For all the design-world derision, the CIA’s motives are clear: the creation of a brave new brand for bold new generation of brand-savvy recruits.
An attendee walks past the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recruiting booth on the exhibit floor at the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (SOFIC) in Tampa, Florida, U.S. in 2016. | Photographer: Luke Sharrett | Bloomberg
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A few days before insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol, the Central Intelligence Agency — “the Nation’s first line of defense” — unveiled a rebrand. The government-issue website was replaced with a bold and dramatic “dark mode” look:
And the patriotic seal (eagle, compass, scroll) morphed into a strikingly contemporary design:
This edgy new identity is a departure not only from the visual tradition of U.S. intelligence agencies …
… it is a departure from the conventional crests and seals of most competing foreign services, allied and hostile:
In keeping with all rebrands in the social-media age, the CIA’s new look launched.....
