America, like many of its congresspeople, is nearing 250 years old.
In honor of the big birthday (or semiquincentennial, if you want to be formal about it), which will officially take place on July 4, 2026, design studio Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv was commissioned by the US Semiquincentennial Commission to create a logo, after doing similar design work for the country’s bicentennial in 1976. The logo, which was revealed this week, is an all-caps, black serif font that says “America,” above a “250” (or “2SO”?) depicted as a red, white, and blue striped ribbon.
Designer Sagi Haviv told the New York Times that the ribbon has “almost an impossible construction,” which adds additional meaning to the look because “bringing people together today is almost an impossible task.”
While the logo may be embarking on a mission to unite the country, it’s left some branding experts divided. We asked them to share their thoughts.
Red, white, and…ew?
“It feels like an early-round idea that should have gone through a couple more…refinements before it saw the light of day,” Ross Clugston, CCO of Design Bridge and Partners, told us.
The black text, he said, “is an old serif typeface that feels disconnected to the logo itself” and creates what feels like two separate elements: “Right now, it just looks like a blandly set piece of serif typography then locked up with another symbol.”
And the ribbon, reminiscent of a Möbius strip or an infinity symbol, feels a little “forced,” Clugston said.
“It’s something that people get tattooed on their body because it’s really easy to explain what it means,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that it’s a great idea.”
What also stood out to Clugston was what the design omitted. “Where’s the stars?” he said. Incorporating them, he suggested, could have served to represent the states and their, well…unitedness. He also questioned the decision to forego the classic navy color of the American flag and replace it with a more “tech blue.”
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While he sees how the ribbon detail is perhaps designed to evoke “the patriotism that everyone gets out on the Fourth of July,” the result, he said, feels kind of sporty, like the kind of ribbon used in rhythmic gymnastics. With the Paris 2024 Olympics on the horizon, he noted that it’s not just the American flag that uses red, white, and blue.
“I kind of do a double take and wonder why it looks a little bit European and French,” Clugston said. “It’s not necessarily screaming ‘American flag.’”
United we stan
Howard Belk, co-CEO and CCO at global brand experience firm Siegel+Gale, told us that he also did a double take when he saw the logo, but not for the same reasons as Clugston.
“It pulled me right in,” Belk said, adding that the design, like the average American, has an “innovative originality” and unpretentiousness that makes it “easy for people to like.”
For him, the look of the logo evokes images of parades or people waving celebratory things like pennants and sparklers. “One of the things I like about it is it’s very patriotic, but it’s not martial,” he said.
While Belk said he could imagine incorporating changes, like making the 2 in the 250 ribbon have a bow-like loop instead of a hard-edge curve, he noted that “anybody can tweak anything” and “it’s really good as it is.” He also likes the serif font, which he said brought “a nice contrast” with the ribbon.
“If this thing is divisive,” he said of the design, “we all really have to look in the mirror.”