Cisco's logos 1995-2006

When corporate Amercia buys itself a new logo or rebrands, you can bet that Tony Spaeth will review the work on his site identityworks. So here’s a hat tip to him..

This month it’s Cisco.

Identityworks: Reviews – 2006 – Cisco:
Cisco brand officer Gary McCavitt had long struggled with the bridge-in-a-box logo, a mark difficult to use, difficult to put on products, and dated in personality. In October, 2005 he retained the typemaster (and logo designer) Joe Finocchiaro to explore alternatives; and Joe, recognizing the importance of the project, generously proposed adding corporate brand designer Jerry Kuyper to the team. CEO John Chambers approved Gary’s design initiative, imposing one condition: “the DNA of our bridge must be retained.”

I find the progression very interesting. The “Systems” part of the name was superfluous. Everyone was calling them Cisco anyway. They retained their well known colors and the “bridge DNA” is definitely there. Spaeth also notices that the bridge strips actually look a bit like DNA too.

The new logo is defiantly more consumer friendly. Wether this means that Cisco will be more active in the consumer market remains to be seen. Yet I wonder how hard-core techies will view this logo change. Maybe they are used to the techy-boxy feel of the old logo which is imprinted on their network routers and so on..

Personally I like the new logo as it now looks more like a bridge and less than the drapes in a villa!


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8 responses to “Cisco has new logo”

  1. Moey Avatar
    Moey

    yeah, I posted that earlier.. was leaked

  2. Muhammad Arrabi Avatar
    Muhammad Arrabi

    Yet I wonder how hard-core techies will view this logo change

    They won’t notice!

    Since when do we even care about the colors of the box of our latest toys?

    We, nerds & techies, are the “soul” people. We care not about how you look – tall, short, fat, thin, disabled, pierced, big teethed, fuzzy hair… it’s all about the inside. Simply… we’re the perfect friends.. :-)

  3. Schoenerleben Avatar
    Schoenerleben

    Good one Muhammad! The lords of the 0 and the 1 ;)

  4. maro Avatar
    maro

    Well I would like to say that cisco’s old logo seems rigid some how. Now it is more catchy or lets say more user friendly. Any professional would see Cisco’s old logo as more professional. Now it is more relieving when you look at it.

  5. moryarti Avatar
    moryarti

    “The new logo is defiantly more consumer friendly. Wether this means that Cisco will be more active in the consumer market remains to be seen.”

    Acquiring Linksys (Wireless for the SoHo segment) and the $7 billion acquisition of Scientific Atlanta (Set-top box manufacturer) should be clear enough signs.

    Cisco’s next bet is on Video and Qaudplay in terms of technology and on the Commercial Sector from a vertical perspective. Cisco is pushing hard for its IPT solutions (sold over 8 million Cisco IP Phones so far) into the mid market. Mid market is a huge segment that’s ignored by many tech vendors (lower margins and requires larger coverage modules).

  6. moryarti Avatar
    moryarti

    oh and by the way, you missed out a logo face lift in 2003 as well … :)

  7. OMar Avatar
    OMar

    in design wise the new logo is more flexible to use …
    but I think it needs a booming launch… couse it’s not looks like CISCO any more , I don’t really know how they would do it

  8. ufaq inaam Avatar
    ufaq inaam

    its more like a music company…isnt it?