Xiaomi’s New Logo – Marketing Farce, or Ridiculous Masterpiece?

To round the edges of its square logo and turn into a “squircle”, it 'only' took Xiaomi three years and reportedly cost them over US$300,000.

It is not difficult to imagine why it has attracted the mockery and mirth of netizens, with many claiming they could have pulled off this change for much less money.

Xiaomi had seemingly anticipated this response, with CEO Lei Jun asking the audience, “are you disappointed at this logo, that we just made our original logo rounder?”

However, they also doubled down. The entire presentation covering the details of the new logo lasted over 20 minutes, featuring a five-minute pre-recorded video of renowned designer Kenya Hara, the art director of Japanese retailer Muji who had been engaged for this undertaking, explaining the sheer amount of work that had been put into the design process.

For all the over-the-top explanations of utilising “superellipse” mathematical formulas, experimenting with complex typographies, and achieving a “visually optimal dynamic balance” that purportedly epitomises Xiaomi’s new theme of “Alive”, it really doesn’t change the fact that the only discernible thing they have done is made the logo rounder.

Brands now favour graphic simplicity and directness

In recent years, many companies have unveiled subtle rebrands of their logos. The theme has seemed to be to reduce the visual complexity while making sure the logo is still immediately identifiable. Logos need to stand out, but brands don’t need customers to overthink it.

The bigger your brand is, the less need there is for you to wrap sophisticated visual imagery around your logo. Your audience knows who you are, let them make their own association, that is more compelling than trying to get them to think what you want them to think.