Discord has announced a brand refresh (yes, another one) to mark its ninth anniversary. And while the overall brand identity might not look massively different, users are already poking fun.
When you rebrand, you have to be careful to avoid a new tagline that disgruntled customers might rework to express their gripes. That’s exactly what’s happening to Discord, which is still high on our list of the best social media for artists and creatives.
Launched back in 2015, Discord allows communication through voice and video calls, text and media sharing in private chats or as part of communities called servers. The new Discord rebrand retains the logo redesign from 2021 but sees the brand colours grow another shade darker. There’s also a new look for the UI.
However, the refresh is mainly conceptual, as the brand is keen to stress its gaming roots once more after having pivoted to a community focus. There are also new tools and features, like Embedded App SDK to allow developers to create and integrate games and applications directly in Discord.
In a blog post, Discord CEO Jason Citron said the platform was adopting a “refreshed look and visual identity to reflect the future of people playing games together. This new look celebrates the fun friends have together while talking, playing and hanging out on Discord.”
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The Discord rebrand sees the platform adopt a darker brand colour (click right to see the previous colour)
But users are amused by the line “Group chat that’s all fun and games”. The phrase seems like it’s just inviting people to continue it in the style of the popular refrain “it’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt”. And sure enough, a large number of the replies to the rebranding announcement on YouTube do just that.
“It’s all fun and games, until someone leaks private NATO documents in the server,” one person wrote. “It’s all fun and games, until Discord puts more free features behind a nitro paywall,” someone else wrote. “It’s all fun and games until you get 5 -to 6 scammers a week trying to scam you,” was another one. And “It’s all fun in games until you get DOXXED.”
Others have questioned the need for a rebrand. “Oh God, they changed the colour again,” one person wrote. Others claim that the platform has become more corporate, both in its colours and in the tone of voice in its ads. “Corporate blue, the color every gamer loves,” one person responded.
For more branding news, see our behind-the-scenes look at the Reddit rebrand and our piece on the best and worst rebrands of 2023.
