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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A B-Side BY Armin

Meebo

Launched in 2005, Meebo is a “consumer internet company that organizes the web around people, and helps build out their interest graph for easy, faster access to relevant info on the web.” They recently relaunched their service and are sporting a new logo.

Thanks to Andrew Watterson for the tip.

Opinion BY John J Custer

I’m With…

Formerly known as Polytechnic South West until 1992, Plymouth University is the ninth largest university in the UK, with a student body reaching just over 30,000 students along with 3,000 faculty and staff members. In June of this year, Plymouth University launched its new identity, “With Plymouth University,” designed jointly by here design and Buddy.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Pacífico Seguros

Pacífico Seguros is one of the leading insurance companies in Peru. New logo designed by FutureBrand. Lovely typography and great “fi” ligature.

Thanks to Franco Zegovia for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

ForeSeeing Arrows

Established in 2001, ForeSee Results “measures satisfaction across customer touch points and delivers critical insights on where to prioritize improvements for maximum impact.” With 200 employees and 58 million completed surveys ForeSee Results has become one of the most reliable tools for measuring customer satisfaction and is quoted regularly in the media. In August, the company announced it would be shortening its name to ForeSee and introduced a new logo designed by Lippincott.

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Opinion BY Armin

All Work and No Play

Established in 1998, Play.com started as an online retailer of DVDs in the UK and has since grown to offer over 8 million items including CDs, books, video games, toys, electronics, and MP3 downloads. After Amazon, it is the second leading online retailer in the UK. In August, Play.com introduced a new identity and a whole new website. There is also a U.S.-based version of Play.com that hasn’t changed logo or web design, probably because no one here considers anything but Amazon.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Koning & Hartman

Established in 2005, Koning & Hartman is a Dutch business-to-business provider of telecommunication services. New logo introduced back in April. No further info.

Thanks to Maarten Heijmerink for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

A Hell of a Place

Established many centuries ago, and its existence debated by many, Hell is a destination for suffering, punishment, and exposure to open flames for those that deserve it. With a long and well documented competition with Heaven, whose existence is also debated by many, Hell has seen a decline in population and brand recognition. This August — fittingly the hottest month of the year — the Hell Office of Travel and Tourism has introduced a new identity designed by Chicago, IL-based Chris Herron Design to position Hell as “the premier global tourist destination.”

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A B-Side BY Armin

Canadian Oil Sands

Canadian Oil Sands is the largest owner of Syncrude, a leader in Canada’s oil sands industry, and what it does is that it provides investment opportunities into Syncrude. Earlier this year they introduced a new identity designed by Toronto-based Craib Design & Communications.

Thanks to Raul Leto for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

Manymoon

Manymoon is a cloud application that adds all kinds of task management functionalities to, and integrates with, Google applications. It was recently acquired by Salesforce.com.

Thanks to Austin Bales for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

New Miracle Balloon, now Hotter

Originally a televised fundraiser first aired in 1983, Children’s Miracle Network — now Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals — has since raised over $4.2 billion in funds that go directly to over 170 children’s hospitals. Most impressively, a lot of those billion dollars are raised $1 or $2 at a time through the sale of the paper “Miracle Balloons.” This month Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals announced its name change along with a new identity done pro-bono by the Cincinnati office of Landor.

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Opinion BY Armin

Mega Amount of Triangles

Originally launched as Red Televisiva Megavisión in 1990, Mega is a popular TV channel in Chile, specifically in the capital city of Santiago where it airs, with a mix of news, reality, and sitcoms like a remake of Married%hellip; with Children (the Bundys are replaced by the Larraíns). In October, Mega introduced a new logo, reportedly designed by local agency Hambre, who were also in charge of the recent Chilean government identity. (They don’t have a website I know of, so it’s hard to corroborate 100%).

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Opinion BY Armin

Hi Pink

Last month, Telkom, the state-owned provider of landline phone services in South Africa, introduced a new mobile service that is only the fourth brand to enter the market — behind Cell C (which we covered in August), Vodacom, and MTN. To introduce the new service Telkom worked with McCann Erickson, who created a pre-launch campaign that inundated the public with cryptic and playful billboards and print advertisements with the word “Heita” (South African slang for “hi”), rendered all in black-and-white with the exception of a pink dot. The pre-launch campaign served to introduce the correct pronunciation of the new provider, 8.ta.

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Opinion BY Armin

Esurance gets Dorky Techie Feely

Only slightly older than ten years old, founded in 1998, San Francisco-based Esurance is one of the leading direct-to-consumer auto insurance companies in the U.S. and one of the better known providers of such unappealing service. Until now, Esurance had been represented by a very generic sunset logo and personalized in the form of Erin Esurance, an animated, pink-haired superhero. Earlier this month, Esurance went through a complete transformation with a new identity and national campaign titled “Techie Feely,” both created by San Francisco-based Duncan/Channon.

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Opinion BY Armin

Walk this Way

Established in 1973 Transportation Alternatives (TA) is a New York non-profit organization whose mission is to “reclaim New York City’s streets from the automobile, and to advocate for bicycling, walking and public transit as the best transportation alternatives.” If you ride your bike in New York and feel a little safer with every passing day, it’s probably thanks to TA, who is also responsible for campaigns to free Central Park and Prospect Part in Brooklyn from cars, as well as championing the controversial congestion pricing initiative that would charge cars for the priviledge of driving around certain parts of the city. This week, TA introduced a new identity created by Doyle Partners — fitting since it’s not rare to spot Mr. Stephen Doyle bicycling around town in a suit.

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