Opinion BY Armin

Normal is the New Rare

Judging from the amount of e-mails we received about this redesign, it seems we have a healthy community of gamers among Brand New readers and, as a former gamer myself, I am happy to oblige. Even more so when it comes to a game developer that enabled many hours of personal enjoyment with games like the addictive Marble Madness or one of the earlier basketball games, Jordan vs. Bird: One-on-One. Rare is a British company that has been a big part of the development of the gaming industry since the late 1970s, when it produced 8-bit games and has since developed games for all the major consoles. Rare was bought by Microsoft in 2002. Yesterday, as part of their 25th anniversary, Rare announced a new look.

Now, as the company focuses its vision on an even more exhilarating future, the timing is perfect to introduce a distinctive new look. So Rare is thrilled to unveil its new identity, encompassing a brand new logo and branding soon to be extended to a full website relaunch at www.rare.co.uk.

The new logo is both modern and classic, adjectives that could be applied equally well to Rare itself.
— Press Release

The new look, smartly, does not throw away all of its equity, keeping the signature abstract “R” alive but changing its size relationship to the wordmark. The new typography has that spare Avenir-esque look that was all the rage in the UK a few years ago and it works fairly well here, although I wonder if it’s too conservative for such a progressive company. The new logo comes in a few different geometric flavors, with the “R” being held in different colored shapes; it’s not a groundbreaking idea, but it also seems to work fairly well here. Same question applies: Is this rare enough? By looking at the identity the company might as well be called Normal.

Thanks to Chris Thorpe for first tip.

\n\n

Judging from the amount of e-mails we received about this redesign, it seems we have a healthy community of gamers among Brand New readers and, as a former gamer myself, I am happy to oblige. Even more so when it comes to a game developer that enabled many hours of personal enjoyment with games like the addictive Marble Madness or one of the earlier basketball games, Jordan vs. Bird: One-on-One. Rare is a British company that has been a big part of the development of the gaming industry since the late 1970s, when it produced 8-bit games and has since developed games for all the major consoles. Rare was bought by Microsoft in 2002. Yesterday, as part of their 25th anniversary, Rare announced a new look.

Many thanks to our ADV @ UnderConsideration Partners