In December of 2009 AOL will be breaking away from Time Warner and thus be adopting a new branding concept which seems a bit “out there”. It’s probably safe to say that the majority of adults have heard of “America Online” (AOL) at some point, especially during the first decade of the internet. For a long time AOL has branded themselves with a triangle-shaped icon/logo which we’ve seen morph a few times over the years of their existence. But that is all about to change, entirely.

It’s time to say good-bye to that oh-so-famous recognizable brand and hello to a branding change that has me slightly surprised. We recognize the normal “AOL” as part of their logo but the new change will be branding “Aol.”…exactly like that, with the important period…and that “Aol.” will sit on top of a graphic that changes from time to time. Yes, that sounds a little strange. You’ve seen the google home page when the logo represents some event in history that happened during the current time, such as the anniversary of Sesame Street. AOL is doing something similar except it will BE part of their new brand.

Thinking this is only a handful of changing logos would be typical, but think again. There are hundreds of these backgrounds ready for this branding idea. Imagine seeing “Aol.” on top of a leaf, friendly monster, camera, etc.. The idea is to open the minds of people to understanding the broad stroke that AOL plays in terms of their content.

The next time you see the AOL brand you may not recognize it, but will this pivotal change really make you aware? The research says this will be a success – time will tell. From a design perspective it’s tough to dramatically change a brand and have people recognize it in a short amount of time. AOL has been falling and they need to make some big changes; this may be what they need.

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