A “blanding” backlash?

What do Johnson & Johnson, Eddie Bauer, Airbnb, and Balmain have in common?

Baby shampoo, rugged flannels, beach house rentals, and $3,000 handbags aren’t often stocked in the same aisle. But, as of 2025, they all have logotypes that look pretty similar.

Clean, largely anonymous sans-serifs as far as the eye can see. Along with dozens of other brands in every category you can think of, these companies have wiped away their cursive or decorative logotypes and replaced them with sterile text.

It’s called blanding. And it’s completely understandable why they do it. Just listen to designer Michael Beirut talk about a similar trend from the middle of the last century here, in the Helvetica documentary.

Blanding feels fresh and clean. It’s modern – and importantly, it works well in modern formats. A simple sans-serif word works well on mobile apps and in social media icons, is easy to print on a package or merch, and can be read even if you don’t remember your third-grade cursive lessons.

But while all of that is in the plus column, removing too much of that character removes what makes you stand out. You lose contrast. You lose your salience. Like with chaos packaging and expletive-laden book titles, it works really well until it doesn’t. Zigging is great only when everybody else zags.

It’s encouraging to read that risen-from-the-dead department store Lord & Taylor is scrapping their blanding and going back to its historic script logo. Smart play. Not too long ago, similarly iconic fashion brand Burberry backtracked just the same.

There’s no one right answer here. Sometimes, a clean, geometic sans-serif is exactly what you need. And some of these branding makeovers are spectacular. But don’t just do it because it’s easy – and especially don’t just do it because it’s what everybody else is doing.