So what went on in the meeting room when it was decided to change the SmartThings logo.
Boss: Hey Stan, how’s it coming on that logo redesign project you’re working on?
*Stan, hung over and totally forgetting that he was assigned to redesign the logo
Stan: All done boss, I’ll email it to you after the meeting.
*Gets to desk, fills in the rest of the Amazon Alexa logo circle in MSPaint, attaches to email, clicks ‘Send’.
I’ve been staring at the new logo for a few months and hadn’t noticed the similarity.
Alexa
SmartThings
Has it been out a few months? I just noticed it this morning…
It’s been on our site for awhile. The mobile app just got the update yesterday.
You can read more glowing feedback about our redesign here:
Those marketing folks have to justify their existence
Hopefully, not many engineering resources were wasted on this…
Advertising professional here. I can assure zero engineering resources were wasted on this.
Anyway, from a graphic design perspective - the Alexa logo/icon is more thoughtful, with the speech bubble contained inside the recognizable blue circle from the device itself.
The SmartThings logo is - just ok. Today’s trends are all toward simplification, one, maybe 2 flat colors, zero shading/gradients, etc. Which is great if you’re a huge brand. Less so, if you’re, well SmartThings. While it’s a nice design, and more up to date than the old gradient circle logo - ultimately it’s just a blue circle on white. No one is going to see a blue circle on white and think “that must be SmartThings.”
If I had to guess, and this is utter conjecture - Samsung US probably instituted some across-the-board, master brand and sub-brand revisions and ST got swept up in them. Some high level designers probably spent a lot of time deciding how Samsung brands should look and where ST fits in that family, not how it appears on its own.
That said, if that’s the case, I wish someone would update the shitty Samsung SmartCam app design. Everything from UI to even the icon design is terrible.
Not that anyone is likely to care because it’s not a symbol that has really caught on in the US, but since 2006 the blue circle has been the international symbol for diabetes research.
http://sixuntilme.com/wp/tag/blue-circle-pin/
As we mentioned before, technically smartThings doesn’t have a logo because they don’t have a unique graphic that they have trademarked. Their trademark requires that the words be attached. 
Not “wasted” in terms of carrying out the directive to implement the new logo: granted! Job well executed!
Perhaps I’m beating a dead horse, but I respectfully submit it took an engineer time to replace the old logo with the new one, do a trial build, test on the target platform, and (assuming all was well), submit the new files to source control and update whatever database is used internally to track changes/work.
Then a build engineer would kick off a build for QA, who would load & verify the change, then update necessary paperwork so the change goes out in the next beta or general release.
Mission accomplished 
My point was there are so many open issues & features that would benefit the customer base so much more than a new logo. But, I’m not the person calling the shots…
That all being said, @Blaine23, your post was very interesting and explains well the probable thinking and motivation behind the changes. Thanks! 
You might totally be right, John.
In my own experience, UI folks in the agency world who do apps/mobile/web aren’t referred to as engineers, per se - usually UI or UX designers. But we also don’t usually build apps this complex, etc. But we definitely do testing, QA, etc. So it definitely required hours to implement.
And I also don’t disagree one bit that there are more important issues from a practical standpoint. However, I get paid to tell people all the time that there’s nothing more important that branding, which leads to sales, which leads to money to carry out all sorts of things. So that perception is probably just a matter of what end of the table you sit at. Ultimately, it all matters.
No worries. I was a developer for years before I went to the dark side of marketing - I get where you’re coming from.
Good talking to you.
Somewhat incongruently, the Bixby (by Samsung) logo still uses a gradient?
I like the gradient…
I think the change is highly appropriate as the unofficial catch phrase for those of us used to ST starts with “Oh, sh_t, now what?”
Yeah, glad they toned it down. That whole 3-color gradient thing was completely over the top. /s
Gradient is fine, mellow, 2 color. Strong icon in the center.
But that type. That’s a lot of treatment for not much purpose I can see.
I loved the old one 
