The case against logo refreshes
Most logo refreshes solve a problem the logo did not have. A short note on what to do instead.
A logo gets blamed for a lot of problems it didn't cause. Slow growth, stale website, internal disagreement about what the company is. Refreshing the logo doesn't fix any of those.
What a logo can actually do
Be recognizable. Reproduce well at any size. Carry the brand language into places where the brand voice can't reach. That's it. A logo is not a strategy.
What people refresh logos to fix
A boring website. A weak product page. Drift in tone of voice. None of these are typographic problems. All of them are content problems wearing a costume.
When a logo refresh is right
The logo literally doesn't work - too detailed for small sizes, too tied to a defunct sub-brand, too dated in a way that hurts trust. Those are real. They are also rare.
Most clients who arrive asking for a logo refresh, after a real conversation, end up wanting a brand language refresh. Same colors. Same mark. Different voice, different layout system, different photography. That's the cheaper, more effective version of the same instinct.