McDonald's- new graphics contradicting overall building redesigns?

Product/Graphic Design
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It’s been about a decade since they started making serious changes, but someone has to ask- what’s going on with McDonald’s??

I’m not sure if this is the case with countries outside of the US, but for a long time now, McDonald’s has been updating all of their locations to look less like a child playhouse and more like a sleek meeting place for business professionals. While this change confused me at first, as it was a major rebrand, I had grown pretty used to the new look after a year or so.

That brings us to this past February when McDonald’s introduced their new packaging that includes a simplistic and playful design of the food contained inside. While I actually find these new graphics to be fun and visually appealing, it does leave me feeling a bit confused as to what their overall branding strategy is. Are they reverting back to their old playful branding or are they embracing the modern graphic design trend of simplicity we’ve seen so many brands and logos adopt in recent years?

Anybody else confused?

2 Likes
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I think what we’ve seen over the last decade has been a rushed attempt to appeal to a younger more health-aware audience in the US and Canada. The redesign of their buildings reminds anyone of the fast casual dining options like Panera Bread, Starbucks, etc. Now, they’ve realized it wasn’t working, and they are going back to their marketing roots with the new packaging design. They are taking a page from
Dunkin’ Donuts and Harley Davidson, and sticking to their core audience. This strategy saves some, but sinks many. For McDonald’s however, their decline in the US has little to do with their marketing and more to do with product quality. Younger generations are more aware of what they are eating.