Aldi rebrands to appear more “contemporary”

The new branding has been designed by German consultancy Illion Markensocietaet, and features a brighter colour palette and more three-dimensional look.

Supermarket Aldi has rebranded, with the aim of creating a more “contemporary” image for the brand.

The new logo has been designed by Germany-based consultancy Illion Markensocietaet and features a refined border, new logotype, brighter colour palette and new icon. Aldi is a German brand.

A shorter, bolder, sans-serif logotype has been incorporated, alongside a new “A” icon.

More three-dimensional look

A gradient has been added to the logo’s dark blue background and “A” symbol, and the three-lined frame now features brighter colours with a more consistent width for the three lines.

There is a brighter colour palette with a lighter blue, darker background blue and more distinctive border colours. The overall effect is a more three-dimensional take on the previous branding.

Aldi says it has refined the old logo while keep its colours and the “A” symbol to retain “strong recognition value” for the brand.

A more “modern appearance” for Aldi

The rebrand aims to give the supermarket a “modern appearance” to sit alongside new “major developments”, says Aldi, such as refreshed product ranges, store redesigns and an upcoming pop-up store in Germany.

Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd

Aldi was founded by Anna Albrecht in 1914, as a small food store called Albrecht in German town Essen. Her sons Karl and Theo Albrecht later took over the store, and set up two separate businesses – Aldi Nord (North) and Aldi Süd (South) – which operated in different areas of Germany.

In 1962, it changed its name to Aldi to combine the words “Albrecht” and “Discount”, then expanded internationally in the 1970s, with the two companies operating in different countries. Aldi Süd currently operates in the UK.

Original version of current logo introduced in 1982

The first “Aldi” logo was introduced in 1975, as a white sans-serif logotype set against a dark blue background in a rectangular frame. The “A”-symbol logo with a three-lined frame was originally introduced in 1982, and last refreshed in 2006.

The new branding has rolled out in China, using characters from the Chinese alphabet. It will begin to roll out worldwide from June this year.

Illion Markensocietaet was not available for interview at the time of publishing.

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Comments
  • Efecan K March 13, 2017 at 1:36 pm

    If they could go back to logo they’ve done it in 1975, I would call it an improvement. But in my opinion, the new look looks trash like the others.

  • Sean March 13, 2017 at 3:16 pm

    The flatter designs are actually more in line with modern design trends. I don’t think the new look is worthy of the expense of changing all the signs etc.

  • Ben March 13, 2017 at 3:54 pm

    The 1975 version with the softer type from the 2017 version would look much more contemporary in my opinion..

  • Neil Wright March 13, 2017 at 7:35 pm

    I was waiting for this to happen – but this is a disappointment.

  • Duncan Gravestock March 14, 2017 at 10:20 am

    Looks like an Airline, not a super market.

  • Andy March 14, 2017 at 10:21 am

    Ouch! That is almost retro but not in a good way. 1982 one is much nicer and actually looks more modern.

  • Ryan Stringer March 14, 2017 at 10:21 am

    Makes me think of an Airline company.

    I like it the type and the graphic but I just wished they went with one colour in the border or no border at all. That would of made it more ‘contemporary’.

  • kerrie louise March 14, 2017 at 10:21 am

    I would have loved to see them get rid of that horrible bloody border and maybe include their colour palette in the A symbol instead.

  • Nuno Jacinto March 14, 2017 at 10:26 am

    That’s interesting, in Portugal the logo is completely different (aldi.pt)

  • Jay March 14, 2017 at 10:29 am

    I’m afraid this is a thumbs down from me too. Looks dated and really isn’t inkeeping with any design trends, I feel like they’ve made themselves look even more ‘budget’.

  • Robin Adams March 14, 2017 at 10:31 am

    dont mind the shape of the “A” but the typeface looks more from a DAFONT.com
    And the box does not come as contemporary with the rounded corners and tripping Psychedelic effect on the colours. I always believe contemporary is simple

    Should really say SEE ME AFTER SCHOOL in red could do better

  • Adam North March 14, 2017 at 11:01 am

    This is a fail!
    The element I have always disliked about the ALDI logo is the boarder, I don’t mind the new font and graphic style, but they should have kept it flat and lost the yellow to red boarder. Maybe just go with a blue outline like the 1975 version.

  • Terry Turner March 14, 2017 at 11:05 am

    Mate what this is missing is some boss lense flair!

    You’re welcome

    Terry

  • Tim Riches March 14, 2017 at 11:07 am

    Ditch the Ready Brek glow and you’re nearly there for me.

  • Rick Whelan March 14, 2017 at 12:07 pm

    A waste of time & money.

  • Benjamin Green March 14, 2017 at 12:36 pm

    I’m not convinced they know what ‘contemporary’ means…

    • Steve Hobbs March 19, 2017 at 9:31 pm

      Absolutely agree Ben. in no way have they understood either retro or contemporary. Looks like a markenting answer to a design brief – just give us your findings, then let us get on with it!

  • Tony Lyons March 14, 2017 at 12:55 pm

    What a pity. The opportunity of representing their brand strategy of simplicity clearly lost in translation.

  • Mike Dempsey March 14, 2017 at 2:59 pm

    Sometimes I think our industry is laughable. And it is this kind of thing that confirms it for me.

  • Larry Hill March 14, 2017 at 3:07 pm

    Where is “contemporary”? It would be better to do something like this

  • Larry Hill March 14, 2017 at 3:07 pm

    Where is “contemporary”? It would be better to do something like this https://www.logaster.com/gallery/abstract-logo/

  • Pete March 15, 2017 at 10:52 am

    What’s interesting is that this was trialled in China, where the gradient/effects overload style is often par for the course. It’s also odd that they’ve left the uneven space below the lettering – which I assume is for additional identifying copy – on the main logo, where it’s not required. Perhaps it’s been deliberately made to feel slightly budget? I’d be interested to know what the actual rationale was, as opposed to this press release stuff about being contemporary, when it’s not in any way.

  • Oliver March 15, 2017 at 9:40 pm

    Aldi … what are you doing … at a time when the popularity of your stores in the U.K. Is booming, you allow a clearly misguided design company to convince you that this is a ‘contemporary solution’ !!!!
    What a waste of an opportunity to finally get up to date and be in real visual competition with other supermarkets. Sorry …. love your stores … hate the rebrand … naff

  • nick March 16, 2017 at 12:15 pm

    Let’s not be so harsh on the company. Anyone who’s had experience with clients knows what they’re like for making frustrating and backwards calls.

    We can assume that the designers would have come up with far better options than this, but it will have been a classic case of the client saying ‘oh but the yellow-red outer lines must stay’ and ‘our research team found gradients to be in trend so this must be evident in the design’. all briefs have these nuances…

    if you ask me they did a good job with a bad brief. you can see where the designers wanted to go with this and you can see where the client but their stamp on it.

  • Catrin March 16, 2017 at 8:11 pm

    Why change the typeface? This had so much potential to be an amazing project but all they’ve done is change the typeface and colour palette and added gradients.

    Why not incorporate the 1975 design with the colours of now?

  • Aisha March 17, 2017 at 11:40 am

    Did someone finally discover the Satin effect and go ‘THAT’S IT!’? Or completely misinterpret duotone colour schemes perhaps?

    If they were so insistent on retro, the original ‘Albrecht’ logo has that simplistic cool that with a bit of fiddling would have been excellent. Kodak has that one down, maybe they should have looked there rather than at 2001?

  • Nick March 19, 2017 at 9:29 pm

    I’m pretty sure that the majority of contributors and readers of Design Week could have made a better job of this. A perfect example of ‘Design by Committee’.

  • Sue ALOUCHE March 19, 2017 at 10:01 pm

    Looks like an oil company… it’s a food shop.

  • Ian Styles March 21, 2017 at 2:58 pm

    If the brief was to spend a lot of money tweaking something to make the brand feel dated – then it’s a success, otherwise what a wasted opportunity. Client’s need to demand much better than this and agencies need to challenge their clients more. C’mon people.

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