Thoughts on the logo

tony_459

It's nice. It's crisp and it looks professional. But it's lost the casual, down-to-earth feel the original logo had.

It's as if they wanted to shed the Onshape personality and culture to fill in with something that screams "PTC!"

We get it, PTC, you bought Onshape. But it might pay for you to build on their brand and customer base instead of shedding the first and alienating the second...

It's just a logo, but it's also an erasing of the face of Onshape, and I can't say that I like it...

konstantin_shiriazdanov

Yes, it looks like overcomplicated, sharp and small. Especially on small scales like for site icon in the browser tab.

mike_hölscher

https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/15092/new-onshape-logo
Please vote up.

Really, I am bit disgusted with the new logo.
It just does not fit the interface and the open feel of Onshape, exactly like the threadstarter describes.
The sharp corners, the standard font letters. Just like any other CAD software: Onshape is not that!

Practically, the GREEN thing draws my attention. I feel I have to look in the top left corner. Ow wait, it's only the logo...

The tiny light grey letters on the light grey background, so impractical.
The amount of white-space (or grey space) around the logo in the corner, it does not look good.

And pleaaase, do not tell me this is only the first step and everything wil be green instead of blue...

roman_jurt190

what an ugly, generic logo. and the rest is still blue? if every thing changes to that green... i have to switch to grayscale. or fiddle with the rgb monitor setting or something.

ryan_mcgoldrick

Totally agree tony, has no affinity with the user base and at first glance no recognizable elements or care for design or feeling, it is purely business, look matching on a PTC website about their product offerings perhaps.

But yeah as I posted in the other thread.

"Really not a fan of the new logo, or the favicon in the browser, I think the user suggested more solid background would be a much better middle ground with some finessing . cube in a cube is hardly recognizable and not sure what it is symbolic of other than Onshape belonging to PTC, which to users has no real affinity/meaning.

Also seems like a half baked rebrand as much of the UI across forums and login screen still have blue so now we have this really delightful blue/green color scheme. really really hope this gets a rethink and they listen to their user base or even engage the community with selection options.
its just a shocker for a 2020 logo rebrand I think it removes the clean polished modern look, now if I were to show a colleague or fellow designer the program I think the first impression would be a bit off putting with the color scheme and logo. feels old and outdated. Sorry for the harsh opinion (I realize it is just that) however something I have to look at all day every day so I do care about it."

Henk_de_Vlaam

Keep it (everything) BLUE, the color of mechanical engineering.

spiritrider

It sucks.  Sometimes some changes are not so good. (at my age, I don't filter anything. It is what it is).

matthew_vilim

Isometric cube is very cliche IMO...just Google image search "3D software logo".

kenn_sebesta167

Eh, it's a logo. If it makes them happy, it's their aesthetic to do with as they see fit.

That being said, I preferred the old one. It was more recognizable, and reminded me of a periodic table element. It was a nice touch.

However, that's not the issue which gets me to post here. The new color branding-- designed to match the logo-- is what bothers me more than anything. The main page has been updated with the green buttons and, putting it charitably, it's a questionable decision.

Green buttons are not a way to go, no matter who owns the company. It's a question of contrast and readability, not market share and branding. I sincerely hope that the webpage updates are rolled back and in general the green is kept far from UI elements.

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New www.onshape.com web page button:


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Best guess as to old www.onshape.com/ web page button:

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@Onshape, please don't make your interface and homepage harder to use just to satisfy branding requirements.

tony_459

I'm sure their designers are excellent at what they do.

I just think they missed the implications of erasing and replacing the original logo, which frankly is a management decision, and the consequences of trying to homogenize very different products with very distinct user bases and subcultures---which again is a management decision.

Within the constraints I imagine the designers had to work with, the logo is excellent. The problem is the design constraints themselves.

I don't imagine user culture is something they think about or discuss at design review meetings. A logo is just a logo, and if you can change clothes without complaint, and if you can change hair styles without complaint, then why not also change logos without complaint if the logo is done right?

The problem with the new hair style is that it was imposed from up above to be every other hair style in the PTC corporate world. It's not just another hair style, it's *the* hair style that all logos apparently have to conform to.

That makes it sort of an uncool hair style.

Color and geometry were probably all predefined in some PTC branding style guides. And if you insist everyone must adhere to those style guidelines with minimal exceptions, then you'll wind up with logos like this, even if you assume everyone will be OK with the erasing of the original.

It would take a super dedicated person to argue for an exception, and the argument would come at high cost to them, in the form of time and energy they probably desperately need elsewhere---point being that for all practical purposes, no exceptions are made to strict style guides, even where one should be made ;-)

ryan_mcgoldrick

kenn_sebesta167 said:

Eh, it's a logo. If it makes them happy, it's their aesthetic to do with as they see fit.

That being said, I preferred the old one. It was more recognizable, and reminded me of a periodic table element. It was a nice touch.

However, that's not the issue which gets me to post here. The new logo's color is what bothers me more than anything. Green buttons are not a way to go, no matter who buys the company. It's a question of contrast and readability, not branding. I sincerely hope that the webpage updates are rewound and in general the green is kept far from UI elements.

------------------------
New www.onshape.com web page button:


------------------------
Best guess as to old www.onshape.com/ web page button:

------------------------

@Onshape, please don't make your interface and homepage harder to use just to satisfy branding requirements.

kenn_sebesta167 said:

Eh, it's a logo. If it makes them happy, it's their aesthetic to do with as they see fit.

That being said, I preferred the old one. It was more recognizable, and reminded me of a periodic table element. It was a nice touch.

However, that's not the issue which gets me to post here. The new logo's color is what bothers me more than anything. Green buttons are not a way to go, no matter who buys the company. It's a question of contrast and readability, not branding. I sincerely hope that the webpage updates are rewound and in general the green is kept far from UI elements.

------------------------
New www.onshape.com web page button:


------------------------
Best guess as to old www.onshape.com/ web page button:

------------------------

@Onshape, please don't make your interface and homepage harder to use just to satisfy branding requirements.

It goes against vision impairment guidelines white on green is a shocker

shaun_singh

I really don't like the logo and colour changes, thumbs down from me on this issue

Ste_Wilson

It is... Jarring... Pointy.. 
I'm sure in a few weeks I won't notice.. But...
Yeah. It's just a bit bland and meh. 
I like the old one. 

MichaelPascoe

david_eager

PTC have absorbed many companies over the years - Computervision, Arbortext, CoCreate, Rasna, Mathsoft, Thingworx, Vuforia, Frustrum. Where are their products now? The are the CAD equivalent of a "catch and kill publisher" and sadly I thing they will slowly kill Onshape. The logo is the first skin blemish indicative of a deeper malaise. I used to work for Rasna, PTC  kept the development team but got rid of everyone else and then buried Rasna's Mechanica technology as a FEA solver in Creo.

I hope I'm wrong but Onshape's VC funding would want a return and I'd guess the subscription revenue was not on target so a quick cash sale to PTC was the best option. 

Very hard to displace an existing feature rich but clunky CAD system. Company I worked for dismissed Onshape out of hand for lack of face colour change (yes it's there now but it wasn't when they were deciding whether to evaluate)