Opinion BY Armin

Kids will be Kids will be Brand Assets

Established in 1975, Catalpa Kinderopvang (Catalpa Childcare) is one of the largest professional childcare organizations in the Netherlands, providing day care, after school care, and child-minding for more than 18,000 children aged 0 to 13 years across 220 locations that employ 2,300 people. Catalpa introduced a new identity earlier this year designed by Amsterdam-based Koeweiden Postma.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

Established in 1998, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta is one of the largest pediatric systems in the country with three hospitals and 17 neighborhood locations. They recently started using an evolution of their logo, designed by Atlanta, GA-based Matchstic. More on the development here.

Thanks to Rachel Beyerlein for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

Yellow Woodpecker Farm v5.0

Today I’m stepping a little outside my comfort zone by writing about a subject that I fear I will miss to capture its cultural impact. But worse things have happened in this world. Sitio Picapau Amarelo (Yellow Woodpecker Farm) is a classic of children’s literature in Brazil, originally written as early as 1920 by Monteiro Lobato, later transformed into a TV show in the 1950s, going through various iterations of casts, and most recently has been turned into cartoon characters. The stories take place in a picturesque farm and plots form around its main characters: The farm’s owner and a widow, Mrs. Benta; her grandkids, a girl and a boy; a maid; a talking rag doll; a corncob puppet; and a cadre of animals and other visitors. The series has always had an educational bent, more than just pure entertainment, and many generations of Brazilian kids have grown up on its lessons. Recently, Globo TV, Brazil’s biggest TV network, redesigned the complete Sitio Picapau Amarelo with new character illustrations by Bruno Okada and an identity system by Romulo Castilho.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

Follow-up: My Little Pony

Please don’t question me as I feel a deeply rooted obligation to continue coverage of the evolving identity of the 25-year-old Hasbro brand, My Little Pony. I reviewed it last September and even included it in the Best identities of 2009. (I like to keep you all guessing as to my sanity). To coincide with the launch of the animated series My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic on The Hub channel, recently reviewed here, My Little Pony has introduced a new logo.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

Discovery Kids Grows Up

Launched in 1996, Discovery Kids is another popular channel of the Discovery Communications empire with an emphasis on — stating the obvious here — programming for kids focusing on science and nature shows. Beyond its programming, Discovery Kids has also grown into a successful product brand, selling everything from little plastic dinosaurs to night goggles. This merchandising extension is important to note as on October of this year, Discovery Kids, the channel, will be replaced by The Hub, a collaboration between Discovery Communications and toy maker Hasbro. We covered that logo in February. So the new identity, created by Irvine, California-based Mattson Creative, is now a consumer product brand and not just a channel identifier.

Continue reading this entry