Of Note - Burberry's rebrand goes inside out - and back in time

These days I’m more likely found in front of a pile of toddler laundry than the front row of a fashion show, but Burberry’s new rebrand caught my eye. And all because of something they did over 120 years ago.

In 2018, Burberry were among the first brands to switch their look to a minimal, sans-serif typeface. Overnight it felt like every direct to consumer brand had done the same. And all the same they were indeed. Brands became ‘blands’.

Burberry have now changed up once more. The sans-serif is gone. More interesting though is the logo - and more specifically, how the logo came to be.

The new Burberry logo isn’t new at all. It’s not from 2018. Or 1918. Instead, it’s been brought all the way back from 1901.

But the best bit is the ‘Equestrian Knight Design’ identity wasn’t created by a hipster design studio*.

It was the winning entry of a public competition to create Burberry’s new identity. Crowdsourcing in action.

In a world where the smartest companies know it's good business to bring their fans deeper inside their brand, it turns out Burberry were a century or so ahead of the pack.

P.S. The design features the Latin word 'Prorsum’ meaning 'Forwards'. Sometimes it’s worth going back to go forwards.

* I imagine the hipsters of 1901 probably looked similar to those of today.

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