Ubisoft unveiled a new logo today, an updated version of its iconic swirl symbol with a flat, colorless look.
It is the first change in the French publisher’s logo since 2003, when Ubisoft introduced the swirl design — back then, it was three-dimensional and had a royal blue color. The new mark is the fourth logo in the company’s history, dating back to its founding as Ubi Soft in 1986, when it launched with the ’80s-tastic hot pink logo you can see below.
Ubisoft described its revised logo as “minimalist, modern and monochromatic.” It hews to the flat design trend that’s in vogue today. The company added, “The swirl and the letter O are both deliberately created to be reminiscent of hand-drawn shapes and represent our human qualities of enthusiasm, curiosity and the grain de folie that Ubisoft is known for.” (The French phrase “grain de folie” translates as “touch of madness.”)
The new logo may be devoid of color and depth, but there’s still a lot of life in it. Ubisoft reassured a fan on Twitter who wondered about the logo animation — in each Ubisoft title’s boot sequence, the previous swirl logo would be colored and animated to conform to the aesthetic of the game in question. “We’ll still have plenty of customised animations,” said Ubisoft.
We'll still have plenty of customised animations!
— Ubisoft (@Ubisoft) May 31, 2017
Expect to see the new logo plastered all over Ubisoft’s booth at E3, which gets underway in less than two weeks.