The Sweet Logo Transition of Dunkin’ Donuts Remember, It’s Just Dunkin’ For the uninitiated, Dunkin’ Donuts is no longer Dunkin’ Donuts, but simply: Dunkin’. If the decision strikes people as odd — why would a chain store famous for its endless donut varieties distance itself…
The Sweet Logo Transition of Dunkin’ Donuts
Remember, It’s Just Dunkin’
For the uninitiated, Dunkin’ Donuts is no longer Dunkin’ Donuts, but simply: Dunkin’. If the decision strikes people as odd — why would a chain store famous for its endless donut varieties distance itself from its most famous product? — consider that most people’s morning stop at Dunkin’ (and there we are actually using the shorthand unprompted) isn’t a feverish grab for French Crollers. A vaster volume of customers leave with their armloads of must-have morning coffee — a commuter stop second only to Starbucks as the rife and unrelenting purveyor of a fresh caffeine kick.
So, the name change makes sense. That vibrant pink and orange colour palate will still ensnare people even as the coffee takes centre stage. For the logo itself, the coffee cup image, a tired tack-on originally instated to REMIND passerby of the coffee within, has also been dropped. No use for redundancy. “Dunkin’” as a one-word brand name seems perfectly capable of conjuring its delicious mental connections all on its own.
The rollout’s a gradual one, beginning its implementation at all new and remodelled stores before eventually fanning out to the company’s longtime locations and international markets.
Also, with artists and teachers and business professionals and blue collar workers across the country all adopting more health-conscious attitude toward every decision of their lives — including their go-to coffee establishments — it might NOT be such a bad ploy for Dunkin’ to keep that donut association at arm’s length. People know they’re there. Let that be enough.
More Than Just Scrumptious Donuts?
As a sly holdover from the previous logo, the apostrophe on “Dunkin’” has been changed from orange to pink as a cute way to uphold and retain the famed colour scheme they’d otherwise lose by dropping the “Donuts” portion of the name. Who wants to live without a touch of that ecstatic hot pink?
But as far as the overall look and feel is concerned, the consistency of the logo’s colour and overall design eases us into what would normally be a drastic change to the company’s identity. Who would have thought dropping the second half of your business name could be so easy? By keeping the thick, rounded typeface and the uniform colours with only slight amendments to the products and packaging, it’s conceivable that even an everyday customer of many years could arrive at their local Dunkin’ Donuts one morning without even realizing it changed names overnight.
What remains to be seen is whether the oft-recognized coffee cup portion of the logo will be repurposed on any future products or packaging. As mentioned, the steaming cup with its “DD” label came to adorn the current logo as the company’s first major move toward playing up their coffee offerings — particularly to anyone even slightly unsure of exactly what the store carried. It’s ratio of coffee to donut sales bears out the need to keep reinforcing the distinction: Dunkin’ is now a coffee shop first.
As the company’s new name cements that identity, its orange all-caps lettering will stand as a stalwart designation that any lunch, morning, or midday caffeine/sugar indulgences can begin and end with Dunkin’.
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