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Jan Eumann
Creative director,
Wolff Olins
wolffolins.com“I’m not opposed to clarity and efficiency in
design. I wonder, though, about the overall
cost to the discipline when so many brands
are electing to use (at least by appearance) off-
the-shelf fonts to represent their brands. It’s a
legacy that will almost certainly not age well,
especially when compared to the iconic brand
marks of the last century or so.
Vonage has elected to go down the neo-
grotesque route, with a few bespoke details,
specifically the rounded V and A. Vonage
isn’t a brand with a deep heritage, but it does
have some brand equity worth leveraging.
The monogram itself is a simple extrusion of
the V, though that wasn’t obvious until I saw
the mark animated. Deleting the circle that’s
inside the V in the original logo removes any
reference to humanity in the new mark.
Where I think the brand is more effective
is in the integrated campaign; the illustrative
elements and palette are more effective. The
icons and illustration are distinctive and
fun, although how long a shelf life they have
is debatable.”“Years ago, Vonage disrupted the telco
industry with its cost-effective and high-
quality voice-over-IP solutions. Recently, it’s
created a unified business communications
and API offer that goes beyond residential
consumers. The new brand had to reclaim
Vonage’s disruptive reputation in the B2B
sector, unify all of its acquired businesses,
and speak to business customers as well as
the developers creating and using their APIs.
We worked closely with a cross-
disciplinary team to propel the organisation
into this next chapter, elevating the design
to feel bold and sophisticated while retaining
some of its quirks in illustration and tone of
voice. In an industry that overwhelms users
with features and functions, we created a
brand around Vonage’s secret superpower:
there when you need it, and hidden when you
don’t. Colourful extrusions suggest that the
brand is literally surfacing information to the
user, starting with the logo itself.
By collaborating with the product design
team we were able to design a system that’s
not just impactful in marketing applications,
but also informs the look and feel of
applications on a product level.”“The new branding looks clean and sleek
and is a great move for Vonage, as its old
branding was certainly outdated. Instagram
made multicolour gradients cool in 2016 but
I’m not sure that, three years on, it’s much of
a future move from Wolff Olins as this may
look dated in just a couple of years’ time. A
bigger risk might have paid off more, but from
a digital perspective it can be applied well
across different applications, both physically
and digitally.
I’m also unsure about the illustrated
characters. They look a bit too chunky
and although it’s obvious that they’re trying
to match the arms and legs to the size of
the lines in the brand mark, they just look
oddly disproportionate.
Another thing I’ve noticed is language.
This is an area in which Vonage currently
assumes people know who it is, rather than
communicating its unique proposition and
purpose clearly. Ultimately though, for me,
it’s a shame to see this new brand launched
on its .com site with slow performance and
with the .co.uk site still awaiting a refresh.”VONAGE HAS A NEW LOGO AND IDENTITY COURTESY OF
WOLFF OLINS. THREE CREATIVES HAVE THEIR SAY...rebrand
Paul Levy
Designer,
Grady Britton
gradybritton.comScott Jones
Managing director,
Illustrate Digital
illustrate.digital