“Would you carry this?”: GoldBug rebrands to beat young parent tote test

If you knew of GoldBug, it was likely you knew the name through one of its four brand faces – there was Go by GoldBug™, TravelBug™, On the GoldBug®, and, the classic, GoldBug™. For decades, these names weren’t prominently in the public eye, despite being one of the largest branded suppliers for baby and kids products in the US. Now evolving into a direct-to-consumer company for brands like Walmart, it’s had to contend with modern-day tastes.

Kids and baby brands are known for being sickly sweet, for good reason. Gentleness denotes care, which is a value that has been baked into baby brands for generations. But, Meg Jannott, head of design at Scorpion Rose Studio who led on the GoldBug rebrand says that, “we are noticing that children’s brands are becoming more bold and vibrant. [Studios] are breaking away from traditional ‘baby’ visuals within the landscape and creating a brand that new parents want to purchase from and be a part of.” Meg wanted to introduce some similar shift from saccharine neutrals for GoldBug.

“When we were going through the design process, we showed our branding on a tote bag to new parents, asking ‘would you use this?’,” says Meg. “This was a clear, simple way to establish if the logo felt modern and dynamic enough to live beyond the ‘traditional’ children’s space.”

For years, there was a cuddly hand-scrawled butterfly flying alongside the GoldBug wordmark, giving off an impression of elementary softness; now the butterfly and wordmark are conjoined as one plump, direct form, with the wings poking through in the B counters. It’s an example of a new kind of ‘baby’ aesthetic, with a logo that could just as easily be a modern-day boutique brand.

An “insect ecosystem” has been developed as a device to help customers shop by age – ranging from caterpillar (0-6 months) through to a butterfly (at the 4-6 year mark). The illustrations, which borrows from the look of print methods like Risograph, are inspired by Alexander Girard, particularly his early experiments with illustration as a child – GoldBug’s new system can be defined by a sense of similar grown-up naivety.

The studio hopes the new identity, when placed in front of consumers, will not only house the family of brands under one strategic identity, but also connect with young logo-conscious parents in an “emotionally resonant way”.