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Netflix's New Logo: Double Trouble?

June 28th, 2016

 

Seems like the lion’s share of the articles in our blog consists of a) companies replacing their iconic logos by more app -friendly ones (usually to the great displeasure of the public) and b) logo design plagiarism controversies. So today, as a special treat, we’re covering a case that merges both! Except the logo is not actually being replaced. And there’s not really a plagiarism controversy. Don’t worry, it will all become clear in a moment.

Indeed, while big-name streaming website Netflix did unveil a new logo a week ago, it does not plan on scrapping the old one entirely, which may be why any controversy over this news is far more moderate than in the cases we have previously covered. And admittedly, Netflix’s full-text logo is far too wide to translate well as an icon, so an update was sorely necessary. In contrast, the new icon is simply a crimson ribbon on a black background, shaped into the letter “N”.

However, independent UK publishing company Prolific North fears that Netflix’s new logo “commercially could become an issue” since it closely resembles their existing logo. As a breath of fresh air in an environment where mud-slinging over probably unintentional logo similarities is rather common, Prolific North publisher Nick Jaspan acknowledged: “I don’t believe for one minute that they copied our logo, they wouldn’t be so crass to do that, but someone has come up with a good idea and it hasn’t come up on the image search”. Nevertheless, the smaller company fears that the similarity of their logo to Netflix’s icon could have a negative impact, though they would prefer to avoid engaging the streaming giant in a legal battle.

Meanwhile, experts and laymen alike are still trying to determine whether Netflix’s new icon represents a red carpet, a celluloid film print, or simply (as some assert) a pretentious and meaningless mess. What do you think of the logo, and what do you think it means?

 

About the Author:

Daniil Stoenko is a professional writer and translator who produced a variety of articles for LogoBee’s Logo Design Blog over the years.

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Comment

Hi Kris, Thanks for the great comment! I wonder what do you call "classic scratch board style" ? I had seen many logos in this style. If you only have logos in this type on one page, they all start to look similar, don`t they? Mix and matching styles is a good idea for a logo, but simple now days is definitely a BIG deal. Say you pay hundreds of dollars to a designer and you get back a square or 3 lines crossed ... You have to rely on professionalism of a designers to make square and 3 simple lines work and not look amateurish, but also trust designers eye. Not many clients are willing to let go like this

by PavelJuly 06, 2018
Comment

More simple the logo, more hard to be unique, because everything already exist nowadays, there're millions of logos. That's why I'm not really confidence to create simple logos, even after my team doing a research 5 times to prevent copyright issue, sometimes we missed, after a couple months we found similar logos. That's why I prefer a logo with classic scratchboard style, 100% guaranteed original, even I don't need to do some research to make sure the originality. But the problem is, clients who want classic logos are rare. IMO the Netflix logo is safe from copyright issue, because that "ribbon" style is generic, I've seen a lot of logos using that style.

by KrisJuly 03, 2018
Comment

Once again when it comes to simple logo design images it became absolutely impossible not to mimic some existing logos. Personally I think there is enough difference to differentiate between the two. It has its own flare.

by PavelJune 30, 2016