Opinion BY Armin

Armani Exchange, Seeing Double

In December of 2009 we reported on the redesign of the Armani Exchange identity by Chermayeff & Geismar partner Sagi Haviv. This year, 2011, marks the 20th anniversary of Armani Exchange and Haviv was commissioned to design a new mark for A|X to celebrate the milestone throughout the year that will be put to use in applications ranging from bags, store fronts, and online media to advertising, t-shirts, and clothing labels.

“Creating an anniversary mark that grows naturally from the existing logo allows the new identity to be instantly recognizable,” says Haviv. “Along with the tagline underneath, the new identity offers a playful take on the original elements.”
— Press Release

This is one of those ideas that are so obvious and simple that most designers will miss it or labor extensively to come with a whole new, clever mark. The A|X logo for Armani is very well known, allowing for this play on the name and number of years. Some shoppers might be confused as to why there are two Xs if they are not familiar with Roman numerals (and I believe less and less actually do) so hopefully the “Twenty Years” text helps a bit. The only discrepancy I found was that in 2009’s redesign a big deal was made about putting the A and X in a box and have the slash implied by the space between the boxes. This mark goes back to the letters without boxes and the slash implied by the slash. I’m not saying it’s wrong — as it probably looked goofy in boxes — just worth pointing out. Nevertheless, a lovely extension of an existing mark.