Opinion BY Armin

P&G is Over the Moon

Established in 1837, P&G is one of the largest (if not the largest) consumer packaged goods company in the world with operations in 75 countries and more than $83 billion in sales in 2012. Its two key areas — beauty and grooming and household care — include some of the most well-known consumer brands like Pampers, Gillette, Tide, Ariel, Downy, Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Olay, Oral-B, Crest, Dawn, and Always. Earlier this year, without calling much attention to itself, P&G introduced a new logo designed by Landor.

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Opinion BY Armin

Minsk Gets in Line

Established in 1067, Minsk is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Belarus with nearly 2 million people — about 20 percent of the population of the country. Today, as described by the Minsk City Executive Committee, Minsk is “a modern, dynamic city, the largest transport and logistics center, a cultural and scientific center of the country” with high education standards, positive diversity, clean and green (as in parks and stuff), and mostly as a city on the rise. “Minsk,” however, share London- and Moscow-based agency INSTID, who have been working with the city on its new identity since August 2012, “lacks a clear identity. Its residents define themselves mostly by nationality, and admit that Minsk does not have a particular culture or tradition of its own.” Commissioned by the city’s tourist information agency, INSTID’s task was to “help improve international recognition of Minsk to help it attract foreign investment, visitors, and talent” and “help residents feel proud of Minsk and develop a unique city culture based on their distinct character, and create a powerful platform for city’s future development.” The new identity will begin to be implemented this summer.

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Opinion BY Armin

Oklahoma City University

About: (Est. 1904) “Oklahoma City University is a coeducational, urban private university located in Oklahoma City, in the Uptown district. The university is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and offers a wide variety of degrees in the liberal arts, fine arts, sciences and business. The only Oklahoma institution listed in the top tier of the regional, master’s-level university category by U.S. News and World Report, Oklahoma City University is also listed in Forbes’ “Best Christian Colleges” & “100 Best College Buys.”“

Design by: Pentagram (DJ Stout, Austin).

Ed.’s Notes: It’s definitely an improvement but it’s hard to associate that kind of star drawing with higher education than Hollywood/Entertainment industry. Type is super pretty though. A few application image below (or after the jump) and more at the link.

Relevant links: Pentagram case study.

Select quote: “Before Stout and Delgado redesigned it, OCU’s primary logo featured a silhouetted likeness of the university’s iconic Gold Star Tower, a 286-foot red brick tower built in 1953 to honor Methodists who died in World War II. The tower, an Oklahoma City landmark located prominently in the center of campus, is topped off with a 200-pound star positioned at the end of a long pole like a star on a Christmas tree. ‘OCU’s sports teams are called The Stars after the Gold Star Tower, and many of the university’s celebrity alumni, like the Tony Award-winning Kristin Chenoweth, are singers and dancers and ‘stars’ of the stage,’ says Stout. ‘So it only seemed natural to turn their static star into a dancing star, with just a hint of the long pole it’s attached to at the top of that building.’”

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A B-Side BY Armin

Shazam

About: (Est. 2002) “Shazam is a commercial mobile phone based music identification service, with its headquarters in London, England. […] Shazam uses a mobile phone’s built-in microphone to gather a brief sample of music being played. An acoustic fingerprint is created based on the sample, and is compared against a central database for a match. If a match is found, information such as the artist, song title, and album are relayed back to the user. Relevant links to services such as iTunes, YouTube, Spotify or Zune are incorporated into some implementations of Shazam.” (Source: Wikipedia)

Design by: The Brand Union.

Ed.’s Notes: Although I always hate the combination of upper and lowercase letters this ends up being a decent wordmark and the icon is much improved. A few more images of the icon and its construction below (or after the jump).

Relevant links: Press Release.

Provided quote: “We were thrilled to help Shazam transition from an app used to tag songs to a broader platform of discovery for TV, music, movies, live events and more. The new brand draws from the iconic loading disc that pops up when the app is listening. All of the new elements were derived from that expression, which we’ve enriched and made more responsive.”

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Opinion BY Armin

Facebook’s Radically New “f” Logo

I will spare you my usual introductory paragraph this morning since you all know what Facebook is and what it does and get right to the point. Last month, without much fanfare, Facebook introduced a revised version of its “f Logo” which is meant to be used to promote an organization’s or person’s presence on Facebook. It’s ubiquitous — yet I had never realized there was, officially, a lighter blue line at the bottom of it. Along with the new “f Logo” also comes an official brand page and a revised set of icons for all the different services/pages found throughout the Facebook universe. Obviously this is not the most earth-shattering change in the history of logo changes but it’s my duty to report on it, since, like, a billion people use Facebook.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Blue Ridge Foundation

About: (Est. 1999) “Blue Ridge Foundation was founded by John A. Griffin, President of Blue Ridge Capital, to foster ground-breaking ideas for social change […]. Over our first decade of incubating social innovations, Blue Ridge has helped to build start-up nonprofits from the concept stage; replicated best-in-class organizations by launching their local NYC offices; fostered collective impact efforts across our portfolio; and offered insights to government drawn from the work of our grantees.”

Design by: Hyperakt.

Ed.’s Notes: I like the implied tittle of “I” and “L” in “BLUE”, and nice typography overall. Bigger view of the logo and some applications below (or after the jump).

Relevant links: Hyperakt case study.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Dexim

About: “Dexim is a worldwide registered brand manufacturing an extensive line of accessories and applications compatible with popular consumer electronics, including iPhone, iPod, and iPad. Currently selling in over 45 countries, their mission is to provide consumers with products that offer an enjoyable, personalized, and superior experience. Because their corporate image looked so dated, consumers perceived Dexim to be much of the same, and the brand experienced a loss of relevancy and consumer interest in the US. Competing at a higher level required a brand identity redesign to make a statement and better align with their mission and values.”

Design by: Motto.

Ed.’s Notes: Decent. Definitely far better than the original, if a little too envisioning-the-future-in-the-1990s-typography. Plenty of applications below (or after the jump).

Relevant links: N/A.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Gdańsk University of Technology

About: (Est. 1945) “The Gdańsk University of Technology (pol. Politechnika Gdańska) is a technical university in Gda?sk-Wrzeszcz, and one of the oldest universities in Poland. It has nine faculties and more than 24 thousand undergraduate, as well as about 400 doctoral students. In 2004 it employed 2500 people, including 1200 academics.” (Source: Wikipedia)

Design by: mamastudio.

Ed.’s Notes: It’s nice to know that it’s not only U.S. students that act all douchey and oppose university logos just because. (See Facebook link below). It’s even more annoying when the logo is actually good: those lion drawings are pretty sweet. Bigger view of the logo below (or after the jump).

Relevant links: Facebook logo opposition page. Press Release (in Polish).

Select quote (Google translated): “Decorative form of lions holding a shield replaced with a regular rhythm figures geometric contour lines. Silhouette of lions and a list of the initials of the name of the university with the emblem of the city of Gdansk in the shield are inseparable, linked at the level of the whole symbolic and figurative meaning.”

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Opinion BY Armin

Activating Schools without Clichés

Launched at the end of February, Let’s Move! Active Schools is a new initiative that will provide “simple steps and tools to help schools create active environments where students get 60 minutes of physical activity before, during and after the school day.” Active Schools is part of Michelle Obama’s larger Let’s Move program and is being powered by Nike, which will invest over the course of five years “$50 million in the U.S. to increase the physical activity of kids in schools and communities as well as target advocacy efforts to inspire kids and draw additional resources to this important effort” as stated in this press release that lists the rest of the program’s partners. Nike worked with Wolff Olins to create a new brand for Let’s Move! Active Schools.

Update: The Nike team that worked with WO was Joe Stitzlein and Michael Malowanczyk. A few more images have been posted at the end, courtesy of Michael.

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Opinion BY Armin

Concentric Philanthropy

Established in 1999 by a group of power players, chief among them actor Paul Newman, the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP) brings together senior executives from the world’s leading companies to steer them towards meaningful, high-quality philanthropy. To date, CECP includes “more than 180 CEO members, representing 150 major corporations and over $10 billion in annual corporate giving.” This list alone, of CEO members, is probably worth more in pixels than what’s in your bank account right now. CECP recently introduced a new identity designed by Futurebrand.

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Opinion BY Armin

The Name is Athletics, British Athletics

Established in 1999, UK Athletics (UKA) “oversees the development and management of the nation’s favourite Olympic and Paralympic sport, from grassroots right through to podium.” With the attention gained during the London Summer Olympic Games, UKA decided to launch a new brand, British Athletics, that sort of replaces the UK Athletics name and brand, except it does not. For confusion purposes, “British Athletics will be used in all external communications,” while UK Athletics will be “reflecting the governance and NGB duties of the organisation.” This article explains much better what that means. The new British Athletics logo was introduced earlier this year.

Update: The identity has been created by London-based SomeOne. More images and quotes have been added to this post.

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Opinion BY Sam Becker

Vitamin V

Founded in 1977 in New York City, The Vitamin Shoppe has grown to be one of the largest purveyors of nutritional supplements in North America with over 500 stores and 20,000 unique SKUs. According to their website, The Vitamin Shoppe is the "first and only choice of people seeking to fulfill their health and wellness needs."

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A B-Side BY Armin

StarTrack

About: “StarTrack is the product of the integration of the retail division of Australian air Express and Star Track Express. Backed by parent companies and strategic partners Australia Post and Qantas, the new StarTrack offers its customers the largest network in the country. With 57 branch facilities Australia-wide, StarTrack operates a fleet of more than 3,000 vehicles and transports more than one million parcels across the country for its customers every week.”

Design by: N/A.

Ed.’s Notes: OMG, that old logo. LOL. Bigger view of the logo, an ad, and a truck below (or after the jump).

Relevant links: StarTrack Media Centre (scroll to bottom for announcement and TV spot).

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Opinion by Paul Vickers Posted BY Brand New

Go Joe

Launched at the close of 2012 by telecommunications company SFR, Joe Mobile is the latest in a growing family of second generation mobile providers in France. Joe’s offer is unique enabling you to customize your subscription to match your changing needs in text messaging, call time, and internet data capacity. The new brand and video by Paris-based Leg Agency is all about accessibility, flexibility and fun.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Solvay

About: (Est. 1863) “SOLVAY is an international chemical Group committed to sustainable development with a clear focus on innovation and operational excellence. It is realizing over 90% of its sales in markets where it is among the top 3 global leaders. Solvay offers a broad range of products that contribute to improving the quality of life and the performance of its customers in markets such as consumer goods, construction, automotive, energy, water and environment, and electronics. The Group is headquartered in Brussels, employs about 31,000 people in 55 countries and generated EUR 12.7 billion in net sales in 2011 (pro forma).”

Design by: Vincenti Design.

Ed.’s Notes: Another epically-scored logo introduction video below (or after the jump). I hate to say it, but there is something I like about the new logo. Not much, just something.

Relevant links: Press release (PDF).

Select quote: “We wanted a corporate identity capable of conjuring up the notions of expertise, innovation and modernity. We chose this creation that perfectly expresses the ability of our Group to reinvent itself. The highly symbolic letter “S” and the use of the color blue, maintains a clear link with the Group’s history,” says Michel Defourny, Head of Solvay’s Corporate Communications.

“With this solution, we wanted to create the impression that viewers are plunging into an object, as if it existed in 3D. We used computer graphics to model the shape, to create something half-way between a liquid and a solid in order to refer to Solvay’s core business activities,” explains Laurent Vincenti, CEO of Vincenti Design.”

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Opinion by Mark Kingsley Posted BY Brand New

My Kind of American Exceptionalism

Flying used to mean something.

And before People Express Airlines remade air travel into the equivalent of a bus ride, before the mediascape overinformed us about every possible destination, before the security theater of X-rayed shoes, and before the global financial crisis, the experience of flying actually delivered on that promise.

But now, air travel can be a miserable experience. Especially if you fly coach. And especially if you fly American Airlines.

[Ed.’s Note: This is the first time I hand over a “large” review to anyone. Mark Kingsley, a good friend and annoyingly astute observer, asked if he could do it, saying he was “totally excited” about the work. His point of view on this is likely the last thing you expected to hear from Brand New. Enjoy. — Armin Vit]

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A B-Side BY Armin

Axiall

About: (Est. 2013) Axiall Corporation is “the new industry leader created by the pending merger of Georgia Gulf and the commodity chemicals business of PPG. With enhanced vertical integration and portfolio diversification, Axiall emerges as a Fortune 500-size company with tremendous growth opportunities. Axiall represents a new kind of chemistry company; one that responsibly harnesses applied chemistry to solve common problems, improve every-day life and drive human progress.”

Design by: RiechesBaird.

Ed.’s Notes: Haven’t seen a vertical logo in such a long time. Now I remember why. Logo detail and applications below (or after the jump).

Relevant links: RiechesBaird case study. Axiall “our identity” page.

Select quote: “The vertical orientation of the letters signals Axiall as a new and different kind of company. It symbolizes our enhanced vertical integration, a key component in our business strategy and a significant benefit of the merger.

The unique placement of the double ‘ll’ at the bottom of the logo symbolizes the two organizations being blended to form Axiall: Georgia Gulf and PPG’s chlor-alkali and derivatives business. These twin columns represent a solid base and merger of equals, giving the logo structural integrity and a feeling of unification.”

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Opinion BY Armin

Nivea Gets Rid of its Own Wrinkles

First produced in 1882 in Germany by pharmacist Carl Paul Beiersdorf, Nivea is today one of the leading skincare products in the world owned by Beiersdorf AG (which also owns Elastoplast, Eucerin, Labello, and La prairie). Nivea’s most well-known product is its original Nivea Crème which was first packaged in the iconic blue tin in 1925 and now serves as the basis for the “new global design language” introduced by Nivea this week, designed by San Francisco-based fuseproject.

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Opinion BY Armin

Typographic Tolerance

Inaugurated this November, the Jewish Museum & Tolerance Center is a 27,000-square-foot, state of the art, 50-million-dollar museum in Moscow, becoming one of the world’s largest museums to chronicle the history of the Jewish people and Israel. Housed in the Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage, the museum’s design was conceived by New York, NY-based Ralph Appelbaum and Associates and features interactive tables, hologram projections, and even a recreation of a Shtetl (small areas within a city with lots and lots and lots of Jews). The identity has been designed by Moscow-based Fleve.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Breathe Right

About: “Breathe Right nasal strips are drug-free and clinically proven to lift nasal passages and open your nose the minute you put them on and work for as long as you have them on, relieving nasal congestion and improving airflow.”

Design by: N/A.

Ed.’s Notes: I’m not usually one to ask “Aren’t the before/after images mistakenly reversed?” but when I got this tip I really thought the new one was the old one. The generic happy script typography of mass packaging isn’t necessarily my thing but this new logo makes me yearn for it. Before/after of the packaging below (or after the jump)

Relevant links: N/A.

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