For 90s kids like myself, few moments throughout the year were as exciting as when the American Girl catalog appeared in the mailbox. I remember devouring every issue from cover to cover on our family couch, mentally noting the latest accessories I needed for my Molly doll and coveting the matching outfits the smiling little girls on the pages donned with their doll sidekicks.
Having an American Girl doll at that age was not only the ultimate social cachet and right of passage into girl-dom, but the specific doll you chose spoke volumes about who you were as a person, your values, your personality, and even your identity. That might sound dramatic, but believe me, those were the stakes. To this day, instead of asking someone the classic cultural question of which Sex and the City character they identify as, I find it more telling to ask what American Girl doll they owned.
While my American Girl dolls are long stashed in my parents’ attic, American Girl remains a central touchstone in our culture, evolving with the modern child and continuing to stay current. They’ve recently undergone a brand refresh to maintain this status, enlisting the pros at Pentagram for the project. “The American Girl brand needed a relevant refresh to better connect with millennial moms and today’s core consumer,” shared Kristina Duncan, Vice President-Creative for American Girl. “The rebrand needed to be an evolution versus a revolution. We needed a modern interpretation that would stir a nostalgic response. One that would both celebrate our rich history and retain our valuable equity while also shining a light on the bright future of the brand.”
Led by Partner Emily Oberman, the Pentagram team addressed this brief head-on, ushering in a fresh look and feel for the beloved brand while retaining what OG AG fans like me fell in love with in the first place.
When American Girl approached you and your team, what was the brief for this project?
A few things made this a great moment for American Girl.
The client wanted something that modernized American Girl without having it lose its soul— in fact, they wanted to bring more of its soul back into the brand. They knew that many of the girls who grew up with American Girl were parents now, so they wanted to appeal to both audiences in an authentic way. At the heart of that is storytelling and the genuine love that the American Girl has for finding uniqueness in every girl and every story. They also wanted the brand and the way you experience the brand to be as premium as the dolls and all their accessories.
When we got the call, a primal scream went through the office. My team is filled with genuine American Girl fans and so it was easy to dive into the heart of what made them so wonderful.
What was it like to helm the rebrand of such a beloved cultural icon?
It was amazing. When we got the call, a primal scream went through the office. My team is filled with genuine American Girl fans, so it was easy to dive into the heart of what made them so wonderful. I am a little older than the people who grew up playing with the dolls, so I got to fall in love with them and understand what makes them so special. (Again, it’s the storytelling and how that fuels imagination.) The American Girl team also loves this brand, so it was great to collaborate with them. They just needed someone from the outside to help them see where to focus.
What was the thought process behind the typography you landed on?
Nobody wanted to change the brand so much that it didn’t feel like American Girl anymore. We had to retain the spirit of the original ethos, but we wanted something unique and a little sharper to reflect the star that has always been an icon for AG. We worked with Commercial Type to evolve their typeface Feature Display into Pleasant Serif (named after AG founder Pleasant Rowland) to have an 18-degree angle to reflect the new angle for the star (which is a nod to the 18-inch height of the dolls— a super nerdy easter egg, I know). It’s meant to be friendly and sharp, like every American Girl fan!
My favorite thing is that the two i’s in the logo are different sizes to represent a girl and her doll (another easter egg).
What was the process behind the color palette you developed?
Once again, we started with the heritage. They already had a main color, “Berry,” but we noticed it was a little muted and not consistent across all media, or even all printed media. So, we brightened it a little and made it richer and uniform across all media. We consider it to be AG’s version of Tiffany Blue. Then we expanded Berry into what we call the “Berry Patch,” which is variations on that color that we could use to create historical patterns and prints that instantly felt classic and modern at the same time. We also pulled the bright poppy colors from the 90s palette to allow for a broader range of colors that didn’t feel too saccharine, which AG has never been.
What aspect of this project are you proudest of?
We were able to tap into “the exceptional story of girlhood”—the positioning statement we created for American Girl—and really capture the energy, creativity, and intelligence that this brand and these dolls have always meant to inspire. The statement applies to all girls, women, those who identify as women, and anyone who identifies as an American Girl fan of any gender.
Because we really understood the mission of American Girl, we were able to convey that through the design of everything. I hope the joy and thoughtfulness comes through to everyone who interacts with it.
Which American Girl Doll do you identify with the most?
Probably Julie. She is a child of the 70s. She is a feminist. She speaks out against sexism and racism. She is not afraid to speak her mind in general. She also has very cool mod furniture— I have her tiny lava lamp in my living room. I’m not so good at basketball though. Julie, Samantha, and Addy sit in my team room.