With lockdown restrictions continuing to ease, some restaurants are preparing to open their doors once again. This includes the restaurant formerly known as TGI Fridays, which is reopening with a brand new identity.
As well as a new, "simplified" menu, the restaurant has a brand new name: Fridays. Gone is the TGI prefix (a nod to the phrase 'Thank God it's Friday'), which has given the brand a celebratory quality since the first TGI Friday's opened in 1965. A new name, of course, means a new logo (below) – and this one probably won't be entering our best logos list.
New logo, new menu, new look! You may notice a few more changes happening – stay tuned to find out what else is coming 👀Find out more: https://t.co/M7Zu0zECJh pic.twitter.com/xGNPRQZ7auJune 23, 2020
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Aside from the obvious removal of the vertical TGI letters, the new logo sees the reintroduction of the ornate border that adorned the original TGI Friday's logo (but was shunned for the last major rebrand in 2013). Other than that, it's a fairly bland affair, with a plain sans serif font that doesn't exactly scream Friday to us. The social media version (above) at least manages to convey a touch more character with its red-and-white stripes.
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Commenters over at Brand New have also spotted that the Fridays wordmark appears not to have been properly optically aligned inside the border, creating the impression of it having been shifted slightly to the left.
The ornate border, removed for the 2013 logo (centre), is back (Image credit: Fridays/Future Owns)
If we're honest, the new logo is about as exciting as the new name. It's a shame to see TGI go, taking with it a sense of joy. And with many users referring to the restaurant as 'TGI' in response to its tweets, it seems the rebrand could end up causing some confusion among its existing customers. Still, the brand seems determined to shorten its name – 'Friday's' lost its apostrophe in 2013, and now it's no longer thanking the lord. We wouldn't be surprised to find ourselves looking at a new logo for 'Fri' in a few years' time.
The new logo on Fridays' new cocktail range (which all sound very family friendly – except the middle one) (Image credit: Fridays)
While Fridays hasn't elaborated on the rebrand itself and whether or not it was designed in-house, it claims to be bringing back "that Fridays feeling" (we're not 100% sure that's a phrase) with its new menu. But with its slightly drab name and logo, we're finding this rebrand more fri-nay than fri-yay.
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Daniel John is Design Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of design, branding and lifestyle tech, and has covered several industry events including Milan Design Week, OFFF Barcelona and Adobe Max in Los Angeles. He has interviewed leaders and designers at brands including Apple, Microsoft and Adobe. Daniel's debut book of short stories and poems was published in 2018, and his comedy newsletter is a Substack Bestseller.
