Rebrands Are Funny

The Life of Max, HBO’s sometimes product

Author

Jon Haines
April 17, 2025

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This week’s edition:

  • Rebrands Are Funny: The Life of Max, HBO’s sometimes product

  • Design articles i found interesting

  • Design jobs I found interesting

HBO produces the best content. Really, it does. Hot off the third season of White Lotus (“the coconut milk is off!”), HBO’s streaming service, Max, has switched gears once again, this time, ditching its deep blue for a more sleek black. It looks good. The intention was to make it look “more like HBO” branding. I’m all onboard with that, but so very confused at the same time.

Here’s a recent history (a very recent one, too) of HBO’s streaming service. It went from HBO Go to HBO Max, then decided it wanted to drop HBO from the name all together to give Max its own identity. Frankly, I figured it was to get involved in a higher quantity of shows for a slightly lesser quality than what HBO was known for, but that was just an opinion.

HBO was dropped from the title in 2023, and now, here we are not even two full years later and black is to be added to give Max more of that HBO feel? It almost feels like this was a test run to make sure that the latest shows by the TV giant were up to quality and now that the public has accepted its latest round of quality shows, it’s a good time to remind everyone that it was HBO all along.

Just a thought. Crazy how branding and design work.

Design Articles for the Week

HBO's baffling new Max rebrand raises eyebrows

To HBO or not to HBO?

www.creativebloq.com/design/branding/serious-identity-issues-hbos-new-max-rebrand-is-raising-eyebrows

Microsoft’s new Windows 11 Start menu is bigger and fixes a major pain point

The new Start menu is a lot more customizable

www.theverge.com/news/645078/microsoft-windows-11-new-start-menu-bigger-redesign

Microsoft celebrates 50th anniversary with nostalgia-filled campaign

It’s a homage to the people that built the brand.

www.creativebloq.com/design/branding/from-clippy-to-copilot-microsoft-celebrates-50th-anniversary-with-vibrant-campaign

Design Jobs for the Week

Hi, I’m Jon, a UX and Product Designer from Brooklyn, New York. I write the Design Breadcrumbs newsletter to express my own thoughts on the design world, freelancing, and career advancement. Subscribe to get this news delivered to your inbox every week.