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In an effort to appeal to a younger market, Lyle’s Golden Syrup has changed its logo for the first time in nearly 150 years. It’s a pivot toward flat design, a trend that continues to dominate labelling, packaging, and marketing across many industries.
If you’ve ever bought Lyle’s Golden Syrup before, you’ll probably have noticed that the company’s logo has never changed. In fact, it’s been the same since 1883.
However, the company announced this week that it was refreshing its logo and branding for the first time. The original design featured a dead lion being swarmed by bees, a biblical reference to the story of Samson in the Old Testament that included the quote ‘out of the strong came forth the sweetness’.
This new logo drops the carcass look, instead opting for a flat design that includes a face-on portrait of the lion’s head with a single bee in the top corner. Lyle’s says the change is to refresh its appeal with modern consumers and keep up with the ‘changing needs of the time’.
Interestingly, the shift has left some religious commentators feeling alienated, at least according to several reports. Speaking to The Telegraph, member of the Church of England’s legislative body Sam Margrave criticised the move, saying that ‘there is nothing modern about ditching tradition or sidelining Christian messaging’.
Regardless of your stance, it’s worth noting that Lyle’s new logo is another example of ‘flat design’, a modern graphic style that is minimal, geometry-based, and tailored toward younger customer tastes.
We’ve written about this trend before and noted that this approach follows on from years of brightly coloured, shape-focused designs on iPhones and Android devices. Companies such as Windows, Instagram, Burger King, Google, and even Pringles have adopted this aesthetic, prioritising clarity and simplicity in order to engage fast-paced Gen Zers who need to understand a product immediately.
It’s worth noting too that this logo change will not affect the company’s original syrup tins, but will be used on all other items – most in plastic containers.
