The most important thing about being happy is the possibility to have some rest when the time is right. Regardless of healthy lifestyle propaganda, you tend to choose a quiet evening before the TV screen instead of an intense workout at the gym. And watching the series is the best rest for your tired brains. That’s why the online disk distribution company has become the biggest stream content provider. Netflix story is a story of succeeding where all the others have perished.
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What’s the gist?
In order to define whether a company’s logo is successful or not, it is necessary to analyze its scope of work and development vector. Netflix is one of the biggest films and serials suppliers in the world. They can even shoot their own movies, which has reached 50 million viewers in 2014 and is still increasing!
In general, a brand’s overall approach to development can be called customers oriented. And content-stealing pirate sites seem to pose a real threat to the company. But, provided you play it right, even this can be turned into a huge advantage. Netflix watches pirate content ratings carefully, receiving thus free and unprejudiced data. And the customer-oriented principle is manifested by many things. All the new series, all the design changes, including the Netflix logo, all it is given to the focus-group in the first place. There are deep researches first, and only then the product is shown to a global audience. Such a responsible approach is something to be learned in the first place.
NetFlix Logo history
The history of Netflix logo begins in 1997.
The original Netflix logo was looking as all the others were, dull and unassumingly. It was a simple, dark ringlet of tape with some bluish shades. Netflix logo font wasn’t something special either, just a thin type with some notches. But the label still did its job, as it was clear what you are dealing with. The ringlet split Net and flix into two different words, catering for better memorizing of it. It was obvious that the company deals with media content.
NetFlix Logo evolution
First logo version lasted only until 2000. It altered to that very logo that we remember today.
We really just can’t forget that part of Netflix’s logo history, when the logo was comprised of clear, long, narrow and white letters, framed with a black, casting shadows and all of it was placed on a red shield. Quite an aggressive choice for such simple and clear colors. The signature was arranged in an arch. It was a tribute to the symbolism of the previous logo, an tape, which symbolized the gist of the company.
Current rebranding
It all kept that way when the time has come to redesign the logo again. The new Netflix logo is being used up until now. They endow it with animation or shorten it to the initial “N”, and all of it is done in a proper way. So, how is the Netflix logo image looking like? Let’s examine it a bit closer. At first glance, the new variation isn’t different from the old Netflix logo in any way, but that’s not true. If we place the two of them near, we would immediately notice the differences.
Netflix logo Meaning
The traditional red color has moved from the background into the letters. An elegant gradient fade to black was adopted. And the red color reminds us of armchair upholstery in cinema. A noble letter fading almost carries us into a dark hall and readies to watch some movie. And that tape ringlet from before is also kept in the logo.
Some people consider that NetFlix emblem is a combination of red and white colors, which ones have own meaning themselves. Red symbolizes energy, power and passion, white color was chosen merely as a background.
All in all, the Netflix logo is an example of a well-developed logo. The main idea of the logo is that a viewer gets to the cinema without leaving his house. The logo transfers this meaning using designing features to affect associations and avoid obvious symbolism at the same time.
Netflix logo font
The emblem was featuring a Graphique font. This font was originally created by Hermann Eidenbenz in 1945, after that Ralph M. Unger digitized and expanded the script.
The current logo design was developed by the creative agency Gretel in New York. They settled on a laconic and recognizable design with a contemporary font, and focused its efforts on crucial features of Netflix and responded positively to main goals of the company. In this way an infinite catalogue and custom-curated selections were being accorded priority. Their goal was to create something interactive, yet structured and durable, so that the design could be catchy, fit into any format and be recognizable all over the world.
The well-known composer and laureate of famous awards Hans Zimmer wrote the Netflix sonic logo. The company expanded the short sonic logo of a 0.4 seconds duration with a longer extended option of 0.17 seconds. This probably reflects the fact the audience in a movie theater didn’t have enough time to react and plunge into the film, thus the sound of the Netflix sonic logo became more melodic and continuous. The new version of the sound gained its popularity and spread worldwide quickly.
As Netflix continue to spread to more countries, the company did a re-branding and released a new global identity. The new Netflix logo looks similar to a previous version of it, it has letters in red color on white background and the same patented font of their own production called Netflix Sans, but the black stroke and shadow were removed. This made the new logo more clear, simple and light-weight. A branding update didn’t affect Brand Awareness. On the contrary, a visual system which was developed by a design studio and described as “the Stack” brought together both catalogue and curator in the constant process of selection and creation of individual selections for users. In addition, they also implemented the exaggerated cropping of a new logo, which remains familiar, even if a small part of it is depicted.
The duration of the iconic Netflix intro is only 0.4 seconds and is called “Ta-Dum” . Todd Yellin supervised the sound creation process. The company’s signature sound is simple and brilliantly done, it has a positive satisfying affect on the viewer. It is a perfect way to visually and aurally represent the brand, that unites people of different cultures.
Blog editor and content marketing specialist at Turbologo. Writing about Marketing and design. Victoria’s articles contain useful tips on how to build a brand and promote it online.
