Opinion BY Armin

Brother, can you Spare a Square?

The process of asking for a loan from a bank sucks. Simple as that. Short of a cavity search, they want to know everything about you and then they will hit you with an interest rate higher than your cholesterol level. Add to that the economic slump of the last two years and getting a loan was harder than spotting a yeti. These circumstances might help explain the burgeoning practice of peer-to-peer lending and at the forefront is Lending Club, which has funded $93,634,075 in loans and $6,487,621 in paid interest to investors since its inception in 2007. The premise is simple, Lending Club brings “together investors and creditworthy borrowers eliminating the high-cost and complexity of traditional banks. This allows people to invest in and borrow from each other in a way that is financially sound and rewarding for both parties. Lending Club offers borrowers better rates and investors higher returns.” A short three years after launch and ready to shed its start-up label, Lending Club has adopted a new logo created in collaboration with Mule.

The first 2 – 3 years of any start-up contribute to fine-tuning its messaging and value proposition. Lending Club is about transparency, trustworthiness, simplicity, and better rates/returns. Our new identity and web site better reflect these values.
The beauty of this logo is, first, its simplicity and typography make you feel safe, but then you’ll find yourself wanting to interpret the logo. Every customer thinks of it differently, and I’ve heard at least 15 different interpretations, but the one I hear the most is when people see themselves as the missing square.”
— Rob Garcia, Lending Club’s Sr Director of Product Strategy

The old wordmark was pretty sub par, even for start-up standards. Everything from the color choices to the typeface made the company look small and unreliable. The new logo is a vast improvement both in concept and execution. When I first saw the logo I couldn’t help but let a genuine smirk escape from my face. It’s not a highbrow concept by any extent, but rather a simple idea executed, well, simply. The little red square jumping from the corral of other squares into the “i” can indeed carry many meanings, whether it is the square being lent to the “i” or as mentioned above, the square of the “i” as in “I/me” being the missing component to make something work. The typography is straightforward Helvetica, which is fine but, in unison with the heavy blue, gives it a slight air of 1960s banking corporate identity — a fine relationship to establish Lending Club as a trusted source, but a far cry in making it look contemporary and groundbreaking. Nonetheless, this is an excellent and welcome evolution.

Thanks to Judith for the tip.

Rainer’s comment is:

FYI: The old logo used the oldfashioned Revie by Colin Brignall: http://www.identifont.com/show?UT

The new concept is a great idea. Although I am a little disappounted by chosing Helvetica. But anyway it isn’t that bad in this context. Great idea, nice execution.

On Mar.12.2010 at 06:13 AM

Rainer’s comment is:

The name of the typeface is »REVUE«, of course (net »Revie«).

On Mar.12.2010 at 06:15 AM

dvk’s comment is:

Is it just me or did they fail to kern this with a lot of care?

On Mar.12.2010 at 06:52 AM

Ebbe’s comment is:

Cute idea, but I’m so tired of looking at helvetica.

On Mar.12.2010 at 07:04 AM

buruno’s comment is:

An improvement, nice concept etc. However, I think they should have used squares to assemble the symbol, instead of rectangles (as well as choosing a proper typeface to match the “i”). I feel a bit annoyed looking at it.

On Mar.12.2010 at 07:26 AM

Derek’s comment is:

It reminds me of old yacht club signage. I guess that’s a good welcome fuzzy feeling over the cold shafting feeling you get from most banks/money handlers.

On Mar.12.2010 at 08:15 AM

Kat’s comment is:

I love the concept, but I feel like this is not the final version. The colors ring very dated to me (though not as dated as the old colors) & the type work looks unfinished.

On Mar.12.2010 at 08:18 AM

Barclay D’s comment is:

I feel like it’s very typical for someone to play around with a lowercase i’s ‘dot’, but in this case I think it has a concept behind it, so it works. Nothing special, don’t get me wrong, but nor is the company itself. Fitting.

On Mar.12.2010 at 08:36 AM

Lara’s comment is:

It’s hard not to see the vast improvements. The new logo is somewhat too simplistic, but then I get why, it’s kind of a combination of an old fashion, solid idea (blue/red + squares = banking), done in a refreshing new way (missing square, Helvetica, bold+no bold combo = innovation). Nothing better than intentional design. Good find.

On Mar.12.2010 at 08:39 AM

Marnie’s comment is:

I read it as “i” am outside the box, which is clever.

I do wish that red was a deep pumpkin-y orange, though. I think that would help make it less 1960s banking, without eroding the seriousness of the navy.

On Mar.12.2010 at 08:48 AM

Ryan Adair’s comment is:

I completely agree with Barclay. I don’t see what the big deal is, messing around with the dot of the ‘i’ is nothing new.

Frankly, everything about this looks cheap and tacky. From the font, to that dumb idea of the dot, to the color palette…

I can just imagine them pitching this “strategy” and elbowing the guy, like…”get it? get it? the dot is being LENT!” Ugh.

Looks more like a C-town rebrand than a new bank rebrand…

This gets a C-

On Mar.12.2010 at 08:51 AM

Haha’s comment is:

BWHAHAHAHA

Lara:
(missing square, Helvetica, bold+no bold combo = innovation)

Jesus…are you kidding?

that is SCARY if you’re serious.

is “no bold” a new weight of helvetica? haha…

On Mar.12.2010 at 08:53 AM

John McCollum’s comment is:

Every aspect — strategy, concept, color palette, type choice, typography — is boring, dated and unremarkable.

This is what a good designer might turn out when the boss says, “I need an fpo logo for a comp project. And I need it in 3 minutes.”

Harsh? Perhaps. But this is anything but an “excellent and welcome evolution.”

On Mar.12.2010 at 09:01 AM

GeneralX’s comment is:

I gotta say, I’m not a big fan of the logo by itself. It’s interesting, but nothing ground breaking or particularly innovative. What I find very fascinating is their website redesign though, and the logo in the context of their web site.

On Mar.12.2010 at 09:25 AM

Pedro’s comment is:

I don’t have a square to spare, I can’t spare a square.

On Mar.12.2010 at 09:28 AM

Huh?’s comment is:

The website is even worse! Total crap.

What does the logo do on the website? It just sits there. Please don’t say “they use the red square as a bullet”…

General X is a Lending Club spy!!!!

On Mar.12.2010 at 09:34 AM

Dale Campbell’s comment is:

Awful kerning.

Boring concept.

Boring colors.

Lateral move.

On Mar.12.2010 at 09:37 AM

Deshler’s comment is:

Looks cold, heartless, and aloof. But most financial institutions are cold, heartless, and aloof, whether they want to be or not.

On Mar.12.2010 at 09:41 AM

FultonKBD’s comment is:

The two things that bother me are:

I want to see the negative space of the borrowed square on the same plane as the square on the “i”.

The red… it’s to bloody (as I’m bleeding money red).

On Mar.12.2010 at 09:41 AM

adam’s comment is:

man, maybe people need to start looking at this blog after they have had their morning coffee, huh?

that being said, i agree with the comment that i keep wanting to see the missing block and the dot on the i horizontally aligned somehow.

but overall, i feel this redesign is fresh, while at the same time, making the company seem more established and trustworthy. actually, im torn between modern and that american airlines–1960s–look.

On Mar.12.2010 at 10:12 AM

Impossibly Stupid’s comment is:

Jumping squares, you say? Hope the animation isn’t too annoying here, but this splash graphic:

is nearly 10 years old. Tired as it may be, it’s nice to hear that people are still paying to get similar creations.

On Mar.12.2010 at 10:28 AM

Martin Boath’s comment is:

Why are these colours boring but the McCain colours not? It is because there’s a grad in McCain’s red? But aren’t grads boring too?

On Mar.12.2010 at 10:30 AM

grubedoo’s comment is:

Good concept. Boring, dated, stodgy execution. Bury Helvetica.

On Mar.12.2010 at 10:37 AM

Martin Boath’s comment is:

grudedoo – bury Helvetica? Seriously? Bury boring use of it but Helvetica is possibly the greatest typeface ever created. To suggest burying it a bit of an overreaction isn’t it. Don’t you use it on your site anyway?

On Mar.12.2010 at 10:48 AM

Phil Tretheway’s comment is:

snore… Helvetica is great… when well done. This is looks like it came off an assembly line or was a quick mock up the never got refined. The first one may not have been right for a bank, but at least there was some character to the typography. You can be a bank and be established and trustworthy looking without being bland and unrefined. I usually agree with most of the reviews by Brand New, but this time… not so much. Possibly a decent concept, but definitely needs a lot more refinement.

On Mar.12.2010 at 10:54 AM

qwertyale’s comment is:

drink Helvetica

On Mar.12.2010 at 11:13 AM

Alphonse’s comment is:

@ adam

The same people always bitch. My favourite is the guy that thinks thinks those are rectangles. Haha,

On Mar.12.2010 at 11:23 AM

stan’s comment is:

@Ebbe: my sentiments exactly.

On Mar.12.2010 at 11:27 AM

aaron’s comment is:

I prefer the old logo to the new one. It wasn’t great, but atleast it was different. Using Helvetica and geometric shapes makes it look all corporate and cold like the banks they’re trying to go around. I wouldn’t want to get my loans from them now.

On Mar.12.2010 at 11:57 AM

Scott Buchanan’s comment is:

I must be the only one to think this, but I prefer the old logo by far. Lending Club is far enough along now that their primary goal doesn’t need to be to establish credibility. What they can still push is that they are a different way of doing things. In that line, this logo is exactly the opposite of what they need. The whole idea of this company is to provide a route around the big corporate institutions that suck the life out of consumers and entrepreneurs, but this logo screams “boring megacorp.” When I see it I think suit-and-tie insurance company, not an exciting new way to make my dreams come true.

On Mar.12.2010 at 12:13 PM

Lend me my own ass’s comment is:

This is corporate shit that has no personality. A bank can be interesting, this is NOT interesting. This is cliche and looks like it is the only version that was explored.

Very amateur.

The old logo and colors are better.

Haha. You wasted your money you IDIOTS!

On Mar.12.2010 at 12:26 PM

Mule Blows’s comment is:

‘Nuff said.

On Mar.12.2010 at 12:27 PM

Wow’s comment is:

Ouch everyone.

What is wrong with the kerning? It looks really good to me. I think this is a great improvement.

I can’t believe the amount of stuck-up designers commenting today. Give us a break. In reality, we have to remind ourselves that NO ONE besides other designers give a hoot about picking logos to death. Really.

On Mar.12.2010 at 12:54 PM

buruno’s comment is:

@Alphonse

I admit I didn’t actually care to measure the logo, as I based my comment on a hunch. Assuming you did, I presume you had access to the logo in a vector-based format, as the jpeg compression may cause some distortion.

That being said, based solely in the jpeg, I matched the image with the typeface in InDesign and stated that is pretty obvious that the “square” above the “i” is not a square at all, unless they altered the font, of course.

You’re right in one thing: unfortunately there’s been lot of meaningless bitching in this site, but it’s no reason to make it worse by doing a snarky comment over a supposedly serious one, instead of discussing it rationally.

On Mar.12.2010 at 12:55 PM

thom’s comment is:

Someone said it already BUT the lack of horizontal continuity bugs me to death. Everything doesn’t need to be on a grid, and I’m all for surprises, but this just seems off.

On Mar.12.2010 at 03:07 PM

Harper’s comment is:

Well it’s not a revolutionary logo to make designers swoon but it serves the needs of it’s clients well and frankly that’s all that matters.

On Mar.12.2010 at 03:14 PM

Alex P.’s comment is:

What’s with all the meaningless bitching about meaningless bitching on this site!?

Anyways, it’s hard to knock on the Helvetica type choice. I would have liked to see the squares in green. Naturally, it would reinforce the concept.

On Mar.12.2010 at 04:56 PM

Chuck Spidell’s comment is:

Not feelin’ the brand personality direction in this revamp. And it’s a little too see-say as well. I’m gonna check out Umpqua Bank and be happy. Who’s with me?

On Mar.12.2010 at 06:25 PM

Chuck Spidell’s comment is:

Lend me my own ass. I know you’re coming.

On Mar.12.2010 at 06:28 PM

Diego’s comment is:

Check also the COPO´s solution to “equip sourcing”, It´s cool also
http://holacopo.wordpress.com/equip-sourcing/

On Mar.12.2010 at 07:26 PM

Anthony Hawkins’s comment is:

I think if the colors were a little more interesting than red and blue which is overdone in banking it would add a lot to the logo.

It is a simple design, it works well and the logo does provoke some thought. However, I do think they could have pushed it to the next level in some way.

On Mar.12.2010 at 11:06 PM

enrolled agent’s comment is:

A very nice concept for a logo. Very original and very catching.

On Mar.13.2010 at 01:05 AM

Matthew’s comment is:

I like the squares and the dotted i. It’s clever. I don’t like the use of Helvetica because it makes the logo look dated. I also don’t like how close the squares are to the type. Give the icon some room to breathe.

This looks like a logo that was made 10 years ago. Thick type butted up against thin type? That was popular when I was in college in 2001. I think a different color palette would have really helped.

On Mar.13.2010 at 01:57 AM

Ray Rubio’s comment is:

Very nice concept!

On Mar.13.2010 at 04:26 AM

'Brand New' was an INSIDE JOB!’s comment is:

This site used to be a discussion board for progressive design. The fact that so many people are on here praising this logo is testament to the fact that there are so many bad designers out there, and that this site is their forum…

For the record, the ‘dot’ idea is NOT a clever and witty idea. It is NOT a ‘concept’. It IS however, a very trite and overused device that people rely on when all else fails. It’s in the realm of student comp work. Nothing more.

I’m just really surprised that so many people are praising this corporate crap…

Raise the bar people!

LETS GO ON A ‘BRAND NEW’ STRIKE UNTIL THIS NUMBNESS PASSES?
ANY TAKERS?

On Mar.13.2010 at 10:09 AM

Ivan’s comment is:

Agreed to previous comment 100%. And by the way, this is to the author of the article: who are you and what you did to Armin???????

On Mar.13.2010 at 02:26 PM

FG’s comment is:

Could’ve done better, with a more inspired logo/type combination, but it’s miles better than what was there previously; Revue is hideous.

On Mar.13.2010 at 09:43 PM

Robert’s comment is:

Long time lurker here. I don’t know what exactly why this is, but BrandNew used to be a lot better. And I’m not even necessarily referring to Armins article.
Why do so many people on here think that’s a good logo? I don’t get it - it’s awful. Why do 48% of people vote in favour of this brand? It looks as if it came straight out of a $200 crowdspring contest.

On Mar.14.2010 at 05:57 AM

qwertyale’s comment is:

If you offer cheap internet access for poor designers they will vote in favour to poor designs.

maybe it’s time to organize a “Club” and create an inviting process of registering…

On Mar.14.2010 at 09:30 AM

Robert’s comment is:

@qwertyale: I am doing something similar right now, but it’s more along the lines of ffffound (which sadly loses quality too). It will have many useful functions like color search, but it wonb’t have something like what BrandNew offers. If you’re interested in helping me finishing it and establishing a small group of designers that will contribute let me know (tifilebase@gmail.com)

On Mar.14.2010 at 10:29 AM

Chuck Spidell’s comment is:

Come on people, we were all student designers at one point. There’s plenty of compelling work out there produced by students. And the Brand New Strike is a little off-topic, don’t you think? Let’s be professionals and critique + discuss.

On Mar.14.2010 at 01:34 PM

smirker’s comment is:

Definite improvement. It’s a nice simple idea, marred by incrdeibly bland choice of typeface. You can tell that the designer only has one tool to make things ‘look more logo-ish’ and that’s the good old bold-regular type combo. Maybe he (or she) just woke up from a coma in 1998 and thought this was still relevant?

On Mar.14.2010 at 08:36 PM

Um, no.’s comment is:

Honestly? This looks like something made in a remedial typography class. It’s unimaginative and completely default and I can’t believe it is being praised. April Fool’s day isn’t for another couple of weeks.

On Mar.14.2010 at 10:43 PM

phanyxx’s comment is:

The logo is neither groundbreaking nor terrible.. I’m sure it will serve the client well. This comment, however, is horrifyingly cheesy: “the one I hear the most is when people see themselves as the missing square.” *puke*

On Mar.15.2010 at 02:26 AM

Deshler’s comment is:

Didn’t the “looks like student work” slur get banned by Armin? I see it’s back …

On Mar.15.2010 at 08:52 AM

obse.’s comment is:

Let the people who doesn’t like this brand create their own blog. They just don’t get it.
This is all about well executed rebrands, not about “I could’ve done it better”.

I don’t care about what type you would have used.
You’d be reviewed here if your work were better than this.

Helvetica is still a great choice. And that’s not gonna change with a couple of cheap comments.

On Mar.15.2010 at 10:08 AM

John McCollum’s comment is:

@ obse.’s: “Let the people who doesn’t like this brand create their own blog. They just don’t get it. This is all about well executed rebrands, not about “I could’ve done it better”

Really? This design is so amazing that anyone who dislikes it should leave a discussion about branding?

Way to miss the entire point of this site.

On Mar.15.2010 at 05:56 PM

John McCollum’s comment is:

I smell a troll.

On Mar.15.2010 at 05:57 PM

MSGDS’s comment is:

I like the concept, but still, it could have been better. If the choice is Helvetica, get creative and do something with it. Poor color choice - looks very dated.

On Mar.15.2010 at 05:59 PM

Chuck Spidell’s comment is:

To reiterate my statement earlier, Jim Tierney is a student designer. And his work is clearly professional.

On Mar.15.2010 at 08:21 PM

John McCollum’s comment is:

Yeah. Jim Tierney’s stuff is great.

Too bad Lending Club didn’t hire him.

Seriously.

On Mar.16.2010 at 09:16 AM

obse.’s comment is:

@ John McCollum: Have you even read the other posts? This design is so poor that anyone who likes it is a poor designer with a cheap internet access?? Really? I’m not the one who proposed to make a club. And I think that is the kind of attitude we can live without here.

If they want to leave, and create their own exclusive club for cocky designers, that’s a good thing to happen. To all of us.

On Mar.16.2010 at 10:12 AM

Normal Cholesterol Levels’s comment is:

If you’re sedentary more often than not, then you have to get up and flex your muscles. Being behind the desk at work and then when your get home you stay within the sofa in entrance of the TV will most certainly threaten your heart’s health. You’ll want to keep your blood strain at a traditional degree by having a regular exercise especially a cardio-exercise. It’s essential jog, run, brisk walk or if not do aerobics on a regular basis no less than 30 minutes a day. You may unfold that thirty-minute workout within the morning and within the evening.

On Apr.11.2010 at 04:36 PM