Medium Got a Spiffy New Logo

Medium, the freewheeling editorial site that's definitely not a publishing tool, just got itself a new logo. Still a letter "M," this one ditches the old slab serif look for a flat design of four multi-colored planes that hinge together to create said "M." The logo is the work of type designer Rod Cavazos, from foundry PSY/OPS, and comes with a bigger design overhaul that includes new UI tools aimed at making Medium more social.

This being Medium, its founder and designers have self-published many a manifesto about the thinking behind the redesign. You can read all about new tools here, Medium's new social aspirations here, and the process behind the new logo here. In the latter, Medium art director Erich Nagler and designer Karen Jaimes tidily summarize the inner monologue of a rebranding—much of which is universal to other modern media brands.

While simple, elegant, and strong, this Stag M proved rather inflexible as a logo. It served us well through our first few of years, but as Medium has grown and evolved, the logo has begun to feel flat, impenetrable, blunt, and not to be toyed with. It is also not particularly distinctive, either. In short, our M no longer captured or conveyed what Medium has become.

And of the new logo, they say:

This simple geometric interpretation of the M felt fun — like a delightful game or a deeply satisfying puzzle. We couldn’t stop ourselves from playing with all the different treatments, mutations, and color combinations it was practically begging for.