since it has the palm tree + computer.

That being said, it's super dated and just hard to see in small form factors (of which a larger and larger % of the traffic to WSO is each year and will likely be much more once our mobile app is released in a few weeks)....

The goal here is to modernize so that we can stay relevant but stay true to the brand. Blue circle still represents the Oasis (same as before), the monkey still represents us, the community members and the upward-looking profile represents hope, pride and aspirations which I think is a better representation of the community and it's objective (vs just a computer) -- although admittedly much less explicit!

I also feel that this redesign is coming at a good time as we make some major changes heading into 2020:

  • Launch of mobile app in just a few short weeks

  • Some exciting announcements re our courses coming in 2020

  • Huge push into more high-quality content. We now have 2 podcasts, close to 300 mentors, (many of whom are doing AMAs each week) and we're building out our team to get better at delivering the best content around finance careers in the world

Thank you for the honest feedback. Most people really hate logo redesigns (including me), but after hearing enough times from people with a much better eye than me "are you sure you want to move fwd with that icon" I think it was time to get introspective....

I think this is very relevant here: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/250559

 

I think the monkey's head shape would look better using the old design. Head shape as in the skull/forehead/mouth protrusion. The new design also looks like the monkey is jutting his jaw forward. I think it was intended for it to look upwards slightly, but it looks really unnatural to me.

 
tehoriginal:
In all honesty the vibe emanated by this logo isn't in line with the exclusivity/ high-end vibe someone get's when they come to WSO.

Imagine thinking a message board is "exclusive" or "high end"

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

Nothing against both logos of the blue and the the ones above. Preferably, I like the classic blue with WSO one in my opinion. What are the opinions and thoughts of others in the thread?

"It's okay, I'll see you on the other side"
 
moneytrail:
Personally never understood why everyone is so big on apps. I use Reddit quite a lot but will never download the app. Same for WSO. Have no issues using it through web page on mobile.

Couldn't agree more

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

Agree that we should try to keep the palm tree. I do like the current “favorite” logo as well and support it. I hope that would just be the kind of staple logo, but I would like to see a more in depth logo with a palm tree maybe for the desktop site. Nice color scheme.

Whatever you pick, just make sure you send me a new shirt please. Golf shirt would be cool.

I think my girlfriend stole my old shirt now that I think of it. Yes I’ll be proposing.

 

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Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

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