A B-Side BY Armin

Marketwired

About: (Est. 1994) “Partnering with companies of all sizes — from start-ups to Fortune 500 enterprises — Marketwired is an innovative, social communications company offering best-in-class global news distribution and reporting. Powered by Sysomos, Marketwired’s products also provide state-of-the-art social media monitoring and analytics. This critical business intelligence provides instant and unlimited access to all social media conversations, allowing brands to see what’s happening, why it’s happening, and who’s driving the conversations.”

Design by: N/A.

Ed.’s Notes: Less than a year ago we covered Marketwire’s logo redesign and it received favorable reviews. Sad to see it convert into this monstrosity and lame name. A video introducing the new name below (or after the jump) — try very hard to not want to punch your computer repeatedly while watching it..

Relevant links: Press release (mostly about the name and business strategy).

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Opinion BY Armin

Golden, Angry Bears

The University of California Athletic Department manages the 29 varsity athletic programs and various club teams of the University of California, Berkeley, that compete in the NCAA Division I in the Pac-12 Conference. The California Golden Bears (or just “Cal”) have won 82 national team titles in 15 different sports over its history and are consistently one of the winningest teams across all universities in the U.S., and its students have accrued 159 Olympic medals, 91 of which are gold, as participants in the Games. Last week, Cal introduced a new identity and uniforms designed by Nike’s Graphic Identity Group. (Yes, them again).

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A B-Side BY Armin

Electric

About: (Est. 2000) “Electric is a global, premium, sport and lifestyle accessory brand rooted in southern California’s rich action sports, music, art and customization culture. Electric designs and markets an extensive line of sunglasses, snow goggles, backpacks, luggage and accessories through a primarily action sport and sporting good global retail network including the Americas, Europe, Japan, China and Australasia. Since 2011 Electric has been a part of PPR, a worldwide leading Luxury and Sport & Lifestyle group.”

Design by: In-house.

Ed.’s Notes: Bigger view of the logo below (or after the jump). Hipster branding at its best! (And I’m not being sarcastic).

Relevant links: Press Release.

Select quote: “The new ‘VOLT’ logo, photography style and brand design celebrates Electric’s Southern California roots with an emphasis on premium quality and timeless style.”

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A B-Side BY Armin

Seattle Reign FC

About: (Est. 2012) “Seattle Reign FC is one of eight clubs that will compete in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) beginning in the Spring of 2013.”

Design by: N/A.

Ed.’s Notes: Detail view of the logo and (a nicer) alternate version below (or after the jump).

Relevant links: SB Nation story.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Centrum Kultury Zamek

About: “Centrum Kultury Zamek (Culture Centre Castle) is the largest institution in the greater dissemination of culture and one of the largest institutions of its kind in Poland. During the year [we] organizes hundreds of events: concerts, exhibitions, meetings, film screenings, workshops and lectures. Our headquarters is the former imperial castle, one of the most unique buildings in Poznan. It was built in the years 1905-1910 as a residence Poznan last German Emperor Wilhelm II.”

Design by: Motor Studio.

Ed.’s Notes: Sample of the logo in application below (or after the jump) and a few more images at the Motor Studio case study link. I really love the abstraction and loose spacing of the logo.

Relevant links: CKZ Facebook post. Motor Studio case study.

Select quote (with Google Translate): “The graphic symbol consists of four simple elements that could be a reference to an abstract architectural forms found in building the imperial residence.”

Thanks to Jakub Swiadek for the tip.

A B-Side BY Armin

Citi Habitats

About: Citi Habitats is a real estate agency in New York.

Design by: Ammirati

Ed.’s Notes: Sample applications below (or after the jump).

Relevant links: Ammirati case study. News story.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Business Software Alliance

About: (Est. 1988) “BSA | The Software Alliance is the leading global advocate for the software industry. It is an association of more than 70 world-class companies that invest billions of dollars annually to create software solutions that spark the economy and improve modern life. Through international government relations, intellectual property enforcement, and educational activities, BSA expands the horizons of the digital world and builds trust and confidence in the new technologies driving it forward.”

Design by: N/A.

Ed.’s Notes: Brand video below (or after the jump).

Relevant links: Press Release.

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A B-Side BY Armin

ProJuventute

Established in 1947, ProJuventute is a non-profit organization in the Netherlands that gathers money to fund innovative activities for children and young people in trouble. The new identity was designed by The Hague-based Designink. More images here.

Thanks to Marc Nijborg for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

Men’s Journal Gets Manlier

First published in 1992, Men’s Journal, as its name implies is a lifestyle magazine for men with a circulation of more than 700,000 copies to an 84% male audience. Owned by Wenner Media, Men’s Journal is a sister publication to Rolling Stone and Us Weekly. Last week the magazine introduced a new logo designed by renown letterer Jim Parkinson — who previously drew one of the past versions of the logo — in collaboration with Men’s Journal art director Benjamen Purvis.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Women at NBCU

Launched in 2008, Women at NBCU is an “ad sales, marketing and research initiative [that] creates custom solutions for advertisers to connect with female consumers via NBCUniversal’s wide portfolio.” Logo designed by Wolff Olins. A few more images at Wolff Olins designer Mike Abbink’s website.

Thanks to Marc Nijborg for the tip.

A B-Side BY Armin

Frankfurt Book Fair

The Frankfurt Book Fair (Frankfurter Buchmesse in German), running since 1949, is the world’s largest book fair in the world, attracting publishers from all countries representing every single book genre and industry imaginable — it is a great launching pad for new titles as well as for wheelings and dealings for securing international rights licenses and partnerships. Their logo has been redesigned for the upcoming fair this October.

Thanks to Sriparna Ghosh for the tip.

A B-Side BY Armin

The Kubert School

Established in 1976 as The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in Dover, New Jersey by renown comic book artist Joe Kubert, the institution has changed its name to The Kubert School and introduced a new identity. The website Comic Book Resources has an interview on the new branding with Kuber and his two sons, Adam and Andy, comic book artists themselves.

Thanks to Matt Rower for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

Virb is the New Virb

In the Mesozoic era of social networking — that distant year of 2007 — a new community was poised to take over the web, replacing the aging and visually painful MySpace species. Virb allowed users, who joined by invitation only, to craft and customize extremely elegant and sophisticated personal profiles with all the accoutrements of online social behavior. Photos, videos, messages, etc. MySpace died a natural death. Virb, however, was crushed by the imminent rise of Facebook with a nail in the coffin courtesy of Twitter. Acknowledging that they couldn’t compete with Facebook, Virb is re-emerging not as a social tool but as a website-building tool, harnessing the effectiveness of its personalization tools so that photographers can put up a decent portfolio or bands a decent promotional site. The new service also benefits from hosting company Media Temple being the parent company of Virb since 2008. While most companies who didn’t succeed at first would be compelled to change names and launch under a different personality, Virb is betting that its name, in good-standing condition with the web world, can handle the complete switch of service and business model.

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