Given an urge to watch Home Alone with cheese pizza/Coke, discovered Papa John's recent rebrand...and gotta say...not a fan. Ironically designed by prestigious San Fran firm Su Mathews Hale, rebrand surprisingly underwhelmed and resembled a lazy purge of most rebrand projects this year.
Why? Let me count the ways...
1) Glaring grammatical error in the logo. Are there multiple Johns now? Looks unprofessional and businessmen should know better.
2) Get the minimal direction of logo evolution, but this looks devoid of personality/often a risk
3) When designing a logo set for versatile use, each version should look similar, yet distinct to accommodate different spaces; sorta like a family. If this is the case, then why does the avatar look like it's squeezed together? Abbreviations, anyone?
4) Speaking of trends, it's hard not to notice that raw/funky illustration is becoming particularly prominent and while
there's nothing wrong with inhaling whatever is current, why does this style look so banal?
5) Maybe I'm alone on this, but also notice a frequent trend composed of simple text on a solid background, get a little sleepy every time I see it and yet...it's everywhere...Why PJ?
6) Anyone who knows anything about choosing typefaces knows contrast is essential/to avoid combining those that look similar, so why is this the case?
Papa John's, you may be a little dumb, but I still love you. Also, stop skimping on the garlic sauce and pepperoncino.