Applebee’s Logo Redesign: Compare the Old and Current Designs

What “the old logo” and the current mark actually are

The usual answer to a search for the older Applebee’s mark is the long-running pre-refresh lockup: a pictorial red apple with a green leaf, set with a distinctive serif wordmark, often plus a grill-and-bar line. The current design is the post-refresh identity: a flatter apple emblem and a cleaner, more even wordmark. Those two systems are the pair this comparison covers.

Scope matters before you judge either file. “Logo” can mean the apple alone, the Applebee’s wordmark alone, or a full lockup that also carries a tagline such as Grill & Bar or Neighborhood Grill & Bar. Earlier 1980s–1990s illustrated marks and later campaign or menu lockups sit outside this main pair. A widely reported brand refresh in 2017 is the documented hinge between the heritage lockup and the live identity; later campaign art can still vary without replacing that core system.

Meaningful differences between the two designs

The useful comparison is construction, not nostalgia. Geometry, type, spacing, color roles, small-size behavior, and how hard the art is to edit as paths all change the asset you actually ship. Fine curve, tracking, and color-value claims need side-by-side specimens at the same size, background, and reproduction method; this guide describes the publicly familiar marks under that limit. Scalability and print or screen performance are untested here and are qualified as typical flat-versus-illustrated behavior.

Criterion	Older lockup	Current lockup	What it changes in use
Apple geometry	Rounder fruit silhouette with interior highlight that reads as volume	Simpler fruit silhouette with little or no interior modeling	The old apple is a picture of fruit; the current apple is an icon.
Leaf and stem	More organic leaf and stem, with irregular edges	Leaf reduced to a clearer green accent	Heritage detail versus a shape that stays readable when tiny.
Typography	Heritage serif wordmark with more stroke contrast and idiosyncratic letter shapes	More uniform, contemporary wordmark with a steadier rhythm across the name	The old name is a characterful sign; the current name is built to sit next to a flat emblem.
Spacing and lockup	Tighter, emblem-led stack or side-by-side pairing, often with a tagline	More even breathing room between apple and letters	Stacked, horizontal, icon-only, and tagline versions are different assets, not one file.
Color roles	Red apple, green leaf, highlight used to model form	Red apple and green leaf as flatter color fields	Both keep the red-and-green fruit idea; the current mark depends less on shine.
Small-size behavior	Highlights and organic leaf edges tend to clog or vanish first	Flat fills and simpler contours tend to hold a silhouette longer	Typical of illustrated versus flat marks; not a measured size test.
Vector redraw	More paths: body, highlight, stem, leaf, plus outlined type	Fewer shapes: apple body, leaf, wordmark	Editability follows actual path structure, not a filename or extension.

Geometry: the apple as picture versus the apple as icon

On the older mark the apple is the brand. A highlight on the fruit implies a light source and gives the emblem weight, the way a painted sign or a dimensional menu badge would. The leaf and stem follow that same pictorial logic: they look grown, not cut from a grid. On the current mark the apple is a silhouette first. Interior modeling is stripped back so the fruit reads as one or two fills. The leaf remains the green cue that stops the red shape from becoming a generic blob, but it is drawn for recognition at a glance rather than for botanical detail. That is an editorial reading of the two constructions, not a claim about a named designer’s intent.

Typography: heritage serif versus a calmer wordmark

The older wordmark is part of why people recognize the heritage lockup even without the apple. Serif structure, stronger thick-to-thin contrast, and slightly idiosyncratic forms in the double p, the b, and the apostrophe-s ending give the name a signed, restaurant-specific look. The current wordmark evens that contrast and regularizes the rhythm so the letters can sit beside a flat icon without competing for detail. Neither description replaces a type specimen: matching a redraw means tracing official letter shapes, not substituting a lookalike serif or a generic sans.

Color, spacing, and which lockup you actually need

Both systems keep a red apple and a green leaf as the core color story. The older lockup uses highlight and interior modeling as a third visual layer; the current lockup puts more of the job on flat red and green fields. Spacing is where files get mixed up in practice. An apple-only glyph, a wordmark-only line, a stacked name-and-fruit unit, a horizontal unit, and a unit that still carries Grill & Bar or Neighborhood Grill & Bar are separate layouts with different clear space. Treating them as interchangeable “the logo” is how taglines get dropped, icons get stretched, and the apple collides with nearby type.

Scalability, vector geometry, and working with assets

A flatter silhouette usually survives app icons, favicons, embroidery, and one-color reproduction with less cleanup than a highlighted apple and an organic leaf. That is a typical production pattern, not a lab result for these files. True vector geometry is a closed-path construction you can inspect and edit. A download labeled as SVG, EPS, or AI does not prove the art is clean paths; it may be a placed raster, an auto-trace, or a tangled outline. Availability of a file also does not grant permission to reuse the mark. For a faithful vector, start from official artwork, keep the apple’s proportions, and treat the wordmark as custom lettering rather than a font you guess.

Older lockup — typical path groups
  apple body
  interior highlight
  stem
  leaf (organic contour)
  wordmark (outlined or live from official files)
  optional tagline

Current lockup — typical path groups
  apple body (flat fill)
  leaf (simplified accent)
  wordmark
  optional tagline or icon-only crop

Which version to use

• Use the current official lockup for any live brand representation: restaurants, packaging, apps, menus, and new vector masters.
• Use the older lockup for historical comparison, archival layouts, or period-accurate reproduction only when you have the right to show that identity.
• If you are learning to redraw the system, the current apple is the more straightforward construction: fewer fills, clearer silhouette, less highlight logic.
• If the job is to document the heritage mark, budget time for the highlight, stem, and leaf; those are the details that separate a real older apple from a generic red fruit.
• Match the lockup to the job: icon-only in a tight square, wordmark when the name must read as text, full lockup when the fruit and name must travel together, tagline only when that line is part of the approved unit.

Gaps in this comparison: no calibrated side-by-side specimens, no measured tracking or minimum sizes, no verified Pantone or hex values, and no reproduction tests. Regional, seasonal, and campaign lockups may differ from both primary systems. Confirm the live master and usage rights from official brand materials before you redraw, recolor, or ship either version.