CorsairCopied

In 2014 Corsair introduced a separate Corsair Gaming identity for its gaming peripherals, built around crossed swords. It did not land. PCR reported that critics derided it as a tramp stamp, and that a modder's video criticising the logo drew more than 300,000 views.

At Computex in June 2015 the company quietly reversed course. PCWorld reported that Corsair was returning to a modernised version of its classic sails logo and ditching the hated swords, with the new mark appearing on products including the Bulldog small-form-factor case. Both outlets quoted chief executive Andy Paul saying the company wanted the ultimate logo for everything.

Corsair's own announcement, posted on 1 June 2015, put a confident spin on the retreat. It said the Corsair Gaming division, started the previous year, had become one of the top three gaming peripheral brands in the world, and that it was now being united into a modernised Corsair brand that would represent every division. The new Sails was described as sharper, faster and more representative of the modern age while grounded in three decades of history. Everything announced at Computex 2015, including the Strafe keyboard and the Bulldog 4K living room PC, would ship with the new logo, while existing products might or might not switch depending on popularity.

This is one of the clearer examples of a brand listening to its audience. PC builders are an opinionated, visible community, and a modder's video was enough to make the point.

PCR put numbers on the backlash: an online petition against the swords gathered almost 8,000 signatures, arguing the logo had a childish video gaming vibe rather than the premium feel of Corsair hardware, while users photoshopped it into a crab and a moustached face. In PCWorld's briefing, Andy Paul insisted there had been a sensible premise, noting that South America loved it and that it was the US and UK that got on this tattoo thing, and added that the company could not buy PR like that. PR director Rick Allen admitted Corsair had not realised how loyal people were to the old logo, and quipped that Paul should please not buy any more PR like that.

The swords logo also had a structural problem. It created a second brand for a subset of products, when the company's reputation had been built on the sails mark. Gaming did not need a separate identity; it needed the existing one to look good on illuminated hardware.

The modernised sails solve that. Simpler, flatter and more geometric than the original, they sit better on a keyboard or case panel, and they let Corsair be one company again.