Herman Miller entered the New Year – 2024 – with a new branding identity, drawing inspiration from the Helvetica typeface. The furniture company expects the brand refresh to guide its next century of creative excellence.
Kelsey Keith, Herman Miller’s Creative Director, said the last brand identity served the company well for 25 years. “But that system predated many of the touchpoints we now have with the Herman Miller customer. What we needed was an evolution of the brand, and a complete design system, one that could flex from a mobile phone screen to a physical space and everywhere in between, in all regions of the world.”
Keith believes there is no better way to jumpstart the next century than with a brand identity system that is timeless in its design, yet carries through the boldness, rigor, joy, and tactility innate to the Herman Miller brand.
Jesse Reed, partner at Order and co-founder of Standards Manuel, said the Herman Miller logo has been left largely unchanged. It’s one of the more recognizable brand symbols. Designed by Irving Harper in 1946, it took only an hour to design – hurriedly put together in place of furniture photography for a catalog. Reed said the logo has been set free into the more dialed-up aspects of Herman Miller’s new visual language.
“Herman Miller has gone through experimental phases in the company’s infancy and into its early years, but around the late 1960s is where you see their most iconic pieces truly become solidified into the modernist canon.”
The brand refresh highlights Herman Miller’s design at the forefront of maintaining a creative legacy. The logo color – red – gestures to the brand’s history, while maintaining a sleek, contemporary feel. Furthermore, the brand refresh elevates Herman Miller’s modern identity, reinforcing its historical legacy.
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