Does Nvidia need a new logo as well as a new CEO?

• Copy link
• Email

Share this article
0
Join the conversation
Follow us
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Newsletter
Subscribe to our newsletter

Today, the Nvidia logo is recognised not only by dedicated gamers and creatives interested in the best graphics cards for video editing. The company's stock performance has turned it into a household name, while the demand for computer components amid the AI boom has ensured that a new headline is never far away.

Alas, it turns out that the DLSS 5 controversy is the least of its problems. Former CEO Jensen Huang has now resigned after embroiling Nvidia in a honeytrap scandal worthy of a spy novel. CFO Colette Kress has stepped up as interim CEO and an executive search has begun.

But the debacle has also resurfaced another question. Why does one of the world's most valuable companies still have such a terrible logo design? And could this be the moment for a refresh?

See our guides to the best laptops for graphic design and the best monitors for graphics artists if you need new tools for your own work.

What is the least aesthetically pleasing, most poorly designed corporate logo that is still in use today? from r/graphic_design

Over on Reddit, designers are debating the "least aesthetically pleasing, most poorly designed corporate logo" still in use today, and the Nvidia logo is the example that was used to get the ball rolling. Other contenders put forward on the thread include the X logo and, of course, the infamous Kia logo.

You may like

• The new CD Projekt Red logo just sparked the weirdest backlash graphic design has ever seen

• The new Airbnb logo was mocked in 2014. Here's how the brand had the last laugh

• There's a new Super Mario logo, and fans think they know what it means

I can see where the OP is coming from. Nvidia was the world's most valuable company until the Jensen Huang honeytrap controversy hammered its share price and put Apple back in the lead on the Nasdaq. The identities of those two companies couldn't look or feel more different. The Apple logo is sleek and minimalist. It feels modern and premium. The Nvidia logo is... weird.

"So many things I hate about this design: The Aztec-looking spiral eye, the half inverted color, the lime green, black, and white color pallette, the '80s sci-fi font. None of it coheres well," the OP writes on Reddit.

Get the Creative Bloq Newsletter

Sign up to Creative Bloq's daily newsletter, which brings you the latest news and inspiration from the worlds of art, design and technology.

Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors

Of course, Apple and Nvidia are very different beasts. Apple is mainly consumer facing and Nvidia's business is mainly corporate. On the consumer side, Nvidia's GPUs are packaged and sold by other brands rather than by Nvidia directly. But the company is becoming much more of a household name as its tentacles spread.

Nvidia components are being promoted more visibly in GeForce RTX laptops, and the company's being collaborating on workflow developments with creative software developers like Adobe, Blackmagic (DaVinci Resolve) and the Blender Foundation.

There is a compelling case for a change. Nvidia's visual identity was born in a very different age of technology back in 1993. Its last logo redesign was twenty years ago in 2006.

What to read next

• The Apple Logo: a history

• Why do AI platforms want humans to design their branding?

• McLaren’s new logo looks like a luxury fashion brand

Time alone is never a reason for a rebrand, even for a tech company. IBM's had the same logo since 1972. But with Nvidia, the age shows. The wonky eye, brat green colour palette and retro-futuristic type feel rooted in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when aggressive, futuristic aesthetics dominated PC hardware branding.

Compared with the cleaner, more restrained identities of companies like Apple, Microsoft, OpenAI and even AMD, Nvidia's main rival in the GPU space, the branding feels tied to gaming origins.

There's also a somewhat dark occult reference going on. In the company's name, the 'NV' comes from the shorthand that was used to identify the 'next version' in file names, while the 'invidia' part means 'envy' in Latin.

That feeling will be familiar to anyone who has a colleague with an RTX 5090, but it's a strange choice for a brand. The word is often associated with malice and the 'evil eye' and was sometimes used as the Roman name for the ancient Greek deity, Nemesis, the personification of divine retribution. Yikes.

Today, the firm's influence and ambitions extend far beyond GeForce. It sells AI infrastructure, networking technology, autonomous vehicle platforms and enterprise computing systems. A more refined visual identity could reflect its status as a global AI platform rather than a 'mere' component manufacturer.

That said, for all of its weirdness, Nvidia's mysterious green eye is one of the most distinctive marks in tech. A rebrand could risk of abandoning something that has aged better than critics might admit.

While the eye doesn't feel especially contemporary, it is unique. At a time when many companies are converging towards minimalist sans-serif wordmarks and simplified geometric symbols, the identity stands out precisely because it has character, and distinctiveness is arguably more valuable than modernity.

The strongest argument would probably be for a careful evolution. The company could modernise the typography and tweak the eye. It might be able to find a more appealing shade of green. A relatively subtle refresh could preserve decades of recognition while signalling that Nvidia has entered a new chapter.

But it remains to be seen how much the last two weeks have changed things. It looked like Jensen Huang was going to hang on until yesterday's resignation announcement. The company might also decide that the controversy requires a clear visual break from the past.

There's plenty of branding inspiration about this week that Nvidia might want to check out, from the solid Caixa rebrand in Brazil to the intriguing new Takara Tomy logo .

Let me know below if you agree that Nvidia has the worst corporate logo in tech, or if you feel that there's a stronger candidate.