A B-Side BY Armin

Transdev

About: Transdev (Est. as Société centrale pour l’équipement du territoire in 1955) and Veolia Transport (Est. 1876) have merged to become “Transdev. A subsidiary of Caisse des Dépôts and Veolia Environnement, Transdev is a world leader in public transport. From pre-project to daily operations of public transport systems to project management assistance, Transdev provides consulting and support to local communities. With 101,000 employees in 27 countries and operating 60,000 vehicles and 24 tram networks, Transdev generated revenues of 7.6 billion euros in 2012.”

Design by: W&Cie.

Ed.’s Notes: If one must use a neutered sprite in a logo this is as good as it gets. It’s really not that bad; could have done without the gradient. The wordmark is questionable. Bigger view of the logo and a couple of applications below (or after the jump).

Relevant links: W&Cie blog post. Press release (French). Merger FAQ.

Select quote: “Commenting on the new identity of the group, Jean-Marc Janaillac said: ‘Transdev and Veolia Transport are two known brands, recognized and appreciated by our clients for more than twenty years, which is why we chose the name of one and the color of the other.’ The Transdev name is preserved and given a new identity. Red, an open and visible color, synonymous with passion, empowers the logo while anchoring the history of the group.”

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Opinion BY Armin

Double-dip This

Established in 1979 making small batches of chocolate for Easter, Chocolats Favorites is now one of the premier destinations for chocolate aficionados since opening its first retail store in 1996 in Lévis, Quebec where they started offering melted chocolate for dipping ice cream in along with chocolate bars and other confections. With three retail locations in Quebec, Chocolats Favoris recently opened its fourth location with a whole new retail experience, identity, and packaging designed by lg2boutique. For an inside peek at the store I recommend browsing through this review of someone who attended the opening.

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Opinion BY Armin

Hand Beats Filter in New Instagram Wordmark

Established in 2010 and hundreds of millions of photographs ago, Instagram is a “fun and quirky way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures”. Obviously, that’s an understatement. For its 100 million users, Instagram is as much part of life as texting and e-mailing and Facebook (who we all know paid a cool billion dollars to acquire Instagram in April of 2012 — who’s laughing now?) and its filters have established a new lingua franca for documenting food, clouds, and POV of places you are not in. Point being: Instagram is big. And important. Small changes are big changes. And its latest update, version 3.5, brought along with it a redesigned wordmark crafted by Denver, CO-based Mackey Saturday.

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Opinion BY Armin

It’s Good to be the King

Established in 2003, King is one of the leaders in cross-platform, casual, social games with 150 exclusive titles available in 14 languages and has grown to become the second largest developer — behind powerhouse Zynga — of games on Facebook and a leader in mobile with over 108 million monthly players generating over 12 billion game plays per month. Interestingly, according to their advertising page, 75% of their players are women and 70% have children. King has offices in London, Stockholm, Barcelona, Bucharest, Hamburg, Malta, Malmo and San Francisco. Today, King introduced a new identity designed by London-based venturethree.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Vine

About: (Est. 2013) “Vine is a mobile app by Twitter that hosts short video clips for sharing through the user’s Twitter feed. Clips have a maximum length of six seconds. It debuted on 24 January 2013 as a free iOS app on the iPhone and iPod Touch. ” (Source: Wikipedia)

Design by: N/A.

Ed.’s Notes: Undecided if I love it or hate it. There is something attractive about it but there is something very unresolved about the script approach. Bigger view of the logo and app icon below (or after the jump).

Relevant links: N/A.

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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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Opinion BY Armin

ITV Follows New Script

Established in 1955, ITV (originally for Independent Television Authority) is the biggest commercial television network in the UK and is the main competition of the BBC and Channel 4. ITV operates five different channels: ITV1, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, and CITV covering everything from reality TV to sports to drama to sitcoms to children programming. Last week, at its upfronts event, ITV unveiled a new umbrella logo for its company and all its channels to be rolled out on January 2013 along with supporting new on-air packaging for all channels. The design has been done in-house. For the most comprehensive coverage and reporting about all the changes, please see this Digital Spy story.

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Opinion BY Armin

Wendy’s Wendy: Cutest 43-year-old

First opened in 1969 in Columbus, OH, Wendy’s is the third largest quick-service hamburger company in the world, with more than 6,500 franchise and company restaurants in the U.S. and 27 other countries. To paraphrase one of the greatest spokespersons — not as great as Wendy’s own (and its founder) Dave Thomas — “I don’t always eat quick-service hamburgers, but when I do, I prefer Wendy’s.” Perhaps it’s the square shape of their hamburgers but they are the least unappealing of all fast food hamburgers. Their frosty dessert thingie is awesome. Anyway. The Associated Press has reported on a new Wendy’s logo that will start appearing in March 2013 on newly built and renovated restaurants — which I am assuming will follow the test stores designed by San Francisco, CA-based Tesser.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Visit Indy

Formerly known as Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association, the newly renamed Visit Indy is the organization devoted to promoting the city. A new logo, designed by local firm The Lodge was introduced last week. From a news story: “The logo uses several Indy-centric images including an ‘I’ in the word Indy that is supposed to symbolize Monument Circle and a large oval shape coming off the tail of the ‘y’ in Indy symbolizing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Indy 500.” A bigger and more gradient-y view of the logo below (or after the jump).

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Opinion BY Armin

The Stars of Roller Derby

Established in 2001, TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls is a 6-team, skater-owned, all-girl roller derby league in Austin, TX. They are credited as one of the main reasons for the modern-day revival of the sport, appearing in the 13-episode reality series Rollergirls on A&E as well as being the namesake of the league in the mildly popular Drew Barrymore film Whip It!. Playing on the harder-core banked track (as opposed to flat) the TXRD is made up of the Hellcats, Putas Del Fuego (Fire’s Whores), Holy Rollers, Rhinestone Cowgirls, Cherry Bombs, and Hired Gun$. A new identity was introduced in May, designed by Austin-based Greatest Common Factory.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Puffs

Introduced in 1960, Puffs is a line of facial tissue produced by Procter & Gamble. A new look was recently introduced. Image of the new boxes below (or after the jump).

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Opinion BY Armin

A Smile from L to L

Established in 1905, Carulla is a chain of grocery stores across Colombia with 76 locations and 6,000 employees. This past Friday, it introduced a revised identity designed by Bogotá, Colombia-based SmartBrands that will roll out in a dozen stores first.

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A B-Side BY Armin

IEG

Established more than 30 years ago (sorry couldn’t find an exact date), IEG helps some of the biggest companies make the best of their sponsorships. Earlier this year IEG introduced a new logo designed by IDEON. Stationery shot below (or after the jump).

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A B-Side BY Armin

Music Choice

Music Choice is a range of music channels provided by cable services like Comcast and Time Warner Cable. In January, they introduced a new logo designed by Siegel+Gale. Bigger view of the logo below (or after the jump).

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Opinion BY Armin

HotelsHotelsHotelsHotels.com

Launched in 2002, Hotels.com is an online service to reserve lodging around the world with more than 145,000 properties listed. The last time we talked about Hotels.com was in 2008 when two separate logos, one for the U.S. market and the other one for international sites, were introduced. Since then, Hotels.com has completely abandoned the bellhop mascot and adopted “SMART”, a soul-patched claymation spokesperson that is not as annoying as he may seem at first glance. This month, Hotels.com has introduced a new logo.

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Opinion BY Armin

Tahoe South is Where It’s At

Located smack in the middle of the border between California and Nevada states, Lake Tahoe is one of the most popular vacation and fun-having destinations in the U.S. with a mix of nature-y stuff like skiing, hiking, boating, and more as well as, thanks to its Nevada location, plenty of gambling. Lake Tahoe has two main cities, Tahoe City to the North on the California side and South Lake Tahoe on the South still in California but a stone’s throw away from Nevada, making it more attractive to the work-hard-play-hard crowd. In charge of the South side is the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority who are intent of making their side the side to be in. Changing the destination name from Lake Tahoe South Shore to simply Tahoe South, they have introduced a new identity designed by San Francisco, CA-based Duncan/Channon.

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Opinion BY Armin

Brandiose is Grandiose

Established in 2000 as Plan B Branding by life-long friends Jason Klein and Casey White, Brandiose, as the new company has been named, is a branding firm focused on designing official logos and uniforms for Minor League Baseball teams with awesome names like the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs and the Richmond Flying Squirrels. Having been called to the Majors, they also revitalized the Cincinnati Reds logos and uniforms. With the new name comes a new identity with lettering by Ken Barber.

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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

Cadena 100

Established in 1992, Cadena 100 is one of the most popular radio stations in Spain. Their new logo and identity have been designed by Madrid-based Coleman CBX. More applications below (or after the jump).

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Opinion BY Armin

Jenny from the Block

Established in 1983 by Jenny Craig (and husband Sidney Craig) in Melbourne, Australia, Jenny Craig is a weight loss and nutrition company that offers at-home diet programs as well as “In-centre” at over 650 locations worldwide. Last year, Consumer Reports named it the number one diet. This past November, Jenny Craig lost some of its own weight, shedding the “Craig” to just be known as Jenny, along with a new logo and brand ambassador.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Rio 2016 Paralympic Games

The emblem for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio was unveiled this Saturday. It was designed by Tátil, the same firm that designed the Olympics logo. Press release here. Detail of the logo and video presentation below (or after the jump).

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Opinion BY Armin

Ready. Aim. Chat!

Released in 1997, AIM, short for AOL Instant Messenger, was the original IM-ing choice for the first mass generation of internet users, making it the one socially acceptable product from AOL one could use without losing his or her cred. Even with the onslaught of instant message features in Gmail and Facebook and major applications like Skype and Apple’s own Chat, AIM has somehow managed to keep its spot — or at least a spot — in the market. Lacking any serious updates in recent years, AOL is completely rebooting AIM, launching a new version this week with mobile apps for the iPhone and Android, desktop clients for Mac and PC, and a site for chatting directly on your browser. With this a new logo has also been introduced.

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Opinion BY Armin

Sign Here

Only one of three mobile telecommunication service providers in Argentina, Personal, whose parent company is giant Telecom Argentina, has 18 million customers. (Sorry, don’t have much else to say about it). Earlier this month, Personal introduced a new identity created by London-based This is Real Art and a new ad campaign by TBWA\Buenos Aires.

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A B-Side BY Armin

SusieCakes

SusieCakes is “an all-American bakery offering classic desserts such as cakes, cookies, cupcakes, pies, and puddings” with six locations across California where you can sit down, take out, or custom order. The new identity, packaging and website have been designed by Brooklyn-based Red Antler. The custom wordmark was created by “literally exploring letter forms drawn with buttercream frosting.” Plenty of applications here.

A B-Side BY Armin

Del Taco

First opened in 1964, Del Taco is a fast food chain of Mexican-ish offerings, with 525 restaurants in 17 states. With the launch of a few prototype stores, a new logo is being introduced. Both designed by Tesser. Press release here.

Thanks to Abe Vizcarra for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

Beam me up, Jim

In 1795, Jacob Beam sold his first barrel of whiskey in Kentucky. 216 years later, Beam Inc. is the fourth largest spirits company in the world producing and distributing some of the most well known spirit brands like the eponymous Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, Sauza Tequila, Courvoisier, Knob Creek, and Effen Vodka, among a portfolio of 65 brands. Previously part of major holding company Fortune Brands, Beam is now an independent company that began trading on the NYSE earlier this month. Their new logo was introduced in August.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Santo Domingo

Cluster Turístico de Santo Domingo, the tourism office of the capital of the Dominican Republic, has just released a new destination logo for the city. More story here.

Thanks to Mirek Janczur for the tip.

A B-Side BY Armin

NBC Sports

NBC Sports, a major “segment” of the programming at NBC, is now also its own channel as NBCUniversal has announced the transformation of the old Versus channel into the NBC Sports Network, which will share the look with the segment on NBC. More details here.

Thanks to Reilly Brennan for first tip.

The B-Side BY cole

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.

Opinion BY Armin

Winnipeg Hockey gets Bellicose

Set to begin play in the 2011/12 season of the NHL, the Winnipeg Jets are the result of the purchase of the Atlanta Thrashers (who joined the league as an expansion team in the 1999/2000 season) by True North Sports & Entertainment with the full intent of bringing the team to Canada, where they own the MTS Centre in downtown Winnipeg. If, to some, the Winnipeg Jets name sounds familiar it’s because it used to exist first as a World Hockey Association team from 1972 to 1979 and then as an NHL franchise from 1979 to 1996. Last week, the Jets unveiled their new identity designed by Reebok, that celebrates the city’s ties to the Canadian Air Force.

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Opinion BY Armin

A to S is the New A to Z

Although strands of the company go back to 1996, Atos was first formed in 2000, the same year it became Atos Origin. This month, with the acquisition of Siemens IT Solutions and Services GmbH, the company is back to being known as Atos. With 78,500 employees in 42 countries Atos is an information technology services company — they also happen to be the worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic Games, so they must know what they are doing. With the new name comes a new identity. According to a brand manual that got floated past me, the concept is credited to Atos Talents & Communications (fancy way of saying “in-house”) and Publicis’ Royalties. Atos has also introduced a couple of tag lines and mottos: “Your business technologists” as the descriptor, “Powering progress” as the signature, and “The power of to” also pops up here and there on their website.

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Opinion BY Armin

Attack of the Red Gradients

Established in 1976, EDP (Energias de Portugal) is not just the largest electricity and energy company in Portugal but also a major player globally with presence in Spain, Brazil, and the U.S. with more than 12,000 employees worldwide. It’s also the third largest wind operator in the world. Last week EDP unveiled a new identity designed by Sagmeister Inc.

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Guest Opinion by Roy Levitt posted BY Brand New

Time to Gogo?

In 2008 Gogo — an inflight Wi-Fi hotspot service, offered by Aircell — revolutionized commercial airline communications for passengers. Available above 10,000 ft. over U.S. air space Gogo provides access to the Web, e-mail, instant messaging, and corporate VPNs. Gogo is available on all AirTran Airways and Virgin America flights, and select Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta, Frontier, United, and US Airways flights with various pricing options.

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Opinion BY Armin

Milliken Goes Soft

With roots as far back as 1865, Milliken is a South Carolina-based “innovation company that has been exploring, discovering, and creating ways to enhance people’s lives”. What that means is that they develop new products that are hard to categorize in one fell swoop: they manufacture floor coverings, carpet, specialty fabrics, and even chemicals that go into things like crayons. Milliken holds an astounding 2,200 patents and employes 7,000 people — more than a 100 PhD’s among them — and maintains 39 manufacturing facilities across the world. In April Milliken introduced a new identity designed by San Francisco-based SALT Branding that is based on the signature of its late President Roger Milliken, who had taken over the company in 1947 when his father and company founder Seth Milliken passed away.

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A B-Side BY Armin

SnackWell’s

SnackWell’s, a brand of sweet not-so-crappy-for-you snacks produced by Nabisco, has just updated its logo and packaging. New tagline is “Be Bad. Snack Well.” Press release here. More packaging images and logo at SnackWell’s site.

Thanks to Cary Whitt for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

Little Chef, Big Dreams

First opened in 1958, Little Chef is a chain of restaurants found along the highways and “A roads” in the UK. Currently operating 162 locations, Little Chef boasts of serving 10 million cups of tea, 12 million rashers of bacon, 10 million eggs, and 13 million sausages each year. At Little Chef you can sit down and order food, or take food to go, or just buy stuff. Sounds like a combination of Canada’s Tim Hortons and the US’s IHOP and 7-Eleven. Little Chef has just undergone a big revitalization of its identity, designed by London-based venturethree, and its restaurant design by Ab Rogers Design.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Pinterest

Pinterest is a handy bookmarking site that allows you to “pin” things on your very own personal cloud board. A new logo has been designed by Brooklyn-based Michael Deal and Juan Carlos Pagan. A fun, in-depth making-of-the-logo post by the Pinterest team can be found here.

Thanks to Cole Imperi for the tip.

A B-Side BY Armin

Mom’s Best Naturals

Mom’s Best Naturals is a line of breakfast cereals made from all natural ingredients. A new logo and packaging have been making it to market recently.

Thanks to Josh Crain for the tip.

A B-Side BY Armin

St. Petersburg/Clearwater

St. Petersburg/Clearwater is, as the name implies, a small region in Florida encompassing the area of and between the cities of St. Petersburg and Clearwater, featuring lovely beaches, resorts, and weather. In March a new identity designed by Pentagram was introduced.

Opinion BY Rietje Gieskes

Aster-isk Identitus

Aster, one of the oldest shoe brands in France, has been delivering high quality children’s footwear since 1913. Their shoes feature a unique die-cut of an Aster (Diplopappus) flower, a shape recently upgraded to brand icon status. The redesign, led by Bayaderes, includes a refined color palette and a playful script.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Fort Lauderdale Strikers

Prior to the 2011 season known as Miami FC, the newly renamed Fort Lauderdale Strikers are a soccer team that play in the North American Soccer League. The new identity has been designed by 343RLP+ Creative Group. Press release here.

Thanks to Roy Levitt for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

Peru’s New Brand

It’s hard to describe countries without making sweeping statements or delving into clichés, so I won’t even attempt to describe Peru, other than to state some (hopefully obvious to everyone) facts: It’s in South America, its official language is Spanish, and it’s beautiful from its landmarks to its people. Last week saw the culmination of a process that started in 2009 led by PromPeru (Peru Exports and Tourism Promotion Comission) with the unveiling of Peru’s country brand, designed by the Buenos Aires office of Futurebrand.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Jet Cooper

Located in Toronto and established in 2009, Jet Cooper is a digital agency. Last year they worked with the fab letterers at Underware to redesign their wordmark. Check out how sexy it looks as an office sign.

A B-Side BY Armin

LivingSocial

Established in 2007, LivingSocial is a site that serves up daily deals — 50% off this, 25% off that, etc. — promoting social interaction between friends. In December it secured a $175-million-investment from Amazon. A new logo was introduced this week. You can see a detail of the icon over the “i” here.

Thanks to Kyle Hildebrant for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

The Creative Group

Established in 1999, The Creative Group, a division of Robert Half International, is a recruiting and staffing agency specialized in the creative industry. Its new identity has been designed by San Francisco-based Hatch.

Thanks to Jason Alejandro for the tip.

A B-Side BY Armin

Yogurtland

First opened in 2006 and headquartered in Anaheim, CA, Yogurtland is one of the many players in the self-serve frozen yogurt category and counts with about 100 locations in the U.S. and Japan. The new logo has been spotted as early as 2009, and it has just recently been updated on their website. A Flickr set of one of the locations with the new design can be seen here.

Thanks to Jeffrey Toye for the tip.

A B-Side BY Armin

Butlins

First established in 1936 in the British seaside town of Skegness, Butlins operates three popular holiday family resorts in the UK. This year they celebrate their 75th anniversary.

Thanks to Tom Peet for first tip.

Opinion BY Armin

There is a New “W” in Town

Originally home to the Washington Senators, not one (1901 – 1960) but two times (1961 – 1971), Washington’s current Major League Baseball team is the Nationals, who were originally the Montreal Expos before they relocated to the U.S. as an expansion franchise. On November of last year, the Nationals announced new uniforms and new logos.

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Opinion BY Armin

The Beers’ New Emperors

Established in 1890 with the launch of its first beer brand, Carta Blanca, Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma brewery is one of Mexico’s main breweries along with its competitor Grupo Modelo, makers of the famous Corona beer. Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma’s greatest hits include Tecate, Sol, Carta Blanca, and, probably the most well known in the U.S., Dos Equis (thank you most interesting man in the world). They also produce some of my favorite Mexican beers, Bohemia, Noche Buena, and Indio — as well as some undrinkable stuff like Coors Light and Tecate Light. To commemorate its 120th anniversary and its recent acquisition by Heineken International, Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma introduced a new logo.

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Opinion BY Clinton Duncan

Smile, you are on Candid Airport

Gatwick Airport, formerly London Gatwick airport, is the world’s 28th busiest airport, and until 2009, was owned by BAA, or British Airports Authority, just one amongst the many it owned in the south-east of England. Forced to sell after a government review came to the conclusion that one operator owning every airport in town was uncompetitive, the new owners turned to the experienced hands of branding consultancy Lewis Moberly.

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Opinion BY Armin

Eat! Organic! Mouths!

Opened in 2009 as one of the most committed and focused stores in providing organic and environmentally conscious products — from produce to laundry detergent to milk — in Stockholm, Hermans Ekohandel has grown in popularity and in ambitions, leading it to redesign its identity and rename its store, to Eat! Ekoaffären, with the help of Stockholm-based Bedow Creative.

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Opinion BY Armin

Something Fishy’s Going On

Last week, the newly formed volunteer organization desigNYC — a “group of designers and design advocates with the mission of helping nonprofit and community groups in need of design services connect with professional, pro bono design resources” — had an opening reception for an exhibit that showcases the progress of its first twelve pilot projects, which range from scopes like a master plan for a 100-block ecological corridor to a children’s play room for domestic violence survivors. Among them was also redesigning the identity for the Bronx River Alliance, a nonprofit organization that works to “improve and restore the Bronx River corridor so that it can be a healthy ecological, recreational, educational and economic resource for the communities through which the river flows.” In charge of this project were Felix Sockwell and Tom Vasquez, who worked with Steven Heller, a desigNYC Team Advisor.

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