Mmm… Twisted Plastic

The first time I noticed the Movistar logo was on a trip back to Mexico City a few years ago. After a long plane ride, arriving at smoggy, traffic-laden Mexico City can be almost hallucinogenic, and not in a good way. Printed massively on a billboard I just couldn’t understand what that thing was. Sure, it was an “M” but why was it contorted like that and rendered in what looks like the kind of stuff aliens implant on the people they abduct? Never mind that, who chopped off the top of the “t”? Little did I realize that Movistar is one of the largest mobile service providers in the world, with its strongest presence in Spain where it has over 20 million customers, and it is owned by the Spanish conglomerate Telefónica, which provides phone and mobile service, cable television, owns terra.com, and is the second largest corporation in Spain behind financial giant Grupo Santander. Still, weird.

This past November, Telefónica announced that it would be rebranding all of its consumer offerings under the Movistar name, keeping Telefónica as the corporate name. Phone service will now be Movistar Fija (Movistar Fixed), internet service Movistar Banda Ancha (Movistar High Bandwidth), cable TV Movistar Television, and mobile Movistar Móviles. And to ensure the change goes smoothly Telefónica is proud to say that they will be instituting six Brand Guardians (Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, Spain and UK) to look after it. The logo change is not yet reflected on either corporate or consumer web site.

In order to critique this properly it must be accepted that the strange icon has plenty of equity and, despite how unappealing it may be, it does manage to establish Movistar as an edgy, contemporary mobile provider. While it’s not an adjective I thought I would use, the new icon is much more sophisticated, resulting in a more believable organic shape that you can actually visualize — I never understood what the lighter shade green on the “shoulders” of the “M” were meant to be, perhaps some odd homage to elbow patches on blazers. The typography is also much improved. The old one had major issues, mostly because it was trying to make all the letters the same width so the “m” was squished and the “v” was too wide and don’t even get me started on the “t.” The new wordmark follows the contemporary sans serif trend but at least it is all properly resolved and proportioned. As far as evolutions go, this is very solid.

Thanks to Julio Ferro for the tip.

ScottyM’s comment is:

Me likey.

The M is right awesome! Nobody’s going to forget that icon … memorability + unique colors + nice (logical) update = A.

On Dec.03.2009 at 07:27 AM

cj’s comment is:

the M makes me read this as “monster” not “movistar”. still, nice improvement.

On Dec.03.2009 at 07:38 AM

Martin’s comment is:

You had me worried there, but Google Translate reveals that Telefonica’s european operations will continue to be branded as O2.

On Dec.03.2009 at 07:50 AM

buruno’s comment is:

A very decent update, nothing to complain about. I particularly appreciate the subtle colour adjustments in the wordmark.

On Dec.03.2009 at 07:55 AM

Rodrok’s comment is:

I always wondered why the “M” had those patches, seemed to me like a Shrek phone company lol… My point is that it seemed very childish

I’m glad they got rid of the texture.

I think it’s the right approach for a smooth logo evolution, wish the green had a little more life into it, “plain”

Typography definitely an improvement.

The overall rebrand gives more credibility.

On Dec.03.2009 at 07:56 AM

Brendan’s comment is:

I like it! The typeface is trendy, sure, but they’re a trendy company, so I’m okay with that.

Does anyone know what font this is?

I’d love to see an explanation of the M, just so I knew it’s all about.

On Dec.03.2009 at 07:56 AM

Mio’s comment is:

Even if the new version is simplified which usually is a good thing I really like the old M better… Improved type though.

On Dec.03.2009 at 07:58 AM

tim7168’s comment is:

I assumed that the M was meant to look like a section of an old fashioned coiled telephone cord, the new M loses that somewhat although losing those horrendous yellow patches is a bonus. The new typography is a vast improvement.

On Dec.03.2009 at 08:09 AM

appfreak blogger’s comment is:

Movistar is a classic in Spain. It is oddly pronounced MoviEstar in all their TV commercials. The first green M was rolled out not more than 5 years ago, I didn’t like it but it should be understood as fine tuning.

The “patches” on the top of the old version would move around the M green shape. This was done to make a more dynamic brand in the splash screens of their mobiles. They didn’t realize that the logo was far too complex to be printed on the phone itself!

As curiosity, when the first logo was launched it was accompanied by a blue version for different uses, which was much nicer and loyal to the brand history. Their MotoGP team was called “The blues” for a reason

On Dec.03.2009 at 08:13 AM

Benga’s comment is:

I’m not really sure about this M, even though it’s quite unique in some strange but distinct way. I still feel like the M contemporary shape doesn’t really scream movies or star ergo. The M in itself lack the liveliness that is associated with movies. Aside from that, i do see a considerable upgrade in the typography. Perhaps the font size can be increased a bit more and the color a bit darker to give more attention to the name.

Benga Creative

On Dec.03.2009 at 08:45 AM

Nate B’s comment is:

A solid update that didn’t get carried away. I like it.

On Dec.03.2009 at 08:46 AM

João Gomes’s comment is:

Heh… Yes, this is a definite improvement. I can only hope that, having been their customer for three months while on the erasmus interchange programme, they improved their tariffs which were way too expensive.

And besides that, to add insult to injury, I couldn’t even check my prepaid card’s balance on the phone without paying! That service is free of charge here in Portugal, and rightly so, whereas in Spain, if you don’t have internet access or Movistar’s servers are down, you’re SOL.

While I’m at it, my network of choice, TMN, is the portuguese counterpart of movistar (for comparison, it has over 7M customers, in a country with just over 10M people) and followed the “friendly-sans” trend a few years after movistar. But you have to hand it over to them; where movistar failed, they got it right, so right that movistar’s new “m”, “t” and “r” seem to be a carbon copy of tmn’s logo. Check it out for yourselves:

www.tmn.pt

On Dec.03.2009 at 08:51 AM

kalleboo’s comment is:

Benga: Movistar it just a successful pun, since mobile phones are “moviles” in spanish. They probably don’t want to depend too much on the pun and only pull it out when they feel like making an ad with “movie star” as the background music.

On Dec.03.2009 at 08:55 AM

João Gomes’s comment is:

Oops, forgot to put the entire url… Might as well make it a proper link. ;)

TMN main site

On Dec.03.2009 at 08:56 AM

João Gomes’s comment is:

Or better yet, to save you from clicking links and opening new tabs, I’ll embed the image here instead… ;)

On Dec.03.2009 at 09:01 AM

Glenn Sakamoto’s comment is:

It reads like the word “monster.” And the green putty thing doesn’t help.

On Dec.03.2009 at 09:21 AM

SonHouse’s comment is:

Okay i don’t really get the Gumby ‘M’. But it is a big improvement to be sure. And i appreciate the fact that they kept ‘M’ icon/graphic instead of just going with a wordmark.

On Dec.03.2009 at 09:29 AM

Dale Campbell’s comment is:

Better than most, I’d say.

And with the equity thing - that is important. It is probably easily recognized by most people in its area of service - sort of like the verizon check mark is so easily recognized here.

The type is a great improvement. Stylistically, I can’t say that I care for either of the iocns. However, building off of the old version - I would have to say that the new version is a nice and clean direction to go in.

As usual, I would love to see how this is used across different mediums. Time to go hit up the interweb.

Thanks for the candy.

Keep well,
Dale

On Dec.03.2009 at 09:48 AM

Dale Campbell’s comment is:

yeah…

*icons

On Dec.03.2009 at 09:48 AM

Donkey’s comment is:

I heard the updated identity was created by Interbrand.

On Dec.03.2009 at 09:58 AM

Stormchild’s comment is:

Pretty sure the older logotype is just a font, and the chopped-off T is simply the way the lowercase T looks in that font. I’ve seen it elsewhere.

Oh, and both the old and new versions of this logo are pure garbage, but the new one definitely sucks less.

On Dec.03.2009 at 10:04 AM

nkm’s comment is:

Just for the record, Movistar is also the most valuable brand in Spain.

On Dec.03.2009 at 10:30 AM

Ramon M’s comment is:

I like it!… better than the current one!

On Dec.03.2009 at 11:02 AM

Joey V’s comment is:

I can’t help but see angry frog eyes in the M.

On Dec.03.2009 at 11:13 AM

herrimanjoe’s comment is:

The new blue seems like a bad color match to me. Too flat with that lively green, but the mark and the type are upgrades in my book.

On Dec.03.2009 at 11:30 AM

rhinelander car accident lawyer’s comment is:

Yeah, umm, huh? I think if they made it a little more defined I’d be happy with it, but it’s barely on the “M” side and not just a squiggly line.

On Dec.03.2009 at 11:31 AM

Ainsley’s comment is:

I think the M is cool, and MUCH better without the strange colors and obnoxious shininess. Memorable in a good way with this improvement.

On Dec.03.2009 at 11:50 AM

Dave S’s comment is:

Sort of like putting a slip cover on an ugly sofa- that M may look newer, but underneath lurks an awkwardly lumpy structure.

On Dec.03.2009 at 12:02 PM

Mongoose’s comment is:

So, it’s a ‘tweak’.

It’s not drastic, it’s not a big change; but it is for a major brand a nicely subtle improvement in their logo and wordmark. And… everything’s better. The kerning, the letterforms, the weird yellow gone for a subtle three-dimensionality to the m-blob.

This is exactly what I would hope to see as an executive asking for “Keep it mostly the same, but it needs a little tweaking.” With that directive and a rather strong branding to begin with, the diesgners have made for quite the success.

I give it an A-, for overall and universal improvement.

—Mongoose

On Dec.03.2009 at 01:04 PM

Van’s comment is:

I think this a much improvement. I think the wordmark is beautifully done. Interbrand did the redesign on this, only thing is i couldnt help but see a similarity of the wordmark typeface to the typeface used in xerox, which coincidentally was done by Interbrand as well….did they just recycle?

On Dec.03.2009 at 01:59 PM

Mark’s comment is:

yech, now it looks like snot hanging off a nose.

they could dump the ugly m and go for a wordmark. Then I might be on board.

That m is just plain ugly.

On Dec.03.2009 at 02:25 PM

Raulp’s comment is:

In Chile all things Telefónica became Movistar a month or so ago, but they are using the old logo. They’ll have to change their merchandising ALL OVER again. No so strong move, huh.

On Dec.03.2009 at 02:58 PM

Matheus Stortz’s comment is:

one of the worst logos ever transforms itself to…. something bad with less shiny on it.

no dif whatsoever

On Dec.03.2009 at 03:27 PM

gus’s comment is:

Looks like Booger

Scan a booger and put it aside of the movistar type, you’ll see what I mean :)

On Dec.03.2009 at 03:42 PM

MSGDS’s comment is:

I’m not too crazy about the green, but I like the shape - it’s memorable. Good improvement, great typography!

On Dec.03.2009 at 06:02 PM

Nik Daum’s comment is:

I second Rodrok’s Shrek comment. It also looks looks a bit like a booger.

I definitely prefer it to the glossy version though.

On Dec.03.2009 at 08:34 PM

Bloo’s comment is:

I think that the logo is bad, a welcomed update, but still ugly. And the name “movistar” ? I am a Spanish speaking person (movistar customer, BTW) but I find it quite weird. What a native English speaker thinks about it?

The old palette had much more sense to me, as it was the same as the one used by Telefónica (check other brands at: http://www.telefonica.com/en/about_telefonica/html/home/home.shtml). Now the blue doesn’t really fit for me…

And on top of that, the new usage of the brand movistar. Telefónica (at least in Spain) has a much better brand perception than movistar. movistar is something like AT&T in the US: yes, it may be the biggest, but it is not the best. Landline telephony doesn’t have as much problems as mobile telephony (billing problems, network issues, …) probably because it is older. Telefonica manages better its landline business (and, as an old state monopoly, it is almost the only one that does well), but it is not always the case for movistar. Why fix it if it is not broken? (again, this is true at least in Spain, I am not familiar with Latin America).

If the excuse is brand unification, they should get rid of O2 (I like it better), or get rid of movistar…

On Dec.03.2009 at 09:40 PM

Josh’s comment is:

I thought maybe black for the type? blue seems wrong..

On Dec.03.2009 at 10:53 PM

Bernardo’s comment is:

I’m originally from Venezuela and I was in school in the US when the rolled out the original green M campaign. I remember the first time I went home after that and as I walked out the airplane all I could ask was “who vomited all these Ms around here”. That whole trip was plagued by vomited Ms all over town.

I didn’t like it then, I don’t like it now. Yet I do agree that the typography is highly improved. Hopefully next time I go home they won’t vomit Ms all over again.

B

On Dec.03.2009 at 11:24 PM

Amy Stoddard’s comment is:

I’m glad most of you like it. Maybe its my design maturity, but that “M” makes my hair curl. The typeface for the name is good update though.

On Dec.04.2009 at 12:39 AM

Juan’s comment is:

Just wanted to point that the weird m, also known as the “moco” (snot), appeared a few month later after ONO (an Spanish cable operator) released his old brand logo:

On Dec.04.2009 at 03:01 AM

soully’s comment is:

With all the equity the original icon had this is probably the absolute best that could have been done here. Respectable.

On Dec.04.2009 at 03:29 AM

Andrew’s comment is:

My mental association:

I love the new type but the mucus has got to go. Are there any positive associations with green blobs?

On Dec.04.2009 at 05:05 AM

obse.’s comment is:

vomistar.

On Dec.04.2009 at 08:52 AM

Maya’s comment is:

Actually, rather than “moco” i was thinking gummy worm. at least they are delicious.

On Dec.04.2009 at 11:14 AM

Essani’s comment is:

Better. Looks less like Flubber now.

On Dec.04.2009 at 11:33 AM

Iowa personal injury’s comment is:

Awesome, love the new logo and the new look.

On Dec.04.2009 at 01:52 PM

dsi r4’s comment is:

Hey there is a definite improvement in the logo designing work. The new one looks far better than the previous one. Good work and way to go.

On Dec.05.2009 at 05:54 AM

Gareth Coxon - Dot Design’s comment is:

New typography is good but the lump of green clay has to go!
Very ugly and ill fitting.

On Dec.07.2009 at 11:40 AM

jcb28’s comment is:

a bit of background from someone with (limited) experience with these brands: having worked on designing a store for telefonica and movistar in spain (while at an american company) i find this move to consolidate brands very intriguing. i have to respectfully disagree with the poster that said movistar has the negative brand image and telefonica the positive associations — from all of our research and background given to us by telefonica, it’s actually the reverse. telefonica is seen as a giant corporate monster that’s slow and not innovative and has terrible customer service. it’s associated with land lines and internet and it’s very linked to the government (in fact it was state controlled until the mid 80s). movistar on the other hand is seen as young and innovative and mainly associated with mobiles.

now does this sound familiar? it’s exactly what happened with at&t and cingular. but at&t absorbed cingular and remade over their entire brand. telefonica is going the opposite way and latching onto movistar’s. only time will tell what’s the right move in their markets but i’m a little skeptical - feels a bit desperate on telefonica’s part.

oh and i agree the logo is an improvement, aesthetically and functionally.

On Dec.07.2009 at 01:38 PM

Mauricio’s comment is:

Yo creo que ya perdio ese espiritud que tenia la marca!

On Dec.08.2009 at 04:31 PM

tez’s comment is:

Interesting. I still like the old M it had more credible plastic effects the new one just looks plain and lo-fi. But prefer the new typeface its more legible and its forms are less confusing to the eye in passing glance.

On Dec.08.2009 at 07:03 PM

miles’s comment is:

no mention of Wolff Olins as being the creator of the first incarnation? I was happy to see that Juan noticed the similarity to Ono, which I designed, but which was unfortunately unsuccesful. I remember that Wolff Olins needed to do some work reassuring the client ofthe uniquness of the M in contrast to the 3 I’d recently done for Hutchison mobile.

On Dec.15.2009 at 07:03 AM

Philadelphia birth injury lawyer’s comment is:

It’s hard for me to get behind this logo, just sort of bizzare and out of left field. I guess with the mocos joke but that’s about it.

On Dec.15.2009 at 10:52 AM

Mireia’s comment is:

As a mobistar user myself and a designer I always thought it was the worst looking branding in mobile bussiness. The older identity featured a star (which wasn’t excellent but makes sense mobi + star). The M logo looks wreid and random and the typography is simply wrong. The new one is a slight improvement in terms of correction but I will vote for a radical new branding.

Nothing to do against yoigo, orange or even vodafone

On Dec.27.2009 at 06:24 AM

rene’s comment is:

Simplemente… Vomiestar!!!

On Jan.19.2010 at 06:37 AM