eBay Logo Redesign

eBay have announced they have redesigned their logo after seventeen years. I haven't been a massive fan of the original logo. It's seemed rather childish and hastily put together, but over time it's grown on me and the colours and style is now totally associated with eBay.

The new logo has lost the playfulness. It's like the brand is trying to grow up, but whilst doing so it is taking away the community feeling that the previous logo had. I'm not a massive fan of the lack of kerning. The letters should either be how they were previously, or not connecting at all. I do prefer the colours, particularly the blue as it seems to flow more, and my eye doesn't get stuck on the letter b.

It's always going to be a tough job to redesign such a memorable logo, and everyone has their own opinions. This design could have been better, but could have been a lot worse.

Darrin Crescenzi - A Game of Thrones icons

Like many others, I've become obsessed with the series A Game of Thrones. I'm currently working my way through the novels which is taking quite a while as I seem to be really busy at the moment.

Darrin Crescenzi also loved the series, and created a series of icons for each of the families. It was a personal project, and probably quite a nice change from the Nike brand design he usually works on.
It's brilliantly designed, colourful, and a good contemporary take on what could have ended up being too traditional.

A poster was available but has sold out.

Microsoft New Logo - Rebrand

Microsoft are unveiling a new logo, 25 years after the last update. With the company about to release Windows 8, and new versions of almost all of their products, it's the perfect time to freshen up the look. There are so many platforms for the windows products, including desktop computers, laptops, notebooks, tablets, phones and games consoles. It's important to make sure that their brand works visibly and efficiently without any weak points.

Microsoft Old Logo

Microsoft New Logo

Regarding the logo, I feel that it could have been a bit more exciting. This was an opportunity to really go for something new. The 4 squares are quite plain, however the kerning of the letters is perfect and pleasing to look at. I'm not saying that the logo is totally bad, and until I have seen how they are implementing it across the whole brand, it's wrong to criticise.

Australia Cigarette Packaging Law

An Australian court has backed a new law which stops all branding on cigarette packets. Instead the packaging will now be olive green and will feature graphic health warnings and images on smoking related illnesses.

The tobacco companies are huge, and I'm sure they will have tried to fight this new law, but I think that they probably presumed that the law would not be successful. Smoking laws have been getting stricter, with people not being able to smoke in public places in the UK, even at bus stops. I personally agree fully, and think that people who don't smoke should not be subjected to other people's harmful

Regarding the branding of cigarettes, it has been getting more restricted over the last 20 years. Advertising on tv ceased in the mid 1990s, with shops following in 1999. As with alcohol, the cigarettes can't promote that they are good for your health, make you look cool, professional or calm you down. It's all up to the recognisable logos, the colours, shapes and styles. Tobacco companies have argued that it will be easier for fake cigarettes to be sold, as the packaging will be easy to copy. I think this is probably true, but I think that preventing the companies from using bright, attractive packaging will be a step forward in stopping people smoking.

Britain is considering a law on plain packaging also. Australia have paved the way for other countries to follow in their footsteps, to try protect the health of their nation.

I hope that this law stays as it will hopefully save lots of lives, free up hospitals and clinics from people who have smoking related illnesses, and promote healthier living.

Yell Rebrand as Hibu

So it seems Yell are rebranding themselves, getting rid of the name and image, and becoming Hibu
Yell needed to do something to refresh themselves after reporting an annual loss of £1.4 million, so they called on Landor Associates to help them out. I'm not really a fan of the made up, nonsense style names, so right now I'm not so impressed, but it may be one of those names that grows on me the more I hear it. The Yellow Pages was always seen by the phone as I was growing up, and some of the adverts (the boy getting the yellow pages to stand on so he would be tall enough to give a girl a kiss) stay in my memory. With the internet and all the information and adverts readily available, and for free, they have to really set themselves as the go-to place for when you need a plumber, a tree surgeon or even a dog walker.

Above is the new logo. Yell said in a statement,  ‘Communities are built on the connections people make and people are connected at the heart of the hibu logo. The identity utilises typography with soft shouldered edges like the human body and coloured dots represent the people behind the identity, diversity, connections and conversation. By using bold lower-case typography with soft edges we project a human and approachable company.’
I quite like the logo, although it does remind me of Gu, the luxury pudding people. I think it's the dots above the 'u' and because both logos are quite rounded.


I think ditching the recognised name and logo could be dangerous, but if done well, they could go back to their directory heyday. Only time will tell.

Made in Britain Logo

Ed Miliband recently called for a 'Made in Britain' mark to be put on things made in Britain. There is also a programme shown on Channel 4 titled 'Mary's Bottom Line' where "retail guru Mary Portas believes a a window of opportunity has opened to restore some life back to British manufacturing."

I think it is important to know where products are coming from. Yes, it is nice for things to be cheaper, but I wouldn't mind paying a bit more if it meant a British company was saved from making redundancies or going out of business.

Fresh food has clear labels of the country of origin, and over the last few years there has been a big upturn in the amount of local produce in supermarkets. Morrisons published an article in 2009 stating that they are selling regionally sourced milk so that it tastes fresh and hasn't travelled far to get there.

There is the Red Tractor logo on British meat which is a recognised symbol for high standards and good welfare of the animals. The logo is seen clearly on the front of the meat packaging so it promotes buying British.
Farmers markets are extremely popular, many of them fortnightly and selling more than fruit and veg, but cakes, biscuits and even handmade jewellery and gifts.

Supporting local isn't that hard to do, just take a moment longer to look at the label.

Madrid 2020 Olympics Logo

The olympics have seen so many different logos, ranging from the good, to the downright awful. The bid by Madrid to host the 2020 Olympics has a mix of both. The creater is 22 year old Luis Peiret, after his entry was chosen as the winner of the competition to design the logo. The sad thing is that the design that won the competition has been modified, and whilst both designs have a typically spanish feel, the second has caused confusion.

 Original design by Luis Peiret

Modified design

It seems as though Madrid is bidding for the 20020 Olympics, not the 2020. The original design makes it more obvious that it is M20, but with the circles being cut off, you lose the communication. Also, the rings have had a mishap as the usual Olympic logo is blue, yellow, black, green and red, and here the black is misplaced with purple. It has a more Spanish feel, and a bit brighter than traditional ring logo, but does it really work as a contender? I'm not so sure.

More4 Rebrand

I'm loving the More4 rebrand. Designed by Man vs Machine, it's more suited to the current type of programmes that are shown on the channel. The colour palette is much brighter, and I must say that the green which was previously used, was appealing at first and stood out from other channels, but it became more unappealing throughout the use. Maybe I watched the channel too much and just became too familiar with it, so it lost its spark. The triangles flip through the colours and brings the logo to life. Usually having so many colours doesn't work in a logo, but More4 is now an exception, and it also works very nicely on the grey background.

Man vs Machine did a spectacular job working with Jason Bruges Studios on the triangle flip installations. They've thought the idea through thoroughly and progressed to make something stunning to watch.

I do like the slight nod to the original channel 4 logo, and who knows whether this rebrand will stand the test of time, or whether the channel will undergo another facelift in a few years.

 New Logo

Old Logo

Stumbleupon Redesign

I absolutely love stumbleupon.  I've spent many hours getting lost in the internet browsing through websites, blogs, portfolios, videos and games. So when I saw the redesign of my procrastination tool by Huge, I was happy to see it looking more sophisticated. The logo feels more considered and designed, that's not saying the previous logo wasn't good, but it felt slightly dated. With stumbleupon becoming more popular by the day, it needs to be at the forefront to fend off any competition that may arise.Saying all that though, I feel that the logo and text are slightly mismatched. The icon is great, and so is the type, but when put together they typeface doesn't seem as smooth as the logo.

                                      Old Logo
                                     

                                     New Logo                                                                                             

Simplifying Logos

Simplifying logos can make them immediately more impressive. I often found when struggling with logo design, to strip it back to the bare minimum and see if the extra bits were really needed. As a brand and the logo becomes more well known, removing the name or any text can be beneficial in giving the look of the company a bit of a facelift.

More recently the Starbucks logo was stripped back, but so have these other examples (image taken from logo design love)

La Presse new logo

La Presse is a french newspaper based in Montreal and have recently updated their logo.

The new square logo has replaced the previous rounder version, and I've noticed a trend recently in angular shapes in logo design. Squares work really well as they give a frame for other items to be placed around them, both in print and digitally.

With newspapers generally declining as people read the news online, it's important to have a non-cluttered web page where people can find the article they are interested in quickly and without hassle. Some of the websites I find most annoying are the ones which have too much useless tat taking up valuable space! A good grid is essential in all cases.

Image taken from newseum.org

Branding Article

I've been reading articles refreshing my graphic design brain and came across this interesting one from Fatima Mekkaoui at sixrevisions.com. It's good to read something that is well written and doesn't bulk up the article with useless babble.

Starbucks Logo

I'm liking the new Starbucks logo at the moment. It's much simpler and is free of the circles boundary from the previous logos. The text has also been removed, and with it being such an iconic logo, it's still as effective and obvious of the company as ever before.

It's definitely been brought up to date, looking more contemporary but still keeping the main element that has been the logo seen since 1971.

Rebranding Logos

Recently, I've been looking into changed and redesigned logos. I found this website which is really good for showcasing the old and new, and has quite a community of people commenting and sharing their thoughts.
Examples of redesigned logos are quite hard to find in published books, as by the time the book becomes published there's a possibility that in a year or so the new logo gets replaced by something newer.

Brand New

Rebranding is something I find interesting, as it can be a major struggle to change peoples opinions of an existing company. I find especially with food brands, they have to keep changing their image to fit with the ever changing new ideas on what's healthy, what does or doesn't cause cancer, and the trends for what children find cool.