by Chris Bradshaw, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Autodesk
Our new brand made its public debut today at this year’s TED held in Long Beach, Calif., where thinkers from around the world gathered to brainstorm and spread ideas. We could not think of a better place to unveil Autodesk’s new look than the premier conference about technology, entertainment and design.
The new Autodesk is not just a surface change, but a reflection of how we are evolving our business.
For the past 30 years, Autodesk has played a pivotal role in the design and creation of things. We started out as the desktop-based CAD company, then become a leader in 3D design and engineer software. Our products have been involved in hundreds of iconic projects like the Shanghai Tower, New York’s Freedom Tower, the redesign of the Ford Mustang, and memorable blockbuster movies, including the last 18 Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects.
The proliferation of cloud and mobile technologies is dramatically changing the way design is done, and who is doing the designing. To help our customers capitalize on this change, Autodesk began transforming our business a few years ago. We introduced cloud-and mobile-based software that puts powerful new design tools in our professional customer’s hands, enabling them to connect with each other and explore new ideas to improve people’s lives - by making better products, buildings, roads and bridges, and creating more engaging art, experiences and movies.
These tools are also more accessible than ever to teams of all sizes and budgets. For example, we recently began offering Autodesk Maya and Autodesk 3ds Max, our award-winning 3D animation software for 90-day rental in North America, Australia and New Zealand. We’re offering teams of all sizes greater control of their software usage during critical project phases. Our other cloud-based services, like Autodesk PLM 360, Autodesk Simulation 360, Autodesk BIM 360 Glue, and the forthcoming Autodesk Fusion 360, are also available on a term-based subscription basis. More than 15 million professional customers have accessed our cloud products since their introduction in September 2011.
We’ve also invested in new markets like personal fabrication and digital art, which attract millions of new customers every month who use Autodesk design apps and products to unleash their creativity and imagine, design and create whatever they want.
Today more than 100 million designers, engineers, architects, creative artists, students and hobbyists use Autodesk software, cloud services and mobile apps.
The visual change is the most significant branding update in the company’s 30 year history, but since 1982, we’ve made subtle changes to things like color and imagery, eventually moving from the original calipers icon (a tool used to measure the distance between two opposite sides of an object) to the use of the Autodesk name. Our new visual identity includes a logomark with the Autodesk name for the first time in more than a decade. A talented team of Autodesk designers created the new branding and found their inspiration in origami. The style beautifully shows the convergence of art and science, form and function, aptly representing the Autodesk software portfolio.
This is just the beginning of the new Autodesk, and we’re excited to have you along for the ride.
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Nice logo!
Posted by: Patriiick | 02/26/2013 at 09:54 AM
The first pic looks like a giant cigarette....
Nice logo though
Posted by: Julosheels | 02/26/2013 at 10:33 AM
Nice logo!
Simple fresh and modern.
Posted by: WTV3D | 02/26/2013 at 10:42 AM
It's Adobe's half finished A plus Google Drive's logo and a boring font.
Sorry guys, not a fan :(
Posted by: Melissa | 02/26/2013 at 01:37 PM
I actually like the new branding... They (Autodesk) have gone through the most of the color palette already, seeing Blue + Green was only a matter of time.
But... Doesn't Autodesk have a competitor with those same colors?
... Just saying.
Posted by: RenderMan | 02/26/2013 at 04:49 PM
Can I buy autocad program ver. 2000 or 2002 from a registered owner and register the program in my name?
Thanks,
UNO
Posted by: uno | 02/26/2013 at 06:22 PM
Do a google search for "logos with folds" this is not an original idea...
Posted by: Lyle | 02/27/2013 at 02:53 AM
Overall it seems to me that Autodesk is going back to the original 80's "caliper + company name" concept, even the graphics and type has a lot of similarity. (unconscious nostalgia ...?)
The type is not designed for web. It has more of a early 20th century, bauhaus feeling. Adobe' Clean or Microsoft's Segoe (or even the recent Source Sans Pro from Google) could be good web-font examples. All render good in a browser, but this one is not.
The logomark seems like the result of a 15 minutes Photoshop tutorial, and has nothing to do with the web, cloud or mobile. Anyone tried to re-create it with CSS3 ? Hardly.
Blue/green colors are banal. Verbally you can explain in the brand manual (openness, nature, sustainability), but how those colors will work with alert boxes, or cancel buttons? Not very web fiendly.
Besides, you don't change logos every 4-5 years. If you have to, you leave it to professionals. In house projects are always poor political compromises. What can you do, when Carl Bass likes it ? Organisational authority always kills professional authority. Only independent professionals has a chance.
Finally, don't listen to "nice logo ..." remarks. Polite, but irrelevant.
Sorry. (Maybe in the next 4-5 years cycle.)
Posted by: Sandor | 02/27/2013 at 05:19 AM
Beautiful colors!! Blue and Green, like Bentley Systems!! ;)
Posted by: Carlos Galeano | 02/27/2013 at 05:21 AM
Yes, another web company ... 90' design, but at least no redesign in the last 10-15 years.
Posted by: Sandor | 02/27/2013 at 05:30 AM
BTW, any plans for a responsive autodesk.com?
Logo re-design is easy, being web friendly takes more time.
Posted by: Sandor | 02/27/2013 at 05:34 AM
I sure hope that Autodesk spends this sort of time, and resources overhauling that *enhanced* online [not-much-]help system
Posted by: RenderMan | 02/27/2013 at 05:50 AM
What a dumb logo Autodesk…
It reminds me of GAP trying to roll out a new logo a few years ago and they went with Gap (Helvetica)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/oct/12/gap-logo-redesign
http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/08/news/companies/gap_logo/index.htm
http://idsgn.org/posts/gap-turns-to-crowdsourcing/
Posted by: Matthew Fisher | 02/27/2013 at 08:29 AM
Thanks for the responses. The new “A” is inspired by origami, a convergence of art & science, and speaks to the breadth of our products.
Stay tuned: you will learn more soon about what’s behind this new look.
Posted by: In the Fold | 02/27/2013 at 11:40 AM
It is better to correct mistakes let! shape than me! and speed up the window...
Posted by: Isa Zaytun | 02/27/2013 at 09:14 PM
Ciekawe trójwymiarowe logo. Łatwe do zapamiętania.
Posted by: Daniel | 03/01/2013 at 05:53 AM
New LOGO !!
Posted by: NoxFromAteam | 03/04/2013 at 06:24 AM
The change is noticeable. Too reasoning is not necessary to achieve a positive reaction in people, it's also ok to be intuitive.
Posted by: Harold | 03/06/2013 at 12:01 PM
Great post, probably one of the most well-written explanations of such an obscure topic. Thank you for cutting through and not making me have to spell this out through the code to figure all this out.
Posted by: PDF signature | 03/09/2013 at 10:21 PM
Excellant branding. Innovative and dynamic. I love Autodisk anyway.. every-way.
Posted by: Hassan | 03/22/2013 at 12:22 AM
great post thanks for sharing good information i like this blog.
Posted by: Private operating foundation | 03/27/2013 at 05:59 AM
I think the new Revit Logo sucks...the A is not really bad but the R is not OK for me...just my 2 cents...Origami or not...we are shooting for paperless workflow so origami should not be on the table...:)
Posted by: ulebule | 03/28/2013 at 08:32 AM