This is why Johnson and Johnson simply ditched one of many world’s oldest logos By Joseph Foley printed 16 September 23 It is torn up the script on a 135-year-old wordmark.

Johnson & Johnson is likely one of the world’s greatest pharmaceutical corporations. It additionally laid declare to having one of many world’s oldest logos nonetheless in use – a broadly recognised cursive design based mostly on co-founder James Wooden Johnson’s signature.

However that acquainted flowing script shall be no extra. After 135 years, the corporate has revealed a brand new Johnson & Johnson brand that is, properly… maybe lots like what you’ll count on from a pharma brand in 2023. It is cleaner and simpler to learn however might be seen to lack distinction. It might sound a wierd determination to ditch a broadly recognised design – think about if Coca-Cola introduced it was ditching its script for a sans serif brand (see our choose of one of the best cursive logos for different examples). However there are causes for the change.

The brand new Johnson & Johnson brand follows the road of current developments in the direction of cleaner, easier designs, dropping the handwritten kind for a sans serif font in a brighter shade of purple whereas conserving the ampersand and the dearth of phrase spacing to make sure continuity.

The choice to introduce a brand new brand after so lengthy was maybe partly attributable to altering occasions. In an period when many kids now not be taught to write down cursive script, the legacy brand is exhibiting its 135 years, and it isn’t precisely probably the most legible, even amongst script logos. Many individuals are more likely to see it and recognise it however maybe not even learn what it says. However the primary purpose for the brand new brand is a change within the firm’s objective.

As J&J factors out in its announcement in regards to the new id, the Johnson & Johnson script brand is generally related to shopper manufacturers like its child shampoo, Listerine mouth wash, Band-Help plasters and its now discontinued child powder. It now not makes these merchandise as a result of it span off its shopper healthcare enterprise earlier this 12 months to create a brand new firm known as Kenvue, which intends to regularly part out J&J branding. That leaves Johnson & Johnson centered on progressive prescribed drugs and medical gadgets. And a many years previous handwritten brand wasn’t actually in step with that forward-looking focus.