brandidentity

Launched in 1996 and originally part of a Nickelodeon programming block called Nick at Nite, TV Land is a cable television channel aimed (according to owner MTV Networks) at the 40- to 50-year-old with a blend of original programming, classic and contemporary television series acquisitions, and movies. What originally started as a nostalgia-filled, black-and-white-tinted programming has grown into a Betty White-fueled feel-good programming. This month TV Land introduced a revised logo and a new on-air look both designed by Trollbäck + Company, who also designed their previous on-air package.

In a bid to move away from TVLand's retro vibe, Trollbäck + Company wanted to refresh the network's on-air graphics with a focus on original programming and a new tagline: Laugh More. The final package supported that initiative with colorful and energetic graphics including an amped-up TVLand logo that moves in unexpected ways.

It's pretty amazing that TV Land has kept the same basic logo since launch — see original here — 16 years ago and that it has evolved in baby steps. By now you would think someone new in charge would have stepped in and asked to get rid of that thing. But its quirkiness has probably more equity than anyone would like to acknowledge. The latest version, however, starts to chip off much of its vintage patina and 1950s-TV-Atomic-Dinner aesthetic leaving only a strange holding shape with slightly contemporary typography inside. Clarendon does not quite take me to where the spiked serifs of the old one did and its relationship with "LAND" below it has also changed having less size contrast but not enough. If TV Land does one more exercise of updating the logo without really changing they might end up with a real mess.

On-air montage.

Luckily, the on-air package provides the vibrancy and energy that the new logo lacks. A lovely color palette and a nice range of motions give TV Land a fresh and contemporary vibe while still keeping some of that old school 1970s animation look. It's funny that the logo also flips like the recently reviewed More4 on-air identity — not saying either one copied the other, just funny how a similar effect plays out in different cases so close to each other. Overall, the logo is not quite the improvement or update that TV Land needed but Trollbäck + Company has delivered another crisp package.

I’ve just put pen to paper on a new contract with publisher Peachpit. This book will focus on the business of design, answering the most frequently asked questions about starting and running a successful design business. The copy deadline is October, so the release-date should be just before the end of the year.

Many of you will run your own studio, be in self-employment, or freelance in your spare time. I’d love to share your experiences in the book, and for now, there’s one topic I’m particularly interested in:

How do you find new clients when starting a design business?

Alternatively, perhaps your approach didn’t work and taught you a valuable lesson.

So if you have a story you want to share with the world (my first book is in eight languages, and I want to double that with this attempt) it’d be superb if you got in touch.

Published on David Airey, graphic designer

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As you might remember, jcpenney landed in the top three of my 2011 Worst list for its bake-off approach to designing the last iteration of their logo, so it was with both high and low expectations that I approached a highly public company reimagining announced yesterday. If you don't mind, I'll repeat the same introduction from last year: First opened as a dry-goods store named the “Golden Rule” in Kemmerer, Wyoming by James Cash Penney in 1902, JCPenney today is a publicly-traded company with 1,100 department stores across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, mostly in shopping malls. Providing fairly decent middle-of-the-road merchandise, JCPenney is an extremely popular destination for finding affordable items without the top brand names attached — they develop many of their own brands. / End recycled intro. / "Every initiative we pursue," starting February 1, reads the press release, "will be guided by our core value to treat customers as we would like to be treated — fair and square." New store designs, new brand names, new spokesperson partner in Ellen DeGeneres, and — yay — new logo and identity will be rolled out. No design firm is credited (leads anyone?).

The new jcpenney logo, which combines the elements that have made jcpenney an enduring American brand, by evoking the nation's flag and jcpenney's commitment to treating customers Fair and Square. The square frame imagery will be evident throughout all of jcpenney's marketing, to remind customers to frame the things they love. — Press Release

The old logo, designed by a graphic design student at the University of Cincinnati and selected from about 200 options jcpenney requested from others, was not formally or structurally bad but it looked like, well, a student-level design exercise. There was no there there in that new logo or in the one that preceded it. The new logo, I have to say, is damn impressive. It is amazingly simple, clear, and bold. It express the All-American feeling jcpenney is going for and it alludes to the American flag in a subtle and sophisticated way that makes every American Presidential candidate look like a doofus for not designing a logo like this before. This logo has the potential to transform the jcpenney brand from a mediocre mall brand into an American retail fashion icon like Tommy Hilfiger — perhaps not in quality but at least in appearance.

Cover of upcoming 96-page "book", a new monthly perk.

Sample postcard. Free tip to jcpenney: lose the thick outer stroke, it dwarfs the logo.

The rest of the identity plays up the logo nicely, using it big and allowing the photography — playful and colorful — to show inside the red square. There is a lot of Gotham involved, which I guess has become as American as apple pie. I think it looks better in the logo than in the applications, as it starts to look a little more like an electronics store. Overall, this logo and identity are full of potential and is one of the most on-target identities for a large, very common-denominator consumer company that I have seen in a while.

For additional images and video check out this surprisingly helpful and thorough press room.

Sample new store entrance.

Thanks to Rachel Mason for first tip.

Established in 1987 in New York and now with 17 offices in 10 countries ITG (Investment Technology Group) is "an independent research broker partnering with global portfolio managers and traders throughout the investment process, from investment decision through to settlement." If that's a little unclear — it is to me — they help "clients understand market trends, improve performance, mitigate risk, and navigate increasingly complex markets." To coincide with its 25th anniversary, ITG has dropped its full name and introduced a new identity and "brandline", Decoding Signal from Noise, by Landor.

TG's new brand identity includes a new logo, look and feel, naming system, messaging and brandline. Driven by stark design, smart copy and staggered headlines and logo, ITG's new brand reflects the firm's cutting-edge technology and unique market perspectives. […] Of special significance is ITG's new brandline, Decoding Signal from Noise™, which expresses how the firm helps clients manage the deluge of information in modern financial markets, cutting through the clutter to deliver data-driven insights that no one else can match. — Press Release

Brand launch video.

The previous logo looked like a generic financial firm, or a healthcare provider, or manufacturer of dentist tools — featuring two interlocked swooshes, probably meaning commitment or partnership or whocares. The new logo follows in similar footsteps to last year's XL Group identity not in the sense that they copied or emulated it but in that it is not afraid to look like a bold, risk-taking, and aggressive company. I have the sense that a lot of people are going to hate this logo, and probably with good reasons, but there is, again like with XL Group, something refreshing about the jarring and unexpected layout of the three letters. They ain't pretty per se, but they make a statement and it stands out.

The rest of the identity relies on similar uncomfortable layouts and staggering as well as breaking words in the wrong places and foregoing necessary things like spaces between words. It starts to veer a little into the campy kind of trendy and edgy but it's something that can be reigned in as the identity evolves. Overall, another welcome addition to the "Don't Mess With Me" or "I'm Not Here to Make Friends" identity category.

Here’s a kind of science experiment that had me thinking.

“This video is made to be connected to a metal pad that a low-strength electrical current runs through. The current’s strength modulates in conjunction with the frequency of the wave of the color depicted on screen. Low frequency colors (red/orange) emit a lower level of current than higher frequency colors (blue/green).”

By Evan Drolet Cook who lives and works in Los Angeles.

But it’s not the actual video I was contemplating. It was our eyesight and hearing.

Just as we do our health, it’s incredibly easy to take them for granted.

Sights, sounds — appreciate them. Senses fade.

—

Relevant websites: About deaf-blindness Deafblind International Deafblind UK The American Association of the Deaf-Blind

Published on David Airey, graphic designer

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The following guest post was written by Tom and Phil of London-based Mat Dolphin.

One of the services we offer as a design agency is logo design. No surprises then when we recently stumbled upon another agency offering the same service. So far, so average – the majority of graphic design agencies throughout the world do exactly the same. The difference with this one, however, was the costing of their work.

$42. That simple. For $42 you can get a logo designed with two rounds of amends and a number of different files formats sent to you. Sceptical of the quality of the work and a little surprised at the pricing structure and business model, we shared the find with our loyal Twitter following in our usual measured and level-headed style…

In short, the ever opinionated ‘design community’ weren’t too happy about the idea of logos being punted out like Happy Meals. The general consensus was that the time it takes to research, brainstorm, design, develop, artwork and subsequently amend a logo of a relatively decent standard could not be sufficiently covered by such a small cost. This got us thinking. We decided to conduct an experiment. Googling ‘cheap logos’ gave us plenty of options for ‘quality logo design services for a fixed low cost’ so we pulled on our fictional overalls and got in touch with a company offering said service to enquire on behalf of our newly-imagined company – ‘Dolphin Plumbing Services’.

Commissioning a cheap logo simply to sneer about how we reckon we could have done a better job would be too easy and not achieve a huge amount. Instead, we wanted to approach the company as if we had no experience or interest in graphic design and see what the process is like for the ‘average punter’. Also, how the experience differs from the service we offer. We made a point of letting them lead us and not getting all ‘designer-y’ with them. This wasn’t an opportunity to lecture them about kerning, for this experiment we didn’t care about the quality of design, we simply wanted to explore the process of purchasing a logo to stick on the side of our non-existent van.

The first company we contacted offered, among plenty of other things, bespoke logo designs and unlimited revisions (which we thought was rather excessive) for only £8.99+VAT. Bargain! It seemed too good to be true and, drum roll… it was – they are yet to return our emails. Not a good start.

Undeterred, we found another company offering a similar service. Yet again, they offered unlimited revisions, so we thought we’d give them a fair amount of feedback to deal with, nothing too unreasonable, just enough to get our money’s worth. They also promised a 1-3 day turnaround for all artwork and amends, so we decided to hold them to that and chase them if they were late. Dolphin Plumbing Services – firm but fair. They were slightly more pricey at £25 but we thought it was worth it in the name of investigative journalism, so we sent the email.

The very same day, we received a response asking for payment! If nothing else, they were quick, and at least they’d replied. We eagerly handed-over my bank details (without any guarantees, to the random internet company we’d never heard of two hours previously) and waited to see what happened next.

Less than an hour later, we received an email granting us access to our own personal account. We were told to wait for 48 hours before receiving the initial designs. So far the process hadn’t been too painful, we’d done our bit and the real work was now down to their designers. All that was left to do was wait…

Two days later, an email with the subject ‘Your first design samples’ was sitting our inbox – the experiment had started to get interesting. We logged into to my account and saw the below six designs awaiting my feedback.

The quality of the logos is something I’m going to comment on later, but regardless of how good the initial designs are, we have a starting point. Regarding the first of my unlimited revisions, we wanted to ensure what we were requesting was reasonable and similar to the kind of feedback the company would usually get. We weren’t interested in testing their patience for the sake of it. Our first round of feedback was as follows:

Once again, we sat tight, staring at our inbox waiting for what could potentially become the brand new Dolphin Plumbing Services logo. Can you feel the tension building? This time we only had to wait one day! Another email arrived letting us know that all we had to do was log into our account and we would find the latest logo designs waiting for us — we did, and they were!

This time round our feedback was pretty simple:

This didn’t prove too much of a test for my new design slaves, who responded with the changes, yet again, in just one day. Here’s what they came back with.

We were getting to the point where the discussions had gone far enough to get a reasonable idea of the process and it was time for us to wrap this baby up. We issued one final round of feedback, for good measure:

Which resulted in the following. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to proudly present, the logo for the finest fictitious plumbing outfit since Super Mario Brothers – Dolphin Plumbing Services:

—

Job done.

The feedback about the colour of the circle had been completely ignored but we pretended not to notice and responded with a grateful approval and requested the logo as high resolution JPGs, PDFs and vector EPS / AI files. These were promptly sent the next day. One techy point to make – the vector logos hadn’t been outlined and there were no fonts accompanying the files. This means that if we did in fact have a van or signage in need of vinyl lettering, we’d be a bit stuck. I would guess the vast majority of customers using these services wouldn’t have the knowledge or inclination to specifically request fonts, let alone own the software to discover they were missing. It seems like the company we used fell at the last hurdle somewhat but perhaps the rush to complete the job and move onto the next artwork carried out at light-speed is to blame for the oversight.

Anyway, the experiment had concluded, now for the analysis.

The easiest thing here would be to tear the design work apart and criticise how it simply wasn’t very good. It wasn’t. But it seems as if that would be over simplifying the point. We paid an incredibly small amount for what must’ve taken somebody, somewhere, a reasonable amount of time to do. Even a competent designer bashing out the work as quickly as possible would’ve had to spend a while producing six logos with three sets of revisions. There’s also the time it takes to read my emails, save the amended files, upload them to my account and let me know they’re there. It’s impossible to say how long that would’ve taken (and we’re under no illusion that the lovely emails we received were personally written to us) but was this time and labour all covered by my measly £25?

As designers, our time, creativity, experience and technical skills are the only things we’re actually selling. And I’m not surprised that the fact that anyone with the right software can do what we do and sell it for a fraction of the cost is irritating and perhaps even insulting to the majority of designers. But does the plumber who simply wants something to stick on a business card really care when he can get the job done for such a small amount of money? The process we went through was quick, easy and required very little hassle on our part. Once we found a company who actually responded to us, all we had to do was pay, look at designs and tell them what we wanted them to change. Assuming the role of someone with limited knowledge and opinions on typography, layout and colour, the service offered to us was more than agreeable for what we paid.

However, there is still the angry mob of designers to deal with. First off, it’s worth thinking about what they’re actually angry about. I don’t think it’s because their cover’s been blown and they can no longer charge huge amounts of cash for knocking up a quick logo. The issue, in our opinion, is more the fact that taking shortcuts that allow the work to be produced for a sum as small as £25 both creates work of a lower quality and lowers the value of what we do in the eyes of those outside of the design industry.

Like many other products and services, it’s never going to be too hard to find a cheaper option. But, as the painfully obvious saying goes, you get what you pay for. Buy a cheap car, it’ll break down more often. Buy a cheap meal, it won’t taste very nice. Buy a cheap haircut… you get the idea. If Phil the plumber decides to go for the £25 logo purely based on cost, his service simply won’t look premium. Maybe this won’t be a problem as many of his customers aren’t going to care too much about the typography when their kitchen is flooding, but design matters, and we’re sure we’ve all instantly disregarded companies based solely on the look of their logo, website or shop-frontage. It’s similar to pizza menus on your doormat – you’re not going to pay much but you know it won’t be fine-dining.

Maybe he doesn’t want his service to look premium. He’s a down-to-earth guy making an honest living for a fair price and he wants his logo to reflect that. Fair enough. But at no point throughout the process were we asked any questions about this. It was far too easy to let the designers get on with designing what they thought was right for a company they knew next-to-nothing about. Without this knowledge, can you really create something of any value, or are you simply choosing random fonts and adding clichéd clipart images based on the name of the company?

So, the design is never to going be considered at any great length – because there simply isn’t the time to do so – and there’s a good chance the final design may not be appropriate for its purpose.

The end result? Cheap design that looks cheap and is less effective.

But is there a place in the industry for logo design being sold in this way? Unfortunately, we think the answer is yes. People or companies who aren’t particularly interested in the way they present themselves can’t be blamed for spending as little money as possible on a service they don’t see value in. Is it damaging to the industry as a whole? Again, I’m afraid the answer is yes. Poor design can never be a good thing, for obvious reasons.

So what happens now? Do we rise up and fight back against these companies? Do we boycott? Do we drop our prices to £20 a logo, no questions asked? Feel free, but we won’t be joining you. A far better defence is to produce well-considered, fairly-priced design that includes the client in the process, asks the right questions, challenges the brief, considers the problem from the clients perspective and provides an effective solution. This, done well, is the only thing that can differentiate what we do from the ‘lowest price gets the job’ outfits.

The conclusion of our experiment? You get what you pay for. The important thing to remember is to make your service good value, regardless of how much it costs.

Tom and Phil Mat Dolphin @MatDolphin

Published on Logo Design Love

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• Building your design business: product
• Building your design business: perceptioning
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The following guest post was written by Tom and Phil of London-based Mat Dolphin.

One of the services we offer as a design agency is logo design. No surprises then when we recently stumbled upon another agency offering the same service. So far, so average – the majority of graphic design agencies throughout the world do exactly the same. The difference with this one, however, was the costing of their work.

$42. That simple. For $42 you can get a logo designed with two rounds of amends and a number of different files formats sent to you. Sceptical of the quality of the work and a little surprised at the pricing structure and business model, we shared the find with our loyal Twitter following in our usual measured and level-headed style…

In short, the ever opinionated ‘design community’ weren’t too happy about the idea of logos being punted out like Happy Meals. The general consensus was that the time it takes to research, brainstorm, design, develop, artwork and subsequently amend a logo of a relatively decent standard could not be sufficiently covered by such a small cost. This got us thinking. We decided to conduct an experiment. Googling ‘cheap logos’ gave us plenty of options for ‘quality logo design services for a fixed low cost’ so we pulled on our fictional overalls and got in touch with a company offering said service to enquire on behalf of our newly-imagined company – ‘Dolphin Plumbing Services’.

Commissioning a cheap logo simply to sneer about how we reckon we could have done a better job would be too easy and not achieve a huge amount. Instead, we wanted to approach the company as if we had no experience or interest in graphic design and see what the process is like for the ‘average punter’. Also, how the experience differs from the service we offer. We made a point of letting them lead us and not getting all ‘designer-y’ with them. This wasn’t an opportunity to lecture them about kerning, for this experiment we didn’t care about the quality of design, we simply wanted to explore the process of purchasing a logo to stick on the side of our non-existent van.

The first company we contacted offered, among plenty of other things, bespoke logo designs and unlimited revisions (which we thought was rather excessive) for only £8.99+VAT. Bargain! It seemed too good to be true and, drum roll… it was – they are yet to return our emails. Not a good start.

Undeterred, we found another company offering a similar service. Yet again, they offered unlimited revisions, so we thought we’d give them a fair amount of feedback to deal with, nothing too unreasonable, just enough to get our money’s worth. They also promised a 1-3 day turnaround for all artwork and amends, so we decided to hold them to that and chase them if they were late. Dolphin Plumbing Services – firm but fair. They were slightly more pricey at £25 but we thought it was worth it in the name of investigative journalism, so we sent the email.

The very same day, we received a response asking for payment! If nothing else, they were quick, and at least they’d replied. We eagerly handed-over our bank details (without any guarantees, to the random internet company we’d never heard of two hours previously) and waited to see what happened next.

Less than an hour later, we received an email granting us access to our own personal account. We were told to wait for 48 hours before receiving the initial designs. So far the process hadn’t been too painful, we’d done our bit and the real work was now down to their designers. All that was left to do was wait…

Two days later, an email with the subject ‘Your first design samples’ was sitting our inbox – the experiment had started to get interesting. We logged into the account and saw these six designs (below) awaiting our feedback.

The quality of the logos is something we’re going to comment on later, but regardless of how good the initial designs are, we have a starting point. Regarding the first of our unlimited revisions, we wanted to ensure what we were requesting was reasonable and similar to the kind of feedback the company would usually get. We weren’t interested in testing their patience for the sake of it. Our first round of feedback was as follows:

Once again, we sat tight, staring at our inbox waiting for what could potentially become the brand new Dolphin Plumbing Services logo. Can you feel the tension building? This time we only had to wait one day! Another email arrived letting us know that all we had to do was log into our account and we would find the latest logo designs waiting for us — we did, and they were!

This time around our feedback was pretty simple:

This didn’t prove too much of a test for our new design slaves, who responded with the changes, yet again, in just one day. Here’s what they came back with.

We were getting to the point where the discussions had gone far enough to get a reasonable idea of the process and it was time for us to wrap this baby up. We issued one final round of feedback, for good measure:

Which resulted in the following. Ladies and gentlemen, allow us to proudly present, the logo for the finest fictitious plumbing outfit since Super Mario Brothers – Dolphin Plumbing Services:

—

Job done.

The feedback about the colour of the circle had been completely ignored but we pretended not to notice and responded with a grateful approval and requested the logo as high resolution JPGs, PDFs and vector EPS / AI files. These were promptly sent the next day. One techy point to make – the vector logos hadn’t been outlined and there were no fonts accompanying the files. This means that if we did in fact have a van or signage in need of vinyl lettering, we’d be a bit stuck. We would guess the vast majority of customers using these services wouldn’t have the knowledge or inclination to specifically request fonts, let alone own the software to discover they were missing. It seems like the company we used fell at the last hurdle somewhat but perhaps the rush to complete the job and move onto the next artwork carried out at light-speed is to blame for the oversight.

Anyway, the experiment had concluded, now for the analysis.

The easiest thing here would be to tear the design work apart and criticise how it simply wasn’t very good. It wasn’t. But it seems as if that would be over simplifying the point. We paid an incredibly small amount for what must’ve taken somebody, somewhere, a reasonable amount of time to do. Even a competent designer bashing out the work as quickly as possible would’ve had to spend a while producing six logos with three sets of revisions. There’s also the time it takes to read our emails, save the amended files, upload them to our account and let us know they’re there. It’s impossible to say how long that would’ve taken (and we’re under no illusion that the lovely emails we received were personally written to us) but was this time and labour all covered by our measly £25?

As designers, our time, creativity, experience and technical skills are the only things we’re actually selling. And we’re not surprised that how anyone with the right software can do what we do and sell it for a fraction of the cost proves irritating and perhaps even insulting to the majority of designers. But does the plumber who simply wants something to stick on a business card really care when he can get the job done for such a small amount of money? The process we went through was quick, easy and required very little hassle on our part. Once we found a company who actually responded to us, all we had to do was pay, look at designs and tell them what we wanted them to change. Assuming the role of someone with limited knowledge and opinions on typography, layout and colour, the service offered to us was more than agreeable for what we paid.

However, there is still the angry mob of designers to deal with. First off, it’s worth thinking about what they’re actually angry about. We don’t think it’s because their cover’s been blown and they can no longer charge huge amounts of cash for knocking up a quick logo. The issue, in our opinion, is more the fact that taking shortcuts that allow the work to be produced for a sum as small as £25 both creates work of a lower quality and lowers the value of what we do in the eyes of those outside of the design industry.

Like many other products and services, it’s never going to be too hard to find a cheaper option. But, as the painfully obvious saying goes, you get what you pay for. Buy a cheap car, it’ll break down more often. Buy a cheap meal, it won’t taste very nice. Buy a cheap haircut… you get the idea. If Phil the plumber decides to go for the £25 logo purely based on cost, his service simply won’t look premium. Maybe this won’t be a problem as many of his customers aren’t going to care too much about the typography when their kitchen is flooding, but design matters, and we’re sure we’ve all instantly disregarded companies based solely on the look of their logo, website or shop-frontage. It’s similar to pizza menus on your doormat – you’re not going to pay much but you know it won’t be fine-dining.

Maybe he doesn’t want his service to look premium. He’s a down-to-earth guy making an honest living for a fair price and he wants his logo to reflect that. Fair enough. But at no point throughout the process were we asked any questions about this. It was far too easy to let the designers get on with designing what they thought was right for a company they knew next-to-nothing about. Without this knowledge, can you really create something of any value, or are you simply choosing random fonts and adding clichéd clipart images based on the name of the company?

So, the design is never to going be considered at any great length – because there simply isn’t the time to do so – and there’s a good chance the final design may not be appropriate for its purpose.

The end result? Cheap design that looks cheap and is less effective.

But is there a place in the industry for logo design being sold in this way? Unfortunately, we think the answer is yes. People or companies who aren’t particularly interested in the way they present themselves can’t be blamed for spending as little money as possible on a service they don’t see value in. Is it damaging to the industry as a whole? Again, I’m afraid the answer is yes. Poor design can never be a good thing, for obvious reasons.

So what happens now? Do we rise up and fight back against these companies? Do we boycott? Do we drop our prices to £20 a logo, no questions asked? Feel free, but we won’t be joining you. A far better defence is to produce well-considered, fairly-priced design that includes the client in the process, asks the right questions, challenges the brief, considers the problem from the clients perspective and provides an effective solution. This, done well, is the only thing that can differentiate what we do from the ‘lowest price gets the job’ outfits.

The conclusion of our experiment? You get what you pay for. The important thing to remember is to make your service good value, regardless of how much it costs.

Tom and Phil Mat Dolphin @MatDolphin

Published on Logo Design Love

Related posts on Logo Design Love

• How much does logo design cost?
• Building your design business: promotion
• Building your design business: product
• Building your design business: perceptioning
• Design with personality, culture, and history

Launched in 2005 by British broadcaster Channel 4, More4 is a digital television channel popular for its range of documentaries, U.S. imports like The Daily Show, reruns from its parent company, and some original programming. Announced back in November and effective this week, More4 will start "focusing more fully on popular factual and features — life enhancing content, helping viewers to get the most out of their everyday lives." In other words, downers like "documentaries, arts and current affairs" are out and "programming which offers insight and inspiration to the way they live, including homes, property, food, health and fashion" is in. The new identity and on-air look has been designed by London-based ManvsMachine.

The re-brand is centred round a bold, flexible logo that morphs through a series of flips, folds and reveals. The colour palette reflects the vibrant nature of interiors, food culture, fashion and other contemporary lifestyle programming. — ManvsMachine Case Study

The More4 re-brand is centred around a bold flexible logo, created from multiple triangles that flip, fold, attract and repel each other into position. The re-brand extends to a whole new on-screen look, that includes five truly stunning new idents. — Channel 4 Press Release

The previous logo was a very nice and well liked execution by Spin that was perfectly in line with the more "abstract" branding of its parent channel. Amazingly, this new logo and identity manage to not necessarily improve but move to a kind of parallel graphic dimension where it is equally attractive and effective. At first glance the static logo looks too decorative and busy but once put into motion, the way it's supposed to be, the effect is quite fantastic.

Live-action idents see the brand break out into the real world in the form of mechanical 'flippers'. The installations inhabit environments from a domestic staircase to an abandoned fishing boat in Dungeness. To achieve this ManvsMachine teamed up with installation design pioneers, Jason Bruges Studio, to help design and build a flexible system consisting of over 400 individual flipper units. — ManvsMachine Case Study

Live-action idents. NOT computer-generated. Check out the making-of at ManvsMachine's site.

On-air graphics.

My favorite part is how the flippers blend into the background (either white or dark gray) and make it seem as if it's embedded there like a space-age train schedule flipboard. The live-action flippers are also a great way of bringing the logo to life in a very unexpected way. Overall, More4 has gone from a moodier and more solemn vibe to something livelier and more colorful.

Established in 2006, Coyote Logistics is a third party logistics and transportation, meaning that they accommodate shipments with a variety of carriers, finding trucks that have available space in trips they are already making. According to Inc. magazine, which listed Coyote as the No. 1 company in Logistics and Transportation, it has had a 13,846.8% three-year growth. Coyote counts with over 300 employees and an aggressive (in a friendly way) attitude. This past Fall they introduced a new identity designed by Moving Brands.

Moving Brands created a new logo for Coyote which expresses their brand story — "Powerful Momentum". The logo is called 'The Arrowhead'. It builds on the strong name by abstracting the Coyote's silhouette whilst encapsulating a strong left to right motion. The spare, direct feel of the logo is emphasized further by the stencilled wordmark. — Moving Brands Case Study

Identity creation video.

The old logo had all the makings of a start-up logo: literal interpretation, gradients, and bad typography (unless Eurostile is your thing). The new logo hits and misses at the same time. I really like the extreme abstraction and that it moves into an old-school train/freight aesthetic with the aggressive angles and unapologetic arrow but if it weren't for the name I would never have guessed it's meant to be a coyote. The name is Coyote, so my point is almost moot, but I think it would have been a little more relevant if they had pulled back two or three levels of abstraction. The wordmark is a tad clunky; the selected sans serif looks almost like a default font, the stenciling is too shy to really matter, and the weight is just slightly less heavy than the mark creating a noticeable difference but not enough to be evident. Nonetheless, the new identity and overall tone of voice is a vast improvement over the old one.

Thanks to Najwat Rehman for the tip.

Cutting the grass is about as far as my green fingers stretch, but I liked this logo-growing project by Judy Kameon for the New York Times.

Kameon created a T from 130 plants

“Together with her husband, photographer Erik Otsea, Kameon created a T from 130 plants. And in a postscript sure to warm the hearts of environmentalists, no flora were harmed in the making of this artwork. In fact, they’re all bound for a new demonstration garden in Kameon’s office and showroom.”

Her husband, the photographer Erik Otsea, captured the T

The finished product

Click for full-size chart of flowers and plants used

Reminiscent of Colors project where Mu Chen used soil to recreate classic logos.

Via BOOOOOOOM!.

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DC Entertainment revealed a new brand identity.

Some of you remarked about this on the LDL Facebook page, so for those who aren’t Facebookers, here are a few contextual images of Landor‘s redesign (also reported on Brand New, with a ton of comments).

“DC Entertainment, a Warner Bros. Entertainment company and home to iconic brands DC Comics, Vertigo and MAD, revealed today a new brand identity. The new identity is reflective of the company’s mission to fully realize the value of a rich portfolio of brands, stories and characters, distinguished by incredible breadth and depth across publishing, media and merchandise. A new logo for DC Comics was also introduced, closely aligning with DC Entertainment’s new mark.”

“The design of the new DC Entertainment identity uses a “peel” effect – the D is strategically placed over the C with the upper right-hand portion of the D peeling back to unveil the hidden C – symbolizing the duality of the iconic characters that are present within DC Entertainment’s portfolio.”

More info and images on the DC Comics blog.

The initials “DC” came from the company’s popular series Detective Comics, leaving the title suffering from RAS syndrome. As Daniel Gray pointed out, it should be Detective Comics, or DC, but DC Comics just looks stupid.

You might be interested in this 2005 post by Khoi Vinh on when Milton Glaser’s DC logo was ditched.

Thanks to Paul Stretch and Derek Graham for the tip.

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In the latest redesign challenge from Studio 360 — we redesigned Valentine's in 2010 and Pentagram redesigned Christmans in 2006, among others — Brooklyn-based Hyperakt has been tasked with redesigning Teachers. "We began with a simple premise, that education is the key to human progress, therefore teaching is among the most important professions for humanity." The result, "all about connecting the dots," is detailed at Hyperakt's website and in their conversation with Studio 360 host Kurt Andersen. A few sample images are posted below (or after the jump).

Yesterday, DC Comics officially unveiled its new identity, after the whole internet (including us) stole its thunder at the start of the week when we all judged its new branding effort based on a single, black-and-white rendition of their new logo. Now it's an uphill battle to get people on board with what is actually a fairly good looking and flexible identity designed by Landor.

The design of the new DC Entertainment identity uses a "peel" effect — the D is strategically placed over the C with the upper right-hand portion of the D peeling back to unveil the hidden C — symbolizing the duality of the iconic characters that are present within DC Entertainment's portfolio. — Press Release

I'll be the first to admit that this is a contagiously exciting identity and to reconsider my stance on not liking it at first. I still think there are some formal deficiencies in the construction of the mark itself and I still feel that the peel effect, as it's executed throughout, has a slightly cheesy, Adobe-Illustrator-gradient-ey feel that for a company with access to some of the best illustrators in the planet could have been avoided. The single-color versions of the logo are also still underwhelming, but when the mark is clad in textures and superhero "stuff" it certainly comes alive and the possibilities for it are pretty endless. The application on comic covers, flush agains the spine and with a more balanced lock-up with the wordmark, is quite nice and elegant, contrasting very well with the mayhem of the cover's artwork.

Overall, the identity manages to redeem the logo.

Thanks to Stephen Hearne for first tip.

Life OK is the new youth-oriented channel that is joining the STAR India network. It replaces the network's previous youth channel, STAR One, as of December 2011. The new identity was designed by London-based venturethree.

Logo introduction. Click here to view bigger.

Life OK looks different to anything India has seen on TV before. It's a living, breathing brand, with an icon called 'OK' that guides its audiences through the channel, and inspires real action, both on and off screen. The icon takes its shape from the letters of the word 'OK'. It lives on the TV, and glows with emotion, in reaction to the content. And its bright primary colours are refreshing and optimistic. — Venturethree Press Release

The previous brand, STAR One, had no personality or connection to its target audience and felt very 1990s and amateurish. The new mark and brand do the opposite and take on a very youthful excitement and vibrance. Life OK adopts the right mood and feeling that a youth channel should; however, the oversimplified character feels incomplete, rushed, and a bit "slapped on" — especially in its applications, including the stiff and unrealistic animation. The galore of gradients and lens flares seem to be used as a cover-up for the simple character and the lack of refinement. The brand does, however, have what I consider a nice supporting act: the wordmark. The Hindi calligraphy-inspired, flared sans serif type is nicely done and supports the shapes and movement of the joyful character.

The brand may have formal and conceptual issues but is leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessor. The character is a figure to which any youth could easily identify themselves with, which seems appropriate, but feels a bit watered down and incomplete as a brand. Overall, Life OK is a good-feeling brand that is missing that last little pop of cohesion.

Sad news today that 131-year-old Kodak has filed for bankruptcy.

As good a time as any to take a quick look at the Kodak logo evolution.

Image via Kodak website

Early 1900′s Kodak is the first company to integrate its name and look into a symbol.

1930′s Focus moved to the Kodak name and the red and yellow “trade dress” color.

1960′s The corner curl was introduced.

1970′s The mark retained the red and yellow colors and the Kodak name, but a box and graphic “K” element were added.

1980′s A more contemporary type font streamlined the Kodak name within the existing logo.

Today The box is gone, simplifying the logo. The rounded type font and distinctive “a” give the name a more contemporary look.

Kodak logo designed by Brand Integration Group, 2006

“The type-only successor to the brand’s 1971 vintage yellow-and-red K/arrow symbol is intended to offer a ‘more international and universal impact’, and to distance the company from its film and processing past.”

Quoted from Michael Evamy’s Logo.

Kodak was born in April 1880, when George Eastman leased the third floor of a building on State Street in Rochester. He began to manufacture dry plates for sale, and one of his first purchases was a second-hand engine priced at $125.

“I really needed only a one horse-power. This was a two horse-power, but I thought perhaps business would grow up to it. It was worth a chance, so I took it.” — GEORGE EASTMAN

The word “Kodak” was first registered as a trademark in 1888.

“I devised the name myself. The letter ‘K’ had been a favorite with me — it seems a strong, incisive sort of letter. It became a question of trying out a great number of combinations of letters that made words starting and ending with ‘K.’ The word ‘Kodak’ is the result.” — GEORGE EASTMAN

More Kodak history here.

Photo via Techweek

Related: Kodak: a fond farewell, on The Guardian Don Draper pitching “The Carousel” to Kodak, on YouTube

Photo via Below Stairs

—

A few previous logo evolution features: BMW NASA Paramount Penguin Waterstones

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Land art. Intriguing. On Kuriositas.

The importance of a good crop. A nice visual demonstration of photo manipulation, and how you can use cropping to improve your photos. On ISO50.

“Instead of doing two jobs at 50%, or four jobs at 25%, just do one job at 100%.”

Do one job properly. Dave Trott on why specialising is the way to go. On Dave Trott’s blog.

Beautiful colour in this 60-second ad for Lurpak Butter (embedded below). Via Creative Review.

Typographic chocolate holiday gifts. Lunch time yet? Via inspire me now.

Uncloaking a slumlord conspiracy with social network analysis. Via Social Design Notes.

The TED imperatives apply to a much wider scope than TED alone. On Seth’s Blog.

If you’re looking for a little design inspiration, the work section of Milton Glaser’s new website is worth a browse. Site design outsourced to Ludlow Kingsley.

Mike Dempsey asked, “Who are you designing for? a. Your client. b. Other designers. c. Yourself.” Richard of Ace Jet 170 replied, “None of the above. The customer, of course.”

Eric Karjaluoto kicks-off his upbeat 2012 blogging efforts by sharing 10 of his favourite “big agency claims, promises, and bits of rhetoric… All of which manage to sound so very impressive, while meaning so astoundingly little.” Read more Bullshit.

Here’s a great video (below) of Herb Lubalin discussing the client requests that occurred when he designed the PBS logo. Via Brand New.

I’ll finish with a solid quote from iA’s Oliver Reichenstein.

“Don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t have the brain or time or will to learn and think and understand whatever the problem is. That’s what the political and corporate charlatans want you to believe: They want you to be as ignorant as possible.”

Previously: From the reader #6

Published on David Airey, graphic designer

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Established in 1853, Aetna is one the biggest health insurance companies in the United States offering medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life and disability plans to approximately 36.3 million people. In a move to continue "its evolution from an insurance carrier to a health solutions company" and establish themselves as a more consumer-focused brand, Aetna has introduced a new identity, designed by New York-based Siegel+Gale. To get things started, you can watch a launch video here.

Aetna's new logo celebrates the equity and tradition of the Aetna name in a way that is both contemporary and optimistic. Aetna is symbolically reinforcing its 160-year history, its dedication to building relationships with its members, customers and providers and its brand promise of a connected health care experience through the inclusion of a connected "a" and "e." Known as a ligature, the connection of the two letters was used in the Aetna logo for 151 years, before being retired in 2001. It returns today as a unique symbol of Aetna's brand and its heritage. — Press Release

The personality differences between the old and new logo are quite immediate: The old one looked like something a Human Resources person would put in a folder with, like, a hundred pages for you to read through and select one of thirty overly confusing health plans from a boring provider that might as well also be pushing big pharma products. The new one, pulling many of today's tricks to appear more friendly and personable — all lowercase, chunkiness, bright colors, soft letterforms — is instantly more approachable and looks more like something you would find on a quick online form with a simple question, "Do you want to not pay as much when you go to a doctor?" with radio buttons for "Yes" and "No". Of course, the reality is not that at all. Getting health insurance, especially when you are going straight to the source as is the trend now, is an aggravating process but the insurer might as well look good doing. And Aetna does.

I really like that this is not just another geometric sans serif with perfect circles and super rounded corners — which are fine a la Blip and Belkin, but a little change of pace is good. With a more Optima-esque construction the wordmark still manages to look like a serious business for a big ass company that wants your money but it's doing so with a smile and a colorful ensemble. The logo looks best small, when the counterspace in the "ae" ligature looks more closed and more similar to the tracking of the other letters — when blown up big it looks just a tad clunky. I also appreciate that "e" is not just a flipped "a", which is a common lazy approach. The every-color-in-the-rainbow approach also helps soften the look and take Aetna away from the corporate blue feel.

The rest of the identity and applications are relatively straightforward and tied together by simple sans serif typography, big photos, and bright colors. Overall, a great change of direction and very well suited for becoming a business-to-consumer brand instead of just business-to-business.

This is a video prepared by Saul Bass as a presentation to executives of his identity system for Bell System in the early 1970s. The first half is a fantastic primer on identity design and the second half (starting at around 13:00) is the identity pitch. A little long for today's video-viewing standards but totally worth it.

Thanks to Brad Loliger for the tip.

Speaking of Olympics…

“Throughout the course of the 2012 Olympic fortnight, an alternative programme of events will be taking place in offices and homes across London.

“While these events enjoy no official status, they represent some of the most popular participation sports in the UK.

“This blog is an attempt to recognise and honour these under-appreciated events through a system of practical iconography.”

Jumping to conclusions

Wrestling with your conscience

Throwing a wobbly

Shooting yourself in the foot

Fencing stolen goods

Kicking yourself

Lifting a finger

Hat-trick worked with Nick Asbury, David Black, Steve Charker and Andrew Glazier on the project. More on the Olympic non-events 2012 blog.

Via Design Week

Related: Evolution of Olympic Pictograms: 1964-2012, on Creative Repository Olympic pictograms through the ages (video), on davidairey.com

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In 2016, the Olympic and Paralympic Games will take place for the first time in South America, in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The emblem was launched a while back, but I just watched an interesting “brand video” for the Paralympic Games that helped me appreciate the design work involved.

Official video about the creative process of the first multisensory brand in the history of the Paralympic Games, created by Tátil Design for the Rio 2016 event.

“The goal was to create a brand that could inspire people as much as a Paralympic athlete does through determination and ability to overcome. It is a symbol that reflects not what sets us apart, but what makes us equal, a beating heart with endless energy.”

Quote via PSFK

The Paralympic emblem is launched at Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas

Sir Philip Craven, IPC President, with the Paralympic Games emblem

You can see how the emblem might animate in this short video from Tátil.

— Tátil Design website — Rio 2016 website

Via @TheLogoFactory

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