Burger King’s rebrand was a home run with designs that romanticise the heyday of fun fast-food. The formula; simple colours, fun illustrations and flat design. So we wondered – how cool would it be if we started seeing retro logos pop up everywhere?

At the start of the year, Burger King revealed their new brand aesthetic. The imagery is so retro that a sepia filter wouldn’t have any effect on the look. The logo, in particular, is a pure call-back to the design that led the fast-food chain through the boom of the industry in the 70s, 80s and 90s. It leaves behind that artificial blue swish to reveal what’s left behind of the colour palette; hues of red, orange and brown, the signifiers of hearty, delicious food. The shapes within it have no fuss attached; no gradients, no textures and it’s not complicated. It really does place Burger King back at the fun and innocent end of the spectrum, rather than a brand that’s riding the commercial wave of contemporary design.

Fast-food chain Burger King turned back the hands of time with its 70’s inspired rebrand (Images: Burger King)

The pandemic, which we are all sick and tired of hearing about, may have triggered something. Perhaps people nowadays have a subconscious affinity for looking back to happier times, when life was simple. Nostalgia of better times isn’t a novelty. It’s something we always do, reminiscing about the good old days when the grass was greener and you knew what you were getting. Rebrands of this type simplify the design language and cut the brand off from the noise of modern consumerism. The aesthetic is comforting and trustworthy because we already know what to expect from it.

So, we’re about to fantasise a bit. What if brands went back to their old identities and brought back a wave of nostalgia? Looking back at some of these vintage visuals got us excited, and even if you're too young to remember them, there’s definitely a retro-cool appeal to their aesthetic.

Some logos need to be modern

Now, we’re not saying that brands should go back to these identities. Sometimes change is needed for a more strategic purpose; to better suit the target market. One day, a marketing team might decide that their logo doesn't represent the values of the brand, so they switch up the style, maybe by simplifying it or choosing a whole new mascot or typeface. It’s all done for a reason and although a design may have worked perfectly for a good amount of time, the marketer’s job is, by nature, reactionary.

Technology brands are a fantastic example. The Windows four-colour flag logo is incredibly nostalgic of a time when people were just starting to wrap their heads around the magical world of the computer; Microsoft Word, Paint, Minesweeper! But this logo literally includes pixels in the design, and iterations after that put emphasis on 3D aesthetics as the digital world was explored. Nowadays, flat design is the benchmark, simplifying the process of using screens into something more understandable. And so, to represent the ease that comes with using their operating system, Windows has ended up with a much more flat, modern version of the original flag.

Windows has redesigned its logo in line with modern trends

But we can’t help looking back and getting a warm feeling inside when we see some of these designs. The younger, impulsive version of us reaches out and says “we want that now”. Whether it’s because we identify better with the style, we have fonder memories of the logo, or what the heck, we just think it looks cooler.

So without further ado, these are some of the logos we want to make an epic comeback.

Pepsi logo (1987)

The first one on this list is Pepsi because, after seeing it, we knew we had to make this article. That 1987 version would feel so at home at a bowling alley or an American diner. Imagine you walk in to the soundtrack of ABBA, surrounded by people with perms or slicked back hair and leather jackets.

But we can also see how it would work in the modern era of flat design. It’s a no frills, abstract design that we think people have recognised as the Pepsi logo much better than today’s tilted version. The emphasis on how the darker blue is nestled into the design between the lighter blue and the red is pukka. But it could even take out the crescent shapes at either side and you get a retro, circular logo which will have much better application to today’s world of digital-first.

Pepsi’s 1987 logo has an instantly recognisable style

Pizza Hut logo (1967)

Head Honcho Tom got a bit excited when he saw this one. This logo ran from 1967 to 1999. What a career! Before Pizza Hut started to use a brush script font, it relied on this heavy serif type – a style we’re seeing a lot of in the past few years. This type gives off the impression that it was the best pizza joint in town and you can go down on a Friday night and see happy families sitting around enjoying some good chow.

Pizza Hut’s logo from 1967 included a beautiful serif font

Shell logo (1955)

This logo is a throwback to the era of forecourt attendants. The Shell logo from 1955 is a tad more illustrative than the current, bolder logo, sporting the detail on the bottom that makes the design look classier. The Shell name is included, emboldened in the centre, whereas the modern version omits it. It was also the first version to feature cleaner lines as opposed to a more lithographic or hand-drawn style.

It is an oddball of a choice for this list, but there’s just something about it that makes us feel both nostalgic and way more in touch with the brand than the current logo does.

The modern Shell logo is a simplified, bold version of the 1955 design

Nissan logo (1978)

Next up is the classic 1978 Nissan Logo. Now, this one is akin to the Burger King logo in a couple of ways; the simple shapes included and the use of only two colours in the design. This might be the start of some kind of secret recipe for a retro style because this one makes me want to cruise around old-school Tokyo wearing some aviators. The red circle is a symbol for the rising sun, a staple of Japanese iconography. It’s super eye-catching, super-recognisable and we’d love to see it being used again.

Although the general shape has stayed the same, the new Nissan logo omits a colour scheme we’re fond of

Instagram logo (2011)

When Instagram changed its logo back in 2016, it became a hot topic of contention for lovers of the old Polaroid-based logo. The new multi-colour gradient hit a popular trend in the graphic design world, supplementing the highly aesthetic nature of the platform. This move shifts the focus onto the content within the platform, rather than the wrapping.

But people couldn’t take their minds off the fact that Instagram decided to put the old logo into retirement, a symbol of the ending to the “hipster era”. The logo was loved by many for the use of a vintage camera like the Polaroid as an icon for a digital platform. It brought attention of the “vintage aesthetic” to those that had just come out of school and was a standout app icon in a world moving into flat design. So why didn’t Instagram just make a simpler version, one that was flatter and more succinct within modern smartphone home screens? It may have saved a lot of pain and torture (we’re joking).

And that’s all folks!

We hope you agree with some of our picks, or at the very least gave you a little dose of nostalgia. We can always take inspiration from the past to move forward, but in this case, we enjoyed fantasising about a situation where we’re surrounded by retro influence, sorry not sorry (hehe).

Are there any old logos that you wish were still in use today? Let us know in the comments below.

Back to the future: 5 big brands that could go retro