They dropped Paul Rand’s interesting logo, which was designed in 1985, and replaced it with Yale University’s main logotype, which, while clearly not as inherently interesting, does indeed convey the character of the University and much of its community reasonably well.

While this may have been one of Rand’s most interesting logos, it wasn’t one of his best, and certainly wasn’t as timeless as many of his others. Instead, it created the perception that the University and the Press were very different entities, moving in different directions, and this is apparently something they wanted to rectify.

Based on the comments on Twitter, I’m apparently one of the few who thinks this was a good decision. As a graphic design artifact, and as an important element of the history of logo design, it will surely live on. As a logo, its time had come.