Mailchimp’s branding, encapsulated by Freddie the winking monkey, is iconic. So why mess with a good thing?
Because even great branding has to change with the times. The company has grown from a newsletter distribution platform to a global marketing platform with a host of tools and services designed to help small businesses reach audiences. Now, it’s tasked with capturing customers’ attention on social media, YouTube channels, websites, and its own app. Enter a new motion identity system designed with DIA, a branding studio that has done kinetic identities and typographic animations for the likes of Squarespace and Nike. “The only motion we ever had was Freddie’s wink,” says Christian Widlic, a creative director at Mailchimp. “With everything moving digitally, and us moving more into media, we needed a kinetic identity.”
The most prominent aspect of the new identity is an outline of the chimp’s head, which fills a …