For the last few years, it's felt like logo designs have all been moving in the direction. Flat, minimal, sans-serif wordmarks have been the order of the day for what feels like forever – but Burberry has just bucked the trend with a rebrand that looks to the past whilst also feeling like a step forwards.
Burberry was one of the first fashion houses to introduce a minimal, sans-serif typeface back in 2018, but it's just gone back to its roots with a new "archive-inspired" sans-serif look. And the company has also resurrected its 1901 '‘Equestrian Knight Design’ (EKD) symbol for good measure. (Looking for inspiration? Check out the best logos of all time.)
The Equestrian Knight design is back (Image credit: Burberry)
The rebrand comes as new chief creative officer Daniel Lee has taken over the company. According to Burberry, "The original Equestrian Knight Design was the winning entry of a public competition to design a new logo, circa 1901. The design features the Latin word 'Prorsum' meaning 'Forwards'."
The new Burberry wordmark (left) vs the 2018 version (right) (Image credit: Burberry logo)
But it's that new wordmark that's getting everyone talking. Fans have bemoaned the move towards clean, sanitised fashion logos for years now, with memes mocking how every brand has started to look the same. So it's no surprise that Burberry's subtly seriffed new wordmark is getting lots of love already:
I must confess I love the new Burberry logo. Is the boring modern sterile logo trend finally dying? Is design healing? pic.twitter.com/UonHNACtuiFebruary 7, 2023
loving the burberry logo updatefinally something distinctive, with graphics + colour. the sans-serif era sucked pic.twitter.com/tnnY5mqMAtFebruary 6, 2023
The @burberry brand just took a huge step backwards… and it looks amazing!🔥It’s great to see a brand with such rich heritage abandoning the bland, sans serif trend which has been draining character from some of the world’s biggest brands for a while#designtrends2023 #design pic.twitter.com/1fRzqyDsKDFebruary 7, 2023
Indeed, in the "digital-friendly" sand-serif-scape, the tiny flourishes of Burberry's new logo look positively courageous. And hey, it's also completely legible – take note, Kia.
Daniel John is Senior News Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of art, design, branding and lifestyle tech (which often translates to tech made by Apple). He joined in 2020 after working in copywriting and digital marketing with brands including ITV, NBC, Channel 4 and more.
