I think it’s a nice gradual change and I think the extra colour will make it easier to distinguish each product rather than the full black letters of the old logos, though I would be interested to know the design decisions behind the 3D aspect on some of the logos – maybe to make them pop more on our desktops?

What do you think?

Adobe CS5 new product packaging:

You can see the new Adobe CS5 logos and product packaging in the official Adobe Store.

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Adobe CS5 is being released on April 12th and to go along with the new version, comes a new logo?

Please note I have no confirmation that this logo is official, it has come from the ‘unofficial’ CS5 blog.

I’ve featured the Photoshop icon as an example of the letterpress effect used for the rest of the current Creative Suite (CS4).

What do you think?

Update 29/3/10: Logo above not official

It looks like there is going to be a second colour added to each icon of the Adobe CS5 identity system as shown above.

Thanks for the tip Rudolf. Via Inspire.

Be sure to check out the awesome new CS5 features if you haven’t already.

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London designer and designers’ favorite Miles Newlyn worked with Dragon Rouge to create a new logo for the Skittles brand name of candies. His multi-colored tongue concept is a literal though stylized translation of the brand’s slogan, “Taste the rainbow.”

The official Skittles website is worth checking out too.

What are your thoughts?

Via LogoLounge.

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I love sports, they are probably my favourite thing to do other then design and the internet. I was trying to come up with an idea on how I could talk about sports and design. I thought I would analyze the logos of teams in different sports. I only analyzed the main logo’s used, and I picked the logo’s that showed major change. I am aware there are many secondary logo’s designed for most clubs, I was concentrating on the main brand of each team.

Here are my conclusions of sports brands;

Simple Modifications: Some logos are just slightly updated to fit with the respected time. A simple colour difference, bolder strokes, size, or detail.

Simplify the logo: Some logos are designed with extreme detail, or are very informative. Later on those logos are simplified, the illustrations and information have been removed and usually a simple icon that represents the brand is used.

Complete overhaul: Some logos go through a totally different look, not keeping any design element from the last. This can be dangerous as you are introducing a new logo, it might not get the thumbs up from the fans and the brand will lack. This is a risky move, but if some teams like to completely refresh their brand or if the franchise isn’t making any money on that brand it might be a successful bargain.

World Series, All Star Games, Super-bowls, Playoffs: These special event logos are usually branded to fit the location. This showcases the growth of a logo as it goes through its annual change. This being said there is always some elements that stay the same in the end.

Major League Baseball Logos

Boston Red Sox: As you can see the Red Sox have kept with the team history and colours. From the first logo in 1908 with a simple but yet effective logo design, the Red Sox then moved on to a much more detailed logo between 1979-2008. Just recently the 2009 logo returned to the teams original idea.

Atlanta Braves: Their 1967-1971 logo is more of an obvious logo. When looking at the logo you know everything about the team except for that they play baseball. The best logos are the ones where they leave something for the imagination. This is shown better in 1971 – 1986 when they dropped the location, probably due to the fact that they situated themselves in the league and they are recognized as the Braves. Moving to 1990, the infamous tomahawk takes centre stage. I personally like the most recent logo.

San Diego Padres: This is interesting as you can see from the images above all the logos are completely different. The only element that is consistent is the name of the team. The first logo 1969 – 1984 is dominant by character illustration. Seven years later the padres dropped the character and colour scheme and went with a traditional baseball typography logo. Again in 2004 the Padres, created a new colour scheme and logo.

World Series

The World Series: The series going back to 1974 and 1975 the logos are nothing more than basic text. Jumping to 1985-87 the logos have taken on more of a design role. The MLB logo has been inserted, and there is more attention on baseball elements. In 1992 – 1999 the logos were given depth, adding shadows, stronger strokes and bolder lines. The logos were contained inside the diamond, which is used in baseball logos often. A globe has been inserted and as you can see the differences are in the colour schemes and in 1999 they have added a different perspective. In 2000-2003 the logos received a much more detailed look. The logos were styled around the team that held the world series, this continued in 04-07 as well. The logos were condensed significantly as the diamond shape was thrown out the window. 2008 was the year of the “Fall Classic” MLB trying to throw back their logo with a much more creditable, mature logo.

MLB All Star Game

MLB All Star Game: An annual event showcasing the best players in the league. The one obvious trend in the All Star Logo design is that each team holding the All Star Game brands the logo to fit with their club. As you can see from 1938 to 2009 the logos are all different in almost every aspect. I personally like the 1984 Giants and the 2008 NYC logos.

NBA (National Basketball Association) Logos

New York Knicks: The 1965 – 1976 logo offered a picture-esq logo. The basketball looks very realistic, especially considering its time. Keeping with the same theme, in 1996 the Knicks changed their logo to be more modern by adding a more simplified colour scheme, shaper and bolder lines. The perspective is key for the Knicks logo.

Cleveland Cavaliers: The Cavs have gone through a bunch of different logos in the past 60+ years. The first logo through 1947 – 1964, a great character illustration and it leaves a lot to the imagination. Moving to 1971 – 1983 the logo took on a more college basketball look. 1984 – 1994 the logo was simplified to the more popular team name. The current logo is much more aggressive, and bold if you ask me. The orange colours in the others logos feels to soft, the dark red, blue, with the gold and white highlights is bold and tough.

Boston Celtics: The most successful teams in the NBA, one of the most recognizable brands in the history of sports. 1947 – 1950 button like logo with the name and simple clover icon. Moving to 1961 -1968 the Celtic character was introduced, maybe not successfully but it paved the way for 1969-1978 introduction into the more interesting character. 1997’s logo still stands strong and as it should its a great reflection on what a character can do for your brand. The character is fantastic, very iconic, the logo is timeless, again we see the red basketball and cane.

Chicago Bulls: I am going to go on record and say this could be the best sports logo of all time. Designed in 1967 by Theodore W. Drake the logo still has not changed since. That would make the design 42 years old. The logo is strong, bold, powerful and aggressive, a great reflection of the bull. The typography sits all so nice between the bulls red tipped horns. Do you agree that this could be the sports logo of all time?

National Football League Logos

Buffalo Bills: Not sure what happened in 1960-1969, these logo’s are horrible. I don’t know if you can call them logo’s they look like they placed a football player over top of an image of a bull contained in a football. Thankfully in 1974 the Bills had the blue and red charging bison, it’s a great improvement.

Cleveland Browns: This is an interesting brand starting 1950-1960 the character logo was a cute little elf illustration. Starting in 1975 – 1995 and then again in 2006 the logo’s have been a football helmet. The fans have been pleading for a new logo, let’s say that again not a new logo but a different logo. Recently the fans have broke out with dog masks and the “Dog pound” has been flying around. So I am very surprised that the franchise hasn’t swung that way. Yeah they have some secondary logo’s but their main logo is still falling short.

Miami Dolphins: This is a great example of keeping with the same logo and just enhancing it. 1966 was the first year the logo was introduced, a cute dolphin with a Miami football helmet. The logo wasn’t modified until 1974 when it was given a warmer colour scheme and more detail. Not until 1997 did we see a fully enhanced dolphin illustration. The present logo has much more detail, as you can see the emotion and expression of the dolphin. The logo is much more bold, the size, weight of the strokes and highlights have all been enhanced.

Arizona Cardinals: An example on how simple change can provide different emotions. The Arizona Cardinals original logo from 1994 – 2004 is a solid logo, simple and easy to understand. In 2005 the logo was slightly modified to fit with a faster, and stronger NFL. The Cardinal was tilted slightly, designed more streamlined, and the elements and strokes are sharp.

Dallas Cowboys: Some people might argue that this should be alongside the Chicago Bulls logo. The star has been around since 1960, the logo was then slightly changed 4 years later. The star still stands strong for the Cowboys. It’s simple and iconic, I wonder if anyone ever thought that they were called the Dallas Stars, interesting seeing there is a Dallas Stars NHL team.

New England Patriots: This is another example of a detailed logo being simplified. The 1971-1992 logo is a fantastic illustration, I love it… The 2000 logo is totally different, the logo is much more streamlined, but I think the original logo feels stronger and more powerful. I like the new colour scheme, and I would like to see a throwback logo with the current colour scheme.

Super-bowl Logos

The Super-bowl: the biggest TV event of the year. As you can see it’s come a long way since 1967. The logos have used the powerful roman numeral system. The roman numerals bring the emotion and history of this epic game. Similar to the MLB All Star Games, the logos are branded where the Super Bowl is taking place. In the early years the logos were very basic typography. Top priority was getting the message across showing the roman numeral as the main point of the logo. In recent years, design elements have been added to create the scene. The logos still use the roman numerals as the main focal point, and by adding football elements or city trademarks the logos pull together nicely.

Logo Source: Chris Creamer’s Sport Page
Sponsor’s message: Find deals on the best baseball gloves and accessories.

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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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London 2012

Although not a rebrand entirely, the nature of the logo does follow on from previous Olympics and continues the history of Olympic logos. The London 2012 organisation themselves say; “Our emblem is simple, distinct, bold and buzzing with energy. It’s form is inclusive yet consistent and has incredible flexibility to encourage access and participation. It can communicate with anyone from commercial organisations to kids playing sport.”

Public responses:

Do the decent thing and give us a logo we can be proud of and not this national embarrassment. [source]

OMG! The ‘London 2012′ logo makes me want to pluck out my eyes. And it’s going to be everywhere I work. I may die. Or kill. Or both. [source]

This looks terrible, looks like a kid’s competition entry to me. [source]

This logo is f***ing s***. Feel free to quote me. It doesn’t look like 2012 (which is apparently what it’s based on) and it doesn’t look professional: It does, however, look like a f***ing disaster area, so it probably suits the Olympics rather well. [source]

When I first saw that logo, I had to quickly check the date – thought it might be April 1st. [source]

Pepsi

In 2008 Pepsi Co revealed their $1.2Billion branding exercise that is set to change the appearance of the Pepsi logo and packaging in aim to reconnect with consumers. The new logo uses a series of white stripes, known as smiles, which vary in width between Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Max.

• View previous logo + discussion on Brand New

Public Responses:

Is this a joke? The series of smiles/grins/laughs kind of reminds me of the icons Burger King uses for the varying levels of caffeine in their coffee (turbo, regular, decaf); which are an eye getting progressively less alert. Not sure how well the smiles will translate to consumers. The provided logo, though it may be preliminary, didn’t look like a grin to me, perhaps a grimace. Guess we’ll have to wait and see. [source]

What a waste of money and effort. You got to be a lot more creative if you are to compete with Coca Cola. Look at Red Bull for example. It’s proof it can be done. [source]

I really, really dislike the variation on the ball. Why they did that makes no sense to me. [source]

I’m not a fan. I think it’s awfully dormant and average. I personally feel that the logo doesn’t have a nostalgic quality at all. I think it’s painfully boring. [source]

I don’t like the redesign. Pepsi is one of the worlds most recognized brands, and this iteration appears like a redesign done by a student in a community college and posted it on DeviantArt. [source]

Capital One

Rebranding is usually undertaken to freshen up an image or push it into the future, Capital One on the other hand, decided to head back in time ten years and add a swoosh to their logo.

• View previous logo + discussion on Brand New

Public Responses:

I just wish I could hear the reasoning behind that swoosh. When I see a gratuitous swoosh in a logo like this I try to imagine the conversation that lead up to it being thrown in the design. Do people think they symbolize something specific? Forward thinking? Is a swoosh supposed to evoke some emotion? In the case of a credit card company my deepest creative imagination can’t even conjure up what may have been logical to the decision maker here. [source]

It looks like a boomerang. Why on earth in the current market would any credit card company want a boomerang in their logo? [source]

It’s not like the swoosh, as inadvisable as the addition is, was even crafted into the new design. Nope, just dumped behind the original font. With a gradient thrown in for good measure. And what’s that? A bevel too? Worst makeover of 2008. [source]

That ‘thing’ is such a waste. It wasn’t needed, and brings nothing to the table. [source]

Animal Planet

The Discovery Channel’s Animal Planet was due a revamp, this fresh logo aims to drive out the raw, visceral emotion in the animal kingdom. Unfortunately it led to bring out confusion and bewilderment from the public.

• View previous logo + discussion on Brand New

Public Responses:

This is really quite bad. At first glance I said “what?” and upon further inspection the stretched and skewed type made me cringe. [source]

Dreadful. There’s NO life in this logo whatsoever, as evident by the keeled over M. I’m assuming they tried to play with the relationship between the 2 words (quite literally, Animals “taking over” the planet), but it fails. [source]

The signature seems conceptually sound. Wild unorganized, chiseled, sharp, and unpredictable. Kinda like what would happen if you put ten monkeys in your apartment and then left for the day. Formally it leaves a lot to be desired. [source]

Oh my God! Where is the reflection towards animals or wildlife. Just green text. Horrible. The old one was old, but this is ridiculous. [source]

When I first saw it my immediate thoughts were: 1.) Where’s the animal? 2.) Where’s the planet? Really a sad solution to their identity re-design project. [source]

Wacom

Wacom are commonly known for their graphics tablet products. Back in late 2007 they revealed their redesigned logo and brand, designed by Wolff Olins, who had previously been featured as the agency behind the the London 2012 logo.

• View previous logo + discussion on Brand New

Public Responses:

Ironic that a logo for a product that can help produce works of art (with technical flair) is so poorly executed. [source]

I hate to trash yet another corp logo, but are any of these companies following their own creative briefs anymore? Was this designed in Powerpoint by the sales department screaming, “it must be web 2.0-ee”? [source]

In my opinion it’s outdated, a mess and doesn’t project anything specific. Awful colors. Whoever accepted that logo, made a big mistake. [source]

My guess is Wolff Olin’s outsourced the job to a “$99 A-logo-Inc” and cashed in big time. It’s darn scary to see this kind low quality work coming from big shops. Who do we have to look up to? [source]

What are your opinons on these 5 logo designs?

Advertisement: Excellent commercial printing available only at PS Print

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