The shift has begun. Foursquare is beginning the final stages of it’s re-purposing with the release of its new logo. If you use the app regularly, you’ll know by now that the social-check-in platform has split into two. Foursquare is becoming an app to find places to go, and “Swarm” is to check-in to make your friends jealous of that place you found.

“Foursquare hopes that its new design will make the service’s strengths more obvious, and provide more room for experimentation,” Ellis Hamburger notes over at The Verge. CEO Dennis Crowley said he was hearing statements from users that didn’t know the app could search. They were only using it for the check-in function which gave him the idea to pursue a new direction for the Foursquare to distinguish itself.

Working “hand in hand” with the Foursquare team, Red Antler began to help Crowley establish a new look for Foursquare. Red Antler certainly brought a bold and “super” vision to the new Foursuqare logo. Armin Vitt, over at Brand New, reviewed the new logo (read more about it here).

He notes, and rightly so, “at a time where we are already scrambling to keep up with apps for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, and even Yelp (a clear competitor in the recommendation/reviews area), it’s a challenging proposition, so all those superpowers the new logo is meant to have will be needed.”

Foursquare will have a tough time in getting its users to clearly distinguish the purposes of the two apps, and to use them accordingly (this guy in particular). In the sneak peeks of the new app, the user interface has been completely redesigned. The users are not blasted with the “Save” and “Check In” buttons any more, but they are neatly tucked in a row with other important user features and information.

“Today, Foursquare is getting the fresh start it always wanted—a chance to look different, and an opportunity to take on not one but two important new roles in peoples’ lives,” states The Verge article on the matter. “Crowley and co. are betting that with their two new apps, people will finally understand exactly what Foursquare is for.”

As a designer, I thoroughly enjoy when a company chooses to rebrand itself for the right reasons. Foursquare has distinctly established its new position on the user’s phone and created a bold icon and vision for that app. I think the new direction is successful and look forward to exploring the new app. Swarm, on the other hand, will have to grow on me.