(Apologies for mistakes. English isn't my first language. TL;DR last paragraph.)
I really like the free 1 GB coming with the new design, but as a professional graphic and web designer, this website rebranding confuses me a lot. And I just created a community account just to comment on those new changes.
The old branding was perfectly fine. Apart from the logo that could have used a little bit of refreshment, I found the colors very refreshing. I was even impressed by how the website looked like and I friendly it felt. I absolutely loved the color scheme, and it appealed me a lot as a young adult. It gave me a modern, technologic feel. The illustrations were also top notch; really cute and to my honest opinion, made me feel even a bit happy. ("Yay! Your phone is activated! Thanks for joining Public Mobile. :)"). It was fresh and unique, just like a pack of mints in the morning. "Finally a cellphone company that understands me!" is how it felt to me.
Now the website feels... well... retro. Not that it is too much of a bad thing in itself, but here it is especially inappropriate. The color scheme makes me think of a camping website, the logo looks extremely generic and eclectic (almost like someone just took a random decorated font on DaFont and didn't know what to do with the letters. The shapes they added in every letter inspire me absolutely nothing about phones, technologies or telecom, and the logo is hardly readable on small formats. It's almost like they just thought "Hey let's put some shapes in that logo because it will make it look cool and unique!").
When I enter the website, and the first things I see is "Public". "Public" what? Camping? Forestry? Antiques? At first glance, nothing on this website reminds me of phones or telecoms. I can't find what a website is about at first glance, I leave it. Simple as that.
The illustrations too... let's talk about those. I think that's the worse thing that changed about this website. Generic, cheap art style with no actual friendliness and nothing that reminds me of telecoms. They really don't communicate anything to me. They're just no eyes people (that I can't relate to). I am not sure what they're supposed to represent, but hey, they're there. If they are supposed to fulfill any function beyond taking some space, to me, they fail at it. (On the other hand, the previous illustrations made me feel like I was looked after and that the company cared about what I felt. I think they were really my favorite part about this company's branding and I loved them so much. Hard to see them go.)
As a young adult, nothing about this website appeals to me anymore. Nothing match together quite like it did. If the illustrations were in a retro style, I wouldn't even be mad; the retro style would have been consistent throughout the branding, but it is not the case.
Fair, maybe that's all what PM budget could afford. But when you redesign your brand/website, you should save money, then go all the way through when you are ready, not go for the cheapest option. (Because when you do go for the cheapest option, you end up with this: a half-modern/half-retro abomination that doesn't work visually, and that doesn't appeal to anybody.)
If I saw a flier with this design at Walmart, with all the other tech fliers, I wouldn't pick it up, because I wouldn't think this is a cellphone service provider's flier. I would think Walmart put it there by mistake. I would just see this nice, big "Public" logo in a retro style that doesn't mean anything close to modern, up to date, AI managed cellphone service provider with a superb community and customer support, and affordable prices.
Now it's just... "Public Retro". Like someone was trying to go for that "hip new thing" that is badges and retro styles without actually thinking through their design principles and doing the appropriate market research, and bothering to reflect what Public Mobile really is: a modern, cutting edge, and friendly cellphone service provider with his community at its heart.
I hope to see more of that company in the future.
