Ebay gives itself a fresh logo

ONLINE AUCTION MARKETPLACE Ebay has adopted a new logo, just 17 years after it opened.

The firm joins Microsoft in a short list of companies that have changed their logos in recent months, and like the software flogger it also appears to have been influenced by Google.

As we saw with the Redmond software cobbler, new and simple is the new cool, and Ebay like Microsoft is sticking with primary colours and easy to read fonts. Behind the mask though, lies a powerful dose of symbolism.

"Our refreshed logo is rooted in our proud history and reflects a dynamic future. It's ebay today: a global online marketplace that offers a cleaner, more contemporary and consistent experience, with innovation that makes buying and selling easier and more enjoyable," says the firm's president David Wenig in a statement.

"We retained core elements of our logo, including our iconic color palette. Our vibrant ebay colors and touching letters represent our connected and diverse ebay community - more than 100 million active users and 25 million sellers globally and growing."

The time is right for change though, even if that change is not removing the intercapped B. Ebay has changed a lot in the intervening years, says Wenig, and the new logo is a reflection of that.

The old logo was all over the place. If you were impolite you could call it a jumble of letters. The new one is much plainer and less like a jumble. Now Ebay, we read, is a lot less like a jumble sale too. µ