Opinion BY Armin

I Tawt I Taw a Panther Tat

Joining the NFL as an expansion team in 1995, the Carolina Panthers have a total record of 131 wins and 150 losses and have even made it to the Super Bowl (XXXVIII in Houston) in which they lost to the New England Patriots. Over the weekend, which happened to be Pro Bowl weekend, the Panthers introduced a new logo designed by the NFL’s creative department.

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A B-Side BY Armin

NYC Media Lab

Launched this year by a partnership of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, NYU-Poly, and Columbia University, NYC Media Lab is a “public-private partnership encompassing all the universities of NYC. The Lab tackles the big questions facing the media industry today, with the goal of generating research, knowledge transfer, talent development, R&D, and new business models.” The identity was designed by Brooklyn-based Red Antler. Their project page here and some applications below (or after the jump).

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Opinion BY John J Custer

Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm don’t Change Much

Founded in 1922 by retired farmer George J. Mecherle, State Farm originally specialized in auto insurance for farmers. The company has since expanded its services to provide multiple types of insurance, along with banking and financial assistance. Currently ranked 37 on the Fortune 500 list with 65,000 employees, 17,800 agents and about 81 million policies and accounts in force, State Farm generated 63.2 billion in revenue in 2011. With large numbers and witty ad campaigns as a springboard, State Farm turned to Chermayeff & Geismar to help update their brand for the 21st century.

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A B-Side BY Armin

MediaOcean

MediaOcean is a new company that is the result of the merger of Donovan Data Systems Inc and MediaBank LLC. Their combined value is reported at $1.5 billion and together will process $150 billion in global advertising spending annually. MediaOcean “provides software that lets ad agencies book advertising time, make sure those ads appear properly, bill clients and pay the media platforms that host the ads.” Press release here.

Thanks to Anon Ymouse (for real) for the tip.

A B-Side BY Armin

JDRF

Established in 1975, JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) is a leading global organization focused on type 1 diabetes (T1D) research. A new logo has been introduced by JDRF, which is also downplaying the “Juvenile” angle of their organizations as 85% of those affected with T1D are adults. From the press release: “An essential graphic element in the logo design is the unique and clever inclusion of the ‘T1D’ symbol. Intentionally subordinate to the JDRF name, the symbol reinforces our focus on type 1 diabetes, and moves us toward establishing T1D as identifiable shorthand.”

A B-Side BY Armin

Arkansas Museum of Discovery

The Arkansas Museum of Discovery (named in 1997) in Little Rock, AR dates as far back as 1927 when it was known as The Arkansas Museum of Natural History and Antiquities. The Museum of Discovery is moving to a new building and they have introduced a new logo designed by local firm Stone Ward. Logo announcement here.

Thanks to Zac Cosner for the tip.

Opinion BY John J Custer

Hit that E

Easton-Bell Sports has just over 80 years of experience in the sporting goods market and has established itself as a recognizable and reliable brand and name. The company mainly focuses on protective head gear for baseball, softball, hockey, lacrosse and cycling. Under the Easton-Bell Sports name they manufacture and sell the popular Giro helmets and cycling accessories, the Riddell football helmets and hats, and the Bell motorcycling products. They also have their own branded products under the name Easton for lacrosse, hockey, baseball, and softball — in the past several months, Easton-Bell Sports has rolled out a newly updated mark that extends into these line of products.

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Opinion BY Armin

Qwik DVDs

One of the biggest stories this week has been the announcement from Netflix that it would be splitting its streaming and DVD options. The streaming business is to remain named Netflix while the DVD-by-mail business is to be renamed Qwikster. Yup, straight out of 1999. Be glad it’s not Qwikstr a la Flickr, at least. “We chose the name Qwikster,” explains an apologetic Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO of Netflix, “because it refers to quick delivery.” This came on the heels of Netflix’s faux pas of doubling the subscription price to charge for streaming and DVDs separately but without much of an explanation or warning. It’s also a testament to the difference each of the two deliveries represent: With DVDs you can get any movie imaginable, with streaming you get an almost laughable fraction of those choices. Yes, you can get it now but that now is usually a movie from the 1980s that nobody wants to see now — except maybe Robocop. I digress. The division makes strategic sense in a way, you don’t want people comparing the two delivery systems, especially when streaming is mired in godknowswhat lockdowns with movie and TV studios so creating two separate brands might be able to establish an apples vs. oranges comparison where people stop questioning the two services of one company and instead question two separate companies: Not Netflix vs. Netflix but Netflix vs. Qwikster.

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Opinion BY Armin

Cinemax’s New Angle

Launched in 1980, Cinemax is best known for its roster of action movies and after-dark softcore porn movies and series with really bad plots, which have earned it the nickname of “Skinemax”. Originally a single channel, Cinemax, owned by HBO Inc., is now a premium (meaning you have to pay extra to get it) network of eight channels and it counts with more than 12 million subscribers — by comparison, HBO has more than 28 million. Within the last few months a new logo has been popping up here and there and last week, to coincide with the launch of Cinemax’s app, MAX GO, the channel has fully implemented its new logo and look, rolling out across all channels. There is no press release or credits.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Clean Energy Future

Clean Energy Future is an initiative by the Australian Government as “a long term plan to reshape our economy, cut carbon pollution, drive innovation, and help avoid the increased costs of delaying action on climate change.” A couple of detail images of the logo below (or after the jump).

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A B-Side BY Armin

Skyrush

Skyrush will be the newest ride opening in 2012 at Hersheypark in Hershey, PA. “After climbing 200 feet into the air, you’ll touch the sky before flying downhill at 75mph in the country’s first winged seat coaster train.” More gory details about the ride here. I shouldn’t like the logo but it’s capital-A-Awesome. Dude. Bigger view below (or after the jump).

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Opinion BY Armin

What Big Teeth you Have

Established as an expansion team of the NHL in 1997 in Tennessee, the Nashville Predators first took to the ice in the 1998 – 99 season. They finished second last that year and the year after that. Since then they have made the playoff on and off. I don’t follow hockey but I’m generally aware of what cities have teams in which professional sports but I had no idea there was a hockey team in Nashville and once I knew that information I had no idea why it had a saber-toothed cat as a logo. Turns out in 1971, the skeleton of one of these was found during construction of the First American National Bank building in downtown Nashville. The Predators — or “Preds” as they are also known (really?!) — have been using the same logo since they joined the league and this week they unveiled an updated identity.

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Opinion BY Clinton Duncan

Acer

Acer, as you’re probably aware, is a Taiwanese computer and electronics manufacturer, making everything from desktop and laptop PCs, PDAs, storage devices, smartphones and… well you get it. What you may not know, is they are the global number two PC maker, behind HP and in front of Dell. They recently updated their rather odd looking pine green logo to a less odd, more “consumer friendly yet technological” lime green logotype in their push to be ‘more like Apple’. Financial Times has the story. Below (or after the jump) you can see the progression over the years, with the latest iteration definitely the best yet.

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Opinion BY Armin

Deutsche Eishockey Liga

Established in 1994, the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (German Ice Hockey League in English, DEL for short), is the professional Hockey league in Germany, featuring 14 teams and, apparently, the highest number of American and Canadian players outside the NHL. The new logo has been designed by buergerclever.

Thanks to Simon Vatareck for the tip.

A B-Side BY Armin

Tetley

Established in 1837, Tetley is the second largest manufacturer of tea in the world. New logo has been introduced without much of a peep.

Thanks to Nicholas Chuva Plagge for the tip.

A B-Side BY Armin

Root Sports

Root Sports, a subsidiary of DirecTV Sports, is the new name that will take over three regional sports channels in Seattle (formerly FSN Northwest), Denver (formerly FSN Rocky Mountain), and Pittsburgh (formerly FSN Pittsburgh). Troika has designed the identity and on-air package. All work can be seen at their website.

A B-Side BY Armin

Bridgestone

Established in 1931 and based in Japan, Bridgestone manufactures tires for motorcycles, and passenger and commercial vehicles, among other tire and tube products. Earlier this month, Bridgestone announced a revision to its corporate philosophy as well as the Bridgestone Logo, Bridgestone Mark and B Mark. The press release explains: “This refinement is intended to reflect a sense of ‘coexistence with people around the world’, ‘flexible strength’ and ‘a sense of speedin adjusting to change’. This is an evolution from the previous logo which expresses ‘strength’ and ‘a sense of physical speed.’”

Thanks to Roy Levitt for first tip.

A B-Side BY lauren

The Arc

Among the 10 largest charitable organizations in the US, The Arc recently launched a new brand today in its efforts to “build upon a 60-year history of promoting and protecting the human rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.” The launch of The Arc’s new brand coincides with the beginning of National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. New logo designed by New York-based CoreBrand.

Opinion BY Rietje Gieskes

Retuled

The TUL, Transport Urbain Lavallois, is a network of buses based in the Laval community in France. The network consists of 54 buses that travel 21,000,000 kilometers, (that’s 13,048,795 miles for you metric-phobes) every year, and in the process transports an average of 7 million passengers. Their new colorful identity designed by Royalties Agency launched earlier this year.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Jetstream Freight Forwarding

Founded in 1997 in Seattle, WA, Jetstream Freight Forwarding specializes in transportation of perishable goods.

Thanks to Robert Bartlett for the tip.