Opinion BY Armin

Cystic Fibrosis Looking Good

Established in 1964, the Cystic Fibrosis Trust supports “excellence in research and clinical care, as well as providing practical support and advice to people with Cystic Fibrosis and their families,” and is the only UK-wide charity focusing solely on cystic fibrosis (CF). The organization funds research, sets standards of CF care, and provides information and advice to people with CF and their families. But the main challenge with CF remains: explaining what it is and raising awareness. “Cystic fibrosis,” explains the Trust “is chronically misunderstood, kills thousands worldwide and is carried unknowingly in the genes of millions. It’s often invisible to the naked eye yet destroys lives, stopping them short, inflicting hardship and distress on patients, their families and carers. Cystic fibrosis directly affects around 10,000 people in the UK.” Today, the Cystic Fibrosis Trust has launched a new identity-slash-campaign designed by London-based johnson banks.

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Opinion BY Armin

Home is where the Pattern is

Led by the National NeighborWorks Association — an organization that “unites housing and community development practitioners to advocate for affordable housing and economic opportunities” — and supported by over 190 housing and community development organizations at the national and local level, Home Matters is a new national initiative launched yesterday on Capitol Hill that “aims to unite America around the essential role that Home plays as the bedrock for thriving lives, families, and a stronger nation.” Its goal is to raise awareness of the importance of “Home” by educating, bringing disparate organizations and industries together, rallying local leaders and mobilizing the public, encouraging policymakers to protect and support Home and related initiatives, raising funds and increasing investments to sustain the work that makes Home a reality for more Americans, and promoting and honoring the extraordinary impact of Home. All in all, a good thing, considering how screwed up some homes — of all economic and social classes — can be. The initiative’s identity has been designed by Brooklyn, NY-based OrangeYouGlad working under the direction and coordination of New York-based Ideon who set the branding strategy and story.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Air Canada Rouge

About: (Est. 2012) Rouge is “Air Canada’s new leisure airline with stylishly affordable service to holiday spots in Europe and the Caribbean. Benefit from Air Canada’s extensive network for smooth connections to flights departing daily from Toronto and Montreal. Service begins July 1, 2013. It’s time to go more. “

Design by: N/A.

Ed.’s Notes: Wow. That is bad. I would excuse how bad it was if at least they would have actually taken the time to hand-letter it instead of just using a font — or if they did hand-letter it (because I really have no idea what font that is, I’m just assuming) then they should have made different letterforms for the repeating characters in “Rouge” and “go more”. Terrible. Livery and logo-on-balloons images below (or after the jump).

Relevant links: Meet Air Canada Rouge.

Select quote: “Air Canada rouge embodies the best of Air Canada including reliability, trustworthiness, top safety standards and a name and iconic brand that represents ‘Canada. The name was tested in major Canadian cities. Canadians said the name and colors spoke to the color Canada is known for: red, a color they link to warmth, fun and excitement. Air Canada rouge also represents Canada’s two official languages.”

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Friday Likes BY Armin

Friday Likes 28

Today — all the way from Brazil and France and from UCllc’s own immense Texas backyard — we have a couple of hand-drawn projects tempered by some additional vector-y range of logos.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Couchsurfing

About: (Est. 2004) Couchsurfing is “A global network of travelers, adventure seekers and lifelong learners who value trust among strangers and are dedicated to sharing their cultures, hospitality and authentic experiences — whether they’re on the road or in their hometowns. There are over 5 million Couchsurfers in more than 97,000 cities, with a new user signing up every 11 seconds.”

Design by: In-house.

Ed.’s Notes: Don’t worry, no handwriting was harmed in the making of this logo. It’s just a font. Two versions of the log exist: one without the loop as it appears on their site and one (below or after the jump) with the loop when the logo appears outside of the main website; part of the idea is that people can customize it.

Relevant links: Couchsurfing blog post.

Select quote: “Our objective with this new logo was to focus on the entire word ‘couchsurfing’ and turn it into a term that has meaning in and of itself. We’re not about ‘Couch’ and ‘Surfing’, we are about the act of ‘couchsurfing’, of connecting with people for inspiring experiences all over the world. We’d like to turn the word itself into the symbol that the couch has been. The designers brought this sense of human touch to life with the font they chose for the logo, which suggests handwriting. The more earthy shade of orange was chosen because it gives a sense of authenticity which reinforces the humanity of our brand.”

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A B-Side BY Armin

Izmir

About: “Izmir is a historical metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia and the third most populous city in Turkey with nearly 4 million inhabitants. It is widely believed that Homer lived and wrote ‘The Odyssey’ in Izmir. The city has been one of the principal mercantile cities of the Mediterranean Sea for much of its history. Over the last two decades, Istanbul remerged as the financial, social, and cultural capital of Turkey, attracting the creative class of Izmir. As a response, in 2010 the Izmir Development Agency embarked on a city marketing strategy and kick started Turkey’s first city branding project. As a result, I Mean It Creative was commissioned in 2012 to create the visual and verbal identity of Izmir.”

Design by: I Mean It Creative

Ed.’s Notes: There isn’t a link with all the info or images, so plenty is posted here.

Relevant links: N/A.

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Friday Likes BY Armin

Friday Likes 21

Serendipitously, today’s Likes — coming in from New Zealand, Barcelona, and Middle Earth — all share a hand-crafted element to them.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Silipint

About: (Est. 2010) “Silipint offers simple innovative products within a culture that is dedicated to exceptional service and our partners. Providing semi-rigid silicone drinkware through a process aimed at brand growth and profitability.”

Design by: Brand Navigation.

Ed.’s Notes: Dude, it’s a squishy pint glass! See proof below (or after the jump).

Relevant links: Brand Navigation Case Study.

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Opinion BY Armin

Wendy’s Wendy: Cutest 43-year-old

First opened in 1969 in Columbus, OH, Wendy’s is the third largest quick-service hamburger company in the world, with more than 6,500 franchise and company restaurants in the U.S. and 27 other countries. To paraphrase one of the greatest spokespersons — not as great as Wendy’s own (and its founder) Dave Thomas — “I don’t always eat quick-service hamburgers, but when I do, I prefer Wendy’s.” Perhaps it’s the square shape of their hamburgers but they are the least unappealing of all fast food hamburgers. Their frosty dessert thingie is awesome. Anyway. The Associated Press has reported on a new Wendy’s logo that will start appearing in March 2013 on newly built and renovated restaurants — which I am assuming will follow the test stores designed by San Francisco, CA-based Tesser.

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Opinion BY Armin

Style Finally Looks Stylish

Launched in 1999, the Style Network is a television channel owned by NBCUniversal targeted to “women 18-49 with a passion for the best in relatable, inspiring and transformational lifestyle programming.” Style counts with 75 million cable and satellite subscribers, tuning in to shows like Jerseylicious, Chicagolicious, and How Do I Look? In June, Style introduced a new logo and on-air identity designed by New York, NY-based Gretel.

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Opinion BY Armin

Nuts.fun

Launched in 1999 as NutsOnline and based on a family business dating back to 1929, the newly named Nuts.com is an online retailer of more than 200 varieties and treatments of nuts as well as dried fruit, snacks, chocolate, and coffee and tea. Based in New Jersey, Nuts.com has a 60,000-square-foot space and 80 employees. After living at www.nutsonline.com for thirteen years, the company was finally able to purchase www.nuts.com — details here — adopt it as its name, and design a new identity and packaging around it, which was designed by Pentagram partner Michael Bierut, quite literally this time: the logo and type are based on his own hand-drawn alphabet, digitized by Jeremy Mickel. The identity is complemented with nut character illustrations by Christoph Niemann.

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Opinion BY Armin

IT, Now more than Evr

With roots as far back as 1962, EDB and ErgoGroup combined in 2010 to form “the largest merger ever seen in the Nordic IT industry, and the fourth largest corporate merger in Norway regardless of industry.” In March the company announced a name change to EVRY, a leading IT company in the Nordic countries with 10,000 employees and 14,000 public sector and private sector customers. The new identity has been designed by Oslo, Norway-based Scandinavian Design Group.

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Opinion BY Armin

Sign Here

Only one of three mobile telecommunication service providers in Argentina, Personal, whose parent company is giant Telecom Argentina, has 18 million customers. (Sorry, don’t have much else to say about it). Earlier this month, Personal introduced a new identity created by London-based This is Real Art and a new ad campaign by TBWA\Buenos Aires.

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Opinion BY Rietje Gieskes

NNewly Redesigned

Nationale Nederlanden, one of the Netherlands’ largest insurance and asset management companies, recently replaced its logo, in use since 1970, with a modified version. The new logo signals a strategic repositioning as a friendlier company, more customer-centric and transparent in its policies than before.

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Opinion BY Armin

Critter Type

First opened in 1931, Chester Zoo, located in Chester county in North West England, is one of the largest and most popular zoos in the UK. Located on 110 acres, Chester Zoo is home to over 7,000 animals and hosts 1.3 million visitors per year. In August, Chester Zoo introduced a new identity designed by Manchester-based Music.

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Opinion BY Armin

Name.com

Established in 2003, Name.com is an ICANN-accredited domain registrar, perhaps most well known for also providing the Whois Lookup service that allows you to see who is behind any given domain name. A new logo and a new hand-drawn look has taken over their website recently.

Thanks to Nodws for the tip.

Opinion BY Clinton Duncan

Typography: Where East Meets West

Mathaf, Arab Museum of Modern Art (pronounced mat-haf) is a new modern art museum in Doha, Qatar. Its mission is to showcase modern and contemporary art from the region, shifting existing perceptions of arts practice in the Arab world, and provide a forum for dialogue and scholarship. An existing building, in the traditional style, was redesigned by French architect Jean-François Bodin and the new branding was handled by the Dubai office of Wolff Olins with two custom typefaces, one by Tarek Atrissi Design and another by Pascal Zoghbi from 29ArabicLetters.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Vietnam

The result of a contest organized by the Vietnam Administration of Tourism and the Viettime Media Company, this new logo for, well, Vietnam was designed by Cowan Vietnam Company. Story here.

Thanks to JJ for the tip.