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Mediclinic

Established in 1983, Mediclinic is the largest private healthcare provider in South Africa. They have recently undergone an identity update which can be read about here.

Thanks to Shanaé Lackay for the tip.

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Serena & Lily

Established in 2003, Serena & Lily has transformed from a nursery bedding to home products provider and updated their identity, designed by Partners & Spade, to reflect that change. More on that here.

Thanks to Kevin Tucker for the tip.

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49th Parallel

49th Parallel Coffee Roasters has recently had an identity upgrade in what looks like an attempt to be taken seriously as a coffee provider. A bit more here.

Thanks to Harry Olson for the tip.

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Committee of Organ Donation in Lebanon

The Committee of Organ Donation in Lebanon is an organization dedicated to gifting organs from donors to people in need. Their identity centers on what would be a grisly concept if it was not so tastefully done. A bit more information can be found here.

Thanks to Ivan Raszi for the tip.

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Schlecker

Established in 1975, Schlecker, the Germany based drugstore and one of the largest European retailers, has undergone a recent identity update. The new logo features a bit friendlier type treatment (based on Frutiger, but tweaked for individualization) in an attempt to appear more inviting and approachable. The official press release can be found here but may require Google Translate for the non-German speakers.

Thanks to Ralitza Dilovska for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

Twinkle, Twinkle Black Star

Opening later this Summer just a couple miles north of UnderConsideration headquarters is the Black Star Co-Op Pub and Brewery, providing a fresh take on the co-op model. And by fresh I mean it involves beer and a place to eat some pub grub along with it or, as founder Steven Yarak, says “Why shouldn’t you own the pub you drink at?!”. Black Star’s member-owners also have a say in what the beers taste like, participating in tastings with Black Star’s own brewer, Jeff Young, who will be creating beers under three categories: Rational, Irrational, and Infinite. In preparation for their opening, Black Star has a new identity designed by Austin-based Ptarmak.

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INTL. REVIEW BY PAUL VICKERS POSTED BY Brand New

Moulin Rouge does the Typographic Cancan

As French as the Eiffel Tower or Champagne, the Moulin Rouge Cabaret is an integral part of the history and culture of France and has been on the sightseeing trail of visitors since it was founded in 1889, in the Pigalle red light district, close to Montmartre, Paris. Birthplace of the famous Cancan dance, the red Windmill on its roof is a landmark on the city’s horizon and an iconic symbol of cabaret and nightlife worldwide. Long associated with the avant-garde and leading artists, with some of its early posters designed by none other than Toulouse-Lautrec, the Moulin Rouge has a long design heritage but was in dire need of an overhaul, having drifted into a popular, mass market experience with a cheap and tacky product image. The 120th anniversary of the Moulin Rouge is the occasion to roll out a new brand identity that pays homage to the legend and communicates the magic with a resolutely contemporary brand. Four agencies competed in the in the design pitch, proposing over 40 different proposals, according to this interview with the eventual winners, Paris-based agency John Brightman.

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Opinion BY Armin

A Working City Rises

Started in the long distant past of the year 2000, Workopolis began with a modest 15,000 job listings. Today, it is Canada’s largest job search web site with an average of 40,000 job postings available every day. Recently, Workopolis launched a new brand campaign, headed by the tag line of “Time to Shine” that replaces the more me-focused tag line of “Canada’s biggest job site” and puts forward a revised logo.

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Opinion BY Armin

An Inconvenient Drop Shadow

For a company infamous for their optimization obsessiveness where every nano-second and shade of blue is a matter of life and death, a change as radical as the one seen above must not have come easily. E-mails to Brand New spotting the new logo in the wild started coming in as early as March February and while I was hesitant to post based on a few intermittent reports, it seems now the change is official and, like all things Google, a big deal. The change to the logo comes as part of a bigger redesign of the Google search experience that started to be rolled out yesterday for users in 37 languages — although I’m sure English is one of them, my own Google remains stuck in 2009.

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Opinion BY Armin

Striking Out Cancer

Originally established by the Texas Legislature as the Texas State Cancer Hospital and the Division of Cancer Research in 1941, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center — named after Houston cotton merchant Monroe D. Anderson whose philanthropic foundation made great contributions to the center early on — is today one of the leading cancer research and treatment facilities in the world. Up to 2009, it has been as ranked No. 1 in cancer care in the “America’s Best Hospitals” survey published by U.S. News & World Report in six of the past eight years. Employing more than 17,000 people, MD Anderson treated over 96,000 patients in 2009. A new identity, introduced yesterday, aims to visualize the center’s mission, “to eliminate cancer in Texas, the nation and the world.”

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Opinion BY Armin

The United and Continental Airline Mashup

Yesterday, United and Continental Airlines, the third- and fourth-largest U.S. carriers respectively, announced they would be merging, creating the first-largest carrier. While the media focuses on numbers of flights, ramifications for shareholders and what will happen to customers’ frequent flyer miles we focus our attention on what really matters: The literal merger of two infinitely different brands. As I see it, United has always had the cooler, hipper personality with its Saul Bass-designed tulip icon and Pentagram-crafted wordmark (and livery) as well as its lovely mid-00s TV advertising campaign by Fallon. Continental, on the other hand and despite its globe logo having matching Saul Bass origins is, well, bland. Competent, but boring. Last updated by Lippincott in the early 1990s, making the globe more refined and the typography more formal. So how can these two identities come together? Well, rather painfully.

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Opinion BY Armin

How do I Circle Thee? Let me Circle the Ways…

What started as a company producing “decorative laminates” in 1959 in Portugal, Sonae is now one of the countries largest corporations with almost 40,000 employees that work in a mind-numbing range of sectors across various Sonae-owned customer-facing operations: from food retail, to pharmacies, to clothing, to consumer electronics, to managing shopping centers, to telecommunications, to real estate. Basically, it’s hard to throw a stone in Portugal and not hit something owned or operated by Sonae. This past February it launched a new identity created by Lisboa-based Ivity Brand Corp.

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Opinion BY Armin

Spoiler Alert: The P and G are the Same

One of the things that never ceases to amaze me of writing Brand New reviews is learning about all these multi-thousand-employee organizations that I never knew existed, and if I knew they existed I never quite would have pinpointed what they do. Case in point: PGi. Formerly known, since 1991 and until this past January, as Premiere Global Services, a 2,700-employee organization with offices in 24 countries, whose “advanced meeting, conferencing and collaboration solutions energize people and organizations to connect more meaningfully and work together more productively.” PGI’s services are reportedly used by 90% of the Fortune 500 and by 10 million people every month. So, new name, new logo.

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