Opinion BY Armin

Mozilla to Mobile OSes: Fox You.

Launched last month, Firefox OS is a new operating system developed by Mozilla specifically for use in mobile devices. Like its popular (free and open source) browser, Firefox, this OS “brings the freedom and unbounded innovation of the open Web to mobile users everywhere” as Gary Kovacs, CEO, Mozilla announced. Firefox OS is entering a very tough market where Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android have a stronghold on the market so it’s up to Mozilla’s do-good vibe and geek-cred to gain ground on the iOS’ chastity-belt-approach and Android’s super-deploying powers to become a contender. So far 17 mobile operators around the world have committed to Firefox OS and upcoming smartphones built specifically for it will launch later this year. To help Firefox OS build a broader consumer brand of its own Mozilla worked with Wolff Olins to “unleash the Fox”.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Florida Lottery

About: (Est. 1988) “Over the past quarter century, the Florida Lottery has paid more than $37.7 billion in prizes to winners, enjoyed a mutually-beneficial relationship with more than 13,000 retailers and generated more than $24 billion for education.”

Design by: FutureBrand.

Ed.’s Notes: Bigger view of the new logo below (or after the jump).

Relevant links: 25th Anniversary mention.

Excerpt from provided description by Futurebrand:“Supported by insights gathered from extensive research, we put special focus on developing the mark’s keystone element—an engaging, expressive flamingo. Deemed fun, friendly and Floridian by players, retailers and community members alike, the new character is a manifestation of everything the Lottery can and does represent.”

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A B-Side BY Armin

George Washington University

Established in 1821, George Washington University (GWU) is a private university in Washington, D.C. with 25,000 students and 1,174 faculty. Last week GWU introduced a new identity designed jointly by Futurebrand and 160over90 — FutureBrand refreshed the core identity elements and 160over90 created the new look and feel for the university’s marketing and communication materials (seen in action here). Press release here. Thorough PDF with the identity guidelines here. Detail view of the logo below (or after the jump).

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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

The Cow Jumped Over the Yoghurt

Launched in 1988 in the UK, Bio Green Dairy is a range of yoghurt-based products that includes real-fruit yoghurt drinks, Lassi Ayran drinking yoghurt, Lebanese style labneh yoghurt, and now a new series of exotic fruit Lassis. The new packaging across all lines has been redesigned by London-based Carter Wong Design.

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Opinion BY Armin

If You Build It, They Will Destroy It

Established in 1949, the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) is a nonprofit organization that “works to save America’s historic places to enrich our future.” Their main focus is on protecting historical landmarks and buildings and since 1988 their yearly list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places has been a great tool to attract media attention to their cause. NTHP has 300 employees and 300,000 members and supporters. This June, NTHP introduced a new logo to coincide with their 2012 America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. No design credit given.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Jupik

Jupik is a popular line of beverages for kids sold in Poland, featuring a cast of characters that go on missions. Wroclaw, Poland-based PND Futura did the redesign. More story here (you’ll need to translate). Image of the new packaging below (or after the jump).

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Opinion BY Armin

Runa Gonna Get You Going

Established in 2009, Runa is a small Brooklyn, NY-based company with an additional staff of 30 employees in Ecuador where they work with over 600 farmers who grow and harvest guayasa (pronounced gwhy-you-sa), a native Amazonian tree leaf that contains more caffeine than typical teas but less than coffee and also features some other natural stimulants that boost energy. Runa, the first beverage company in North America to sell guayusa, then produces tea products sold at Whole Foods and other specialty stores. It began with loose leaf and boxed tea bag options but is now launching its first line of bottled guayusa that enters a crowded marketplace of tea and energy drinks. In March, Runa introduced a new logo and unveiled the packaging designed by New York-based Mucca Design.

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Opinion BY Armin

MOM’s the Word

Established in 1919 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Malt-O-Meal Company is the largest family-owned cereal company in the country. Well known for its eponymous hot cereal, a combination of malt flavor with farina cereal, Malt-O-Meal Company now offers more than 70 different products through ten individual brands — including Malt-O-Meal, Mom’s Best Naturals, and Three Sisters among others with cold cereal being their biggest sellers at the moment. This week Malt-O-Meal Company announced it would change its name to MOM Brands and introduced a new identity designed by Duffy & Partners.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Nature’s Path

Dating back to 1949, Nature’s Path produces and sells organic cereals and granola. Last November they introduced a new logo and packaging (shown below, or after the jump). Story here.

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Opinion BY Armin

The Little Airship That Could

Established in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1983 and originally known as The Rainbow Society, the newly renamed The Dream Factory is “a charitable organization dedicated to fulfilling the once-in-a-lifetime dreams of Manitoba children suffering from life threatening illnesses.” Focusing its efforts on children from Manitoba, The Dream Factory has helped over 530 children in the past 19 years — Make-A-Wish Foundation, the biggest organization in this category, has helped 212,000 kids since 1980, just as a point of reference. This past November, The Rainbow Society changed its name to The Dream Factory and introduced a new identity designed by Winnipeg-based Cocoon Branding.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Instagram

Released in 2010, Instagram is a free app that lets you share photos with groovy filters that make your iPhone photos look better than they actually might be. With the release of Instagram 2.0 the app features a revised icon.

Hat tip to Chris Hendrixson at HyperQuake for noting it.

Opinion BY Armin

Office Doodles

Originally established in 1960 in Los Angeles, Viking Direct, supplier of office products to small and medium businesses, first appeared in the UK in 1990 and Australia in 1993 establishing a strong mail order presence overseas. It was purchased by Office Depot in 1998 and by 2002 had expanded its catalog and web delivery service to Switzerland, Spain, and Portugal. This month Viking Direct changed its name to just Viking and introduced a new identity designed by Lippincott (who also have a spiffy new website) that premiered with the mailing of over 30 million catalogues to customers in the UK and Ireland.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Potty Mouth Soap

Potty Mouth Soap is a line of novelty products for cleaning that toddler of yours’ filthy mouth. Old logo had been done with an online logo service. New logo by Cincinnati, OH-based Ladd Design Communications.

Opinion BY Armin

CooperVision, Looking Good

Established in 1979, CooperVision, part of The Cooper Companies, is a manufacturer of contact lenses that hasn’t enjoyed the mainstream consumer popularity of competing brands like Acuvue, Bausch+Lomb, or CIBA Vision, placing it squarely in fourth place. Although CooperVision had a good rapport with eye care professionals recognition among consumers who more and more are getting their contact lenses straight from the source. In March CopperVision introduced a new identity designed by Siegel+Gale that aims to bring it more visibility.

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A B-Side BY Armin

2015 IIC Cricket World Cup

First played in 1975, the International Cricket Council (IIC) Cricket World Cup is the most notable tournament in the world of cricket played every four years. The 2011 Cup, played in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh just finished with India taking the championship. The logo for the 2015 IIC Cricket World Cup, jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand, was presented this week. The identity was designed by the Australia office of Futurebrand who commissioned Jumbana Group/Balarinji for the logo. Press release here. Bigger view here.

Thanks to Lawrence Nievaart for first tip.

Opinion BY Armin

Tyra Rocks some Fierce Lettering

One of the most unexpected figures in modern-day business and content creation is ex-supermodel — supermodel emeritus? or once a supermodel always a supermodel? — Tyra Banks, as evidenced primarily through the success of 16 seasons and 20 international editions of America’s Next Top Model and her own talk show, The Tyra Banks Show, that aired for five years. Both of these shows were produced by her own company, Bankable. To cement her business savvy (and gain some additional attention), Banks has enrolled in the Harvard Business School’s Executive Education Owner/President Management Program (OPM) which has her attending (and sleeping at) Harvard for one three-week period for the next three years. Her latest venture, in partnership with Demand Media, is typeF, “a revolutionary fashion and beauty website that listens to what women want and gives them the answers they are looking for, when and where they want it.” Banks rang the bell of at the New York Stock Exchange this past Tuesday and launched typeF.

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A B-Side BY lauren

Puerto Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta, on a beautiful beach on the Pacific Ocean and Mexico´s second largest tourist destination, has recently undergone a repositioning in response to the changing face of tourism to Mexico. Designed by Puerto Vallarta based Mijo! Brands, “The new identity communicates the attributes which the destination promotes to differentiate itself from a growing list of national destinations competing for a diminishing market share.”

Opinion BY Armin

Taiwan, a Heartfelt Destination

I have never been to Taiwan so you will be spared of any personal recollections today. Located in Eastern Asia, Taiwan is a small island that the Central Intelligence Agency compares in size to the combined square milage of the states of Delaware and Maryland — while there is a combined 6 million people in those two, there are 23 million people in Taiwan. In 2010, Taiwan reportedly had 5 million visitors but it seems they want more. Earlier this month, the Taiwan Tourism Bureau introduced a new identity, designed by London-based Winkreative (the brand agency of Monocle’s Tyler Brûlé), and a new slogan that replaces the awkward sounding “Taiwan, Touch Your Heart” for “Taiwan — The Heart of Asia.”

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A B-Side BY Armin

Big Fish Games

Founded in 2002 in Seattle, WA, Big Fish Games produces its own line of video games that can be played online or as an app on the iPhone and iPad. Their logo evolution came in the Summer of 2010, but that fish is too adorable and that type too chunky to leave un-posted. A bigger view and a shot of the sign installation after the jump.

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