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.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

Western University: Less Pixelated, More Boring

Established in 1878 in London, Ontario Canada, The University of Western Ontario is one of the largest universities in Canada with over 25,000 undergraduate and graduate students combined and more than 1,300 faculty. Last week they announced a change to their brand name, to Western University, and introduced a new identity designed by Toronto-based Hahn Smith Design and execution of the crest and typography by local type craftsman Ian Brignell.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

TV Land Flips Out

Launched in 1996 and originally part of a Nickelodeon programming block called Nick at Nite, TV Land is a cable television channel aimed (according to owner MTV Networks) at the 40- to 50-year-old with a blend of original programming, classic and contemporary television series acquisitions, and movies. What originally started as a nostalgia-filled, black-and-white-tinted programming has grown into a Betty White-fueled feel-good programming. This month TV Land introduced a revised logo and a new on-air look both designed by Trollbäck + Company, who also designed their previous on-air package.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

Aetna Finds its Groove

Established in 1853, Aetna is one the biggest health insurance companies in the United States offering medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life and disability plans to approximately 36.3 million people. In a move to continue “its evolution from an insurance carrier to a health solutions company” and establish themselves as a more consumer-focused brand, Aetna has introduced a new identity, designed by New York-based Siegel+Gale. To get things started, you can watch a launch video here.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

The Huntsman Rides Again

Founded in 1822 by Joshua Tetley, Tetley’s Brewery in Leeds in West Yorkshire, England is one of the better known beer brands in the UK. Perhaps not always for the right reasons. Although it enjoyed quite a bit of success before the 2000s, Tetley’s beer has bounced around owners — now owned by Carlsberg — and closed its legendary plant in Leeds. Tetley’s is heavily involved in the sponsorship of Rugby teams and its most recent logo and packaging focused a little too heavily on that. Tetley’s recently reintroduced its iconic huntsman logo and new packaging, designed by Leeds-based WPA Pinfold.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

Sign Language for Swoosh

Founded in 1864, Gallaudet University in Washington, DC is “the world’s only university in which all programs and services are specifically designed to accommodate deaf and hard of hearing students.” Gallaudet is a bilingual university, offering all of its courses in both English and American Sign Language to close to 1,800 students with more than 900 employees, of which almost half are deaf or hard of hearing. This week Gallaudet introduced a new logo, designed by an internal design committee with two Gallaudet alumni, Zhou Fang and Scott Carollo, credited as the designers. The process of the redesign has been thoroughly documented here.

Continue reading this entry

A B-Side BY Armin

Uber

Uber is a high-endish cab service that offers smartphone ordering. It provides service in San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington DC, and Paris (the one in France). A new logo was unveiled (literally!) on Monday. News here.

Thanks to Dan Bandy for first tip.

Opinion BY Armin

Vintage Brewer

Founded in 1807 in Blackburn, Lancashire, UK, Thwaites Brewery is an independent, family-owned brewer, bottler, wholesaler, and retailer. Thwaites offers a variety of beers from cask beers to keg beers to bottled beers to craft beers, most of which can be enjoyed at one of their 350 pubs. This past June, Thwaites introduced a new logo and a new fleet of trucks.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

Nice but not Too Nice

With more than 7,700 stores across the U.S., Walgreens is the largest drugstore chain in the country and it has long carried its own private label brands offering discounted prices on common household and grocery items. This past August Walgreens introduced its new Nice! brand which will include over 400 items when it fully launches at the beginning of 2012. The logo and packaging have been designed by New York-based CBX.

Continue reading this entry

A B-Side BY Armin

Salerno

Salerno is a sea-side city in Campania, Italy. This month the City of Salerno introduced a new “consumer” logo to complement the city’s official seal. The new logo has been designed by Massimo Vignelli. Story and pictures of Vignelli’s presentation here. One image that explains the concept behind the logo below (or after the jump).

Continue reading this entry

A B-Side BY Armin

DVF

Established in 1972, DVF is the fashion company of designer Diane von Furstenberg, known for her fabulous patterns and prints. DVF recently revised their logo and identity, designed by New York-based Diego Marini. More samples of the identity here and a detail view of the logo below (or after the jump).

A B-Side BY Armin

University of Southern California

Established in 1880, the University of Southern California counts with 37,000 enrolled students. A new identity has been designed by Pentagram partner DJ Stout in Austin, TX. Press release here. A quick overview of the identity guidelines can be found here [PDF].

Thanks to Alberto G. Manuel for the tip.

A B-Side BY Armin

Maldives

The Maldives is an archipelago of 1,190 Islands in Asia, near India and Sri Lanka. It has a population of 350,000, and described by the Maldives Marketing & Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) as having ” deep blue seas, turquoise reefs, white sandy beaches and palm trees.” In October MMPRC introduced a new tourism logo and slogan. Press release here.

Opinion BY Armin

Old Arrow for New Leaders

Established in 2000, New Leaders (formerly New Leaders for New Schools) is a nonprofit organization that “develops transformational leaders for high-need schools and promotes the system-level policies and practices that allows strong leaders to succeed.” New Leaders runs its training programs in 12 urban areas throughout the US. In the last ten years, New Leaders has prepared almost 800 educators through a variety of their programs like the Emerging Leaders Program, Aspiring Principals Program, and the Principal Institute. In September New Leaders introduced a new identity, designed by Chermayeff & Geismar, to reflect their name change. Disclosure for whatever it’s worth: While at Pentagram and later as UnderConsideration I did collateral material work for New Leaders, 6 and 4 years ago respectively.

Continue reading this entry

A B-Side BY Armin

Help Remedies

Established in 2008, Help Remedies is a pharmaceutical company that produces and retails straightforward, well, remedies. Originally designed by Little Fury, the look of the packaging became pretty iconic for its simplicity. Pearlfisher has updated the look. “We have refined the identity and color-coded the embossed pill shape to make the overall brand architecture more visually strong and to give the brand better stand-out and immediacy of recognition. The design evolution dials up Help’s equities, creating an ownable secondary language through the pill iconography, that will be used across further brand touchpoints and communications.” See the full packaging line below (or after the jump).

Continue reading this entry

A B-Side BY Armin

Society for Rational Dress

First launched in 2002, Society for Rational Dress is the fashion label of designer Corinne Grassini. The new logo, garment tags, lookbook, and stationery have been designed by Duffy & Partners (more images at that link).

Opinion BY Armin

Half Wolf, Half Dragon, a Whole Lot of Awesome

Launched in 2001 and originating in Romania, BitDefender is one of the leading software options for anti-virus protection and internet security, available for both home users and large businesses. This week, with the launch of its latest version, BitDefender introduced a new identity designed by Bucharest-based Brandient.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY John J Custer

Beautiful Ball Terminals

Reaching seven million readers every month, House Beautiful is known as the publication of American home design and decoration. Since being founded in 1896, House Beautiful remains the oldest continuously published shelter magazine in the United States. In 1936, House Beautiful was purchased by Hearst Corporation, who continues to publish the magazine. In September, the magazine rolled out a new editorial design and an updated wordmark crafted by Jeremy Mickel.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

Warburtons’ Complete Package

Established in 1876, Warburtons is a producer of bakery products, from your everyday sliced bread to hot dog buns to pancakes to crumpets. Now, still a Warburton-family-owned business, Warburtons employs 5,000 people working at 14 bakeries and 15 depots across the UK, producing over two million bakery products every day and, according to Nielson Data, it is the “second biggest grocery brand” in the UK. Warburtons’ new logo was introduced back in late 2010 but the complete brand rollout has taken most of 2011 to implement. The whole project was designed by London-based Smith & Milton.

Continue reading this entry

Opinion BY Armin

Pitchfork Forks its Logo

In March of 2009 we reported on the redesign of Pitchfork, the online source for new-fashioned journalism and opinion on music. Established in 1996, Pitchfork has become one of the most influential music arbiters, has launched a concert series, and has spawned Pitchfork TV (in 2008) to showcase videos and other music related content. Yesterday, Pitchfork unveiled a site redesign and a new wordmark to accompany its pitchfork icon.

Continue reading this entry