Native Instruments new brand identity

BIF

Okay, my honest feeling.

First the good. It's high contrast. Black on white or white on black. Good for people who are color blind or have trouble seeing low contrast content. It's too bad I have more to discuss, though...

The bad. That's not an "N". I think it cheats a bit too much, it goes one 3 beyond what would be considered "tasteful leet".

The indifferent. When I saw Pat Benatar in concert back in the 90s, her keyboard player had a Korg Triton keyboard. I know it well, because I had one too...and still have it. But the Korg name was covered in black gaffer tape on the back of the keyboard, which was the side facing the audience at the concert.

Why? Who knows...maybe Benatar or her band had some other/incompatible endorsement deal with a competitor, and as a result, had to cover that up? Maybe the keyboard player hated the Triton? Maybe Korg was a four letter word? Oh, wait...it is a four letter word.

I won't go to that extent, but damn, AI, y'all better knock it out of the park with your next hardware iterations. No mistakes, no mess-ups, no tall stories that you don't follow through on, no half-@ssed implementation of MIDI 2.0. If you're gonna insist on a bad logo for the next 15-20 years, all your other stuff is going to have to be perfection personified. Get it right.

And damn, put some tighty-whities on that "R". There's something wrong with that boy.

JasperK

This is a horrible logo.

donmaddonald

I like it, I think it represent status, as I believe the brand it is very strong, so it doesn't need fancy logos, this is simple with a nice design. I have to get used to it, but looks neat and clean to me.

nico5

Not Impressed 😉

Wouter De Muynck

I like the new logo, but I’m not convinced about the banner, way too heavy. And why choose 2 different fonts/styles. I would reuse the logo-look into the banner.

Rebranding and an extensive style-guide is common after a take-over, it makes sense, but I hope it doesn’t end here and NI uses this opportunity to regain focus and become an innovative software/hardware wizard again together with their users.

Murat Kayi

Finally a new logo. It's all we've been waiting for these last years!

Roma1n

I really don't like this new logo.

Like a lot of people said, the "R" is just horrible, and the name feels cropped. I was really liking the old logo with the blue grey background for the I. It was simple and very recognizable (on web, on product).

It feels like a mistake for me, sorry.

nachopenades

At first glance it is hard to understand, but when you put it in context and browse the web, everything makes sense. I really like how it looks in "Komplete" or "Kontakt", and the minimalism of the logo. It took me a while to figure it out, but in the end I really like it.

MaikR

A lot of companies (need to) rebrand to (re)gain relevance and value… often during a period when an organization is directed inwards (too much).

For me as an existing customer ‘value’ would mean good and stable products, supplemented with great service and decent support. For me as a loyal customer ‘relevance’ would mean an innovative and top-notch line of products that don’t make me feel more and more like a fool, because I’ve trusted my money with a vendor or waited so long for updates (and bug fixes).

Yes, I can see that you need to refresh your brand once in a while, but a refinement of the existing logo would have been just fine. A new logo doesn’t make your products more relevant and it doesn’t mean any value for your customers neither…

Within the next few months we all have gear with that ‘classic’ logo. And no, I don’t consider that as the added value of vintage… 😑

Paule

Looks in a modern style like my P-logo - so GREAT.

Thank you at the unknown designer.

Flexi

You actually made a thread for this nonsense?

The old logo was fine, in fact compared this thing it was absolute perfection, recognisable and known.

There is real determination to kill NI entirely, right?

olafmol

Who cares?

DaveKeys

Absolutely don't care. What matters is whether the product works, and that it's recognisable when I go to look for it.

Wilmar Boer

Does this mean that a brand identity project was going on and that the release of new hardware had to wait for the new brand identity to come out so they could print the right logo and use the right fonts on the new devices? In other words, if this means that there's some new NI equipment coming out I'm happy with the new logo.

Sunborn

Too simplistic. Even an amateur teenager can do such work. ...the very least you could use some more "exotic" font. Logo looks like a brand who sell refrigerators or washing machines... 😋