The recent noise about Pepsi’s new logo has been been going strong for months. The general feeling within the design community is that the new redesigned logo(s) are a step back, not forward.

If you are going to spend a reported 1.2 billion dollars on a redesign you would expect something astounding. By itself the new logo looks like a knockoff of the old Pepsi logo, with a little bit of the Obaba logo thrown in. Having different shapes for different brands only adds to the confusion. After all, a logo’s first job is to be recognized by consumers not to make them think about the its gravitational pull in relation to the rest of the universe.

Despite all that, I really really like the change of direction. A good brand is so much more than its logo. I drink Pepsi, it’s my first choice. For years I’ve had to put up with some of the most garish and disorganized cans cluttering up my desk. Take a look at the some of the old packaging below and tell me that it’s better than the new ones.

In the consumer package goods world packaging is everything. Your product lives and dies on the shelf based on the packaging. Where Coke’s brand is built on nostalgia, Pepsi is the “choice of a new generation”. The packaging is forward looking and at times futuristic. The problem with designing the future is that it gets old quick.

Right now (thanks in large part to Apple) modern design is clean and simple. Walking into a store and seeing a wall of blue or white with just the Pepsi logo is very clean and in a cluttered store is striking, especially in the beverage isle. I think we are going to see a lot more Pepsi type redesigns in the future (Not counting Tropicana) and that’s a good thing. However, it is true that others find it hard to swallow.

Here is a video of the new logo design in action… what do you think after seeing this and what are your thoughts on the new Pepsi redesign in general?

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