At first glance, the new Nescafe logo does not look significantly different from the old logo. The typeface is still in all caps but more rounded, a crossbar still extends from the “N”, an accent still hovers over the “e”, and red is still a dominant color. And yet, it feels more contemporary, more capable of competing cup-to-cup in a Starbucks world.

When introduced by Nestle in 1938, Nescafe (Nestle + café) instant coffee was the height of modern convenience. Even today, Nescafe remains one of the world’s most distributed brands of instant coffee, sold in over 180 countries. But until recently, Nescafe had no single global identity; each region was allowed to interpret the brand elements for their own market. Increasingly, however, young consumers have come to think of Nescafe as the passé powdered drink found in their grandparents’ pantry. The brand looked tired and disjointed.

Despite that, undertaking a brand makeover demanded maintaining the comforting familiarity of the original Nescafe design elements for the loyal older customer base, yet refreshing them in a way that younger generations would find exciting.

A graphic solution came in the form of an apostrophe-shaped accent mark, reminiscent of the Nestle birds awakening in their nest drawing – or the Twitter logo. The curvature of the red accent mark echoes the shape of the “e” and “c” letterforms with rounded square corners. This stylized shape was reiterated in the handle and “hub” of Nescafe’s iconic red mug. The change is subtle, but will likely give consumers the impression that something new is going on, so they should opt to try another cup.