This is a summary and analysis of the brand redesign for Airbnb that was released in July of 2014.
Design Studio began the re-branding process for Airbnb a year earlier in July 2013. The design process was extensive and to accomplish it, the studio hired to handle the design actually lived at the Airbnb offices in several locations to “become part of Airbnb” in order to understand how to create a design for them.
This effort resulted in a very unique and simple mark that follows well many of the design principles we studied last week. The following are my notes and critique of the strengths and weaknesses of the design.
Strengths
The logo is a simple, unique shape that contains a visual language that reflects the Airbnb core principles of people, places, love, and the name “Airbnb” represented by the letter “A”. It is a symmetric design that is clearly visible and recognizable in extremely small icon sizes.
The text of the mark is a Swiss-style open typeface that aligns with the angled sides of the mark to fit in visual harmony with the logo. The colors are white on a soft, faded magenta. The colors are bold but feminine which fit Airbnb’s value of love. The logo also is rounded into the shape of an inverted heart for this reason.
The logo is efficient, simple, and unique. It is a great mark.
On the social media landscape, I found a varied set of combination of the logo mark with vacation destination and travel photography. The strongest design was on Twitter, with a nice, large banner photo. Airbnb does do a good job of utilizing photography in their social media branding. The photos are colorful and the messages posted are sensitive to include all people and places. There is an effort to utilize the zeitgeist to promote their brand. Facebook has by far the most followers at 11 million and YouTube the least at 94k subscribers. Instagram has a healthy number of images shared and 2.7 million followers.
Weaknesses
The redesign was not received well by some in the community and unfortunately, there has been a movement of memes poking fun at the logo. Some of these memes have been very crude which has worked against the ideals of Airbnb. It’s not unusual for re-branding to be received with mixed reviews at first, but these memes became a movement and the images produced persist even years later.
Another problem was the near exact similarity to a logo owned by Automation Anywhere. Both companies insist it was mere coincidence that the logos are basically the same design. Automation Anywhere has since re-designed their logo and it’s no longer an issue. Once you see the similarity between the two, however, you cannot help but wonder about plagiarism.
Honest coincidences do exist but they are rare, so folks are left to wonder. At the very least, this is a case of Airbnb and Design Studio not being aware enough of current logo marks, since these two companies were aware of each other before Airbnb launched their re-design process and came up with the very similar logo. Legally, it sounds like the copyright issues are resolved.
The weaknesses in the social media branding are that Facebook for all its users has only the logo visible for the brand and not even a banner image as is shown on the Twitter page. I think this is a lost opportunity and creates some disjointed feel between all the channels.
Composition Principles
The composition of the logo is symmetric. The initial design featured all lower case type which enhanced the symmetric arrangement. The logo is a simple heavy line with color providing adequate contrast. The logo with type supports a “not half” composition. Also given the triangular shape, the law of thirds is reflected in the logo shapes.
The social media success of the brand can be measured in shares of content featured in the social media campaign.
Conclusion
The Airbnb logo re-design is a success as a graphic and logo design project is concerned. The simplicity and nice way of enveloping several concepts into such a simple shape is a coup as a result. Even in light of the unfortunate reaction of some on the internet, I think the overall results of the project are a great success. The “alternative interpretations” have all been things that I had not considered upon first look, and I feel that the Airbnb market will likely not see those interpretations either until they are pointed out. Possible alternative interpretations are something that designers should be aware of and this case is a learning experience to be sure.
BOYD LAKE SEO BLOG 
I found this blog post to be really interesting especially because I have kept up with airbnb. I do think you focused more on the logo though instead of their social media channels. I’d be curious to know what you learned about their strengths and weakness of the content on their channels.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the comment Lyndsi. I added some commentary on how the brading is used on the social media channels. Thanks!
LikeLike
Hi Boyd!
I must say that the Swiss-style of Airbnb’s logo is what drew me in when I first saw them on social media. Their branding is very modern and simple which appeals very nicely to their target audience. Thank you for sharing how their logo came to be, it makes the simple design seem much more meaningful. I never would have guessed that they were trying to combine people, places and love, which could be a strength or weakness. I always wonder with simple designs like this if some of the meaning is lost. I love the look but without your research I wouldn’t have known that there was so much meaning behind it. Like I said, I haven’t decided if that is a strength or weakness.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I had no idea that they had that many followers. It seems I may be one of the few who has never used an Airbnb. The logo mixup is definitely interesting. Now I am Really wondering what really went on.
As far as the logo itself goes, I didnt Know what the background to it was. I love It.
I do agree with you that their Facebook page is a missed opportunity. It may not be their main social media channel, but it is a shame that they are not taking care if it as we as their other channels.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I didn’t realize so many people posted or I would have picked another blog. I try to post on Facebook and here so others see that someone wrote. I would have liked to see more actual posts from the social media platform but I love your first image example of the Airbnb logo. I was surprised to see how many people follow that brand. I am sure their engagement levels would be something to consider if it’s a success. Out of millions of people if they only have 100 comments that aren’t so good. To go along with your rules of third in the logo it is actually in their name too, AIR – BNB. Just something I observed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have never used airbnb, but it is a brand that I have heard a lot about, it is also a brand that I think has done a very good job of getting themselves out there and building their customer base through social medias and advertising. I was very interested to learn about your observations on the logo design, I hadn’t done any research into that and it fascinates me that such a large company would put themselves in a position of a potential infringement of copyright, What is the biggest thing that you learned from this analysis that you can take to better your own brand identity?
LikeLiked by 1 person