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Payless ShoeSource Rebrands
Redesign of logo, type meant to signify new directions for the Western Hemisphere’s largest shoe retailer The new identity for footwear retailer Payless Shoesource…
Redesign of logo, type meant to signify new directions for the Western Hemisphere’s largest shoe retailer
Payless is a shoe reatailer known to nearly every consumer in the United States and Canada; its over 4,000 stores have been a fixture of the American landscape since the 1970’s, known for bargain-priced footwear and a self-service approach which was an innovation when the stores first appeared.
Now, in 2006, the chain has added brand names at the same budget-conscious prices, backed by such celebrity names as Shaquille O’Neal and famous brands as Stanley, of tool fame. As part of a move to position themselves as a footwear fashion source for value-minded consumers, they’ve adopted a new typographical look and logo, meant to convey this change-of-focus.
The re-engineer is meant to show that Payless Shoesource is the same Payless cutomers know and have an emotional connection to while remarkably highlighting the company’s new fashion-oriented attitude, reports web source PRNewsWire.com:
Retaining the use of the color orange, for which Payless is well known, as well as the full name Payless ShoeSource, indicates to consumers that the retailer is not a completely different company, but simply a different Payless–still dedicated to its core values of delivering great quality and value. The logo includes an icon, which features a stylized P in a circle treatment to suggest dynamic movement and change, as well as a new fashion-oriented font highlighting the word Payless.
The logo redesign replaces the design standard used for the past 20 years, which featured the words “Payless ShoeSource” in a bright-yellow Cooper Black, with orange circles standing in for the minuscule “o”s–a design that was felt to be dated and stale.
The new design, created by New York firm Desgrippes Gobe, certainly does update the style and the look, but I feel it remains to be seen whether or not the message it wants to communicate is communicated. The “P” is stylized, certainly–styleized to the point it rather resembles a “9″. The blue swipe does suggest something revolving, so there is indeed the suggestion of energy–but whether or not it will fly with customers remains to be seen.
The logo design will adorn all new stores immediately, and is to be phased in to the old stores over time.
Ive never seen such awful design in my life.