Opinion BY Armin

Acumen’s Manifesto as Logo

Established in 2001, Acumen (previously Acumen Fund) is a non-profit organization that “raises charitable donations to invest in companies, leaders, and ideas that are changing the way the world tackles poverty.” Acumen invests in companies with a focus on operations in East Africa, West Africa, India, Pakistan or Latin America in the sectors of agriculture, energy, education, health, housing, or water and, most importantly, that they make a product or deliver a service that addresses a critical need for the poor. Over the weekend, Acumen shortened its name, introduced a new identity designed by London-based johnson banks, and launched a new website by briteweb.

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Opinion BY Armin

Lucky Strike/s Out

First chewed and later puffed in 1871, Lucky Strike is a brand of cigarettes originally produced by the R.A. Patterson Tobacco Company and now owned by British American Tobacco. At one point in 1930, Lucky Strike was the leading cigarette brand, selling 40 billion of the little suckers. A success in part attributed to Lucky Strike’s aggressive targeting towards women in the 1920s and later when Raymond Loewy turned the package from green to white to make it more female friendly. Today, well, you can barely find Lucky Strike anywhere except online, in specialty smoking stores, and, apparently, in Germany, where a redesigned logo and packaging designed by G2 has appeared online. There is not much information available, in part because the German website is only accessible to computers in Germany and it’s not clear whether this change will apply to Lucky Strike in all countries or just Germany; all images are taken from Design Tagebuch.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Suffolk University

About: (Est. 1906) “Suffolk University is a private, non-sectarian, university located in Boston, Massachusetts and with 9,192 students (includes all campuses, 8,891 at the Boston location alone), it is the eighth largest university in Metro Boston. It was founded as a law school in 1906 and named after its location in Suffolk County, Massachusetts.” (Source :Wikipedia)

Design by: In-house.

Ed.’s Notes: That’s one awkward icon. Is it flames? Wings? Feathers? Lettuce leaves? Type is nice. One more image of the logo with department lock-ups below (or after the jump).

Relevant links: Suffolk University brand guidelines (PDF). Suffolk Journal article.

Select quote: “This new brand system gives us the tools to build a more unified and dynamic university image,” said Greg Gatlin, Vice President of Marketing and Communications. “That will help us with marketing the university, recruiting, fundraising, communicating to current students, prospective students, alumni, employees, you name it. It’s more than just a logo. It’s a whole system of color, photography, typography, language. It’s really a new way of communicating who we are. The idea is to elevate the university’s brand and bring more people into the conversation.”.

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Opinion BY Armin

Leave it to Beaver (and Nike)

Playing in the NCAA’s Division I tier through the Pac-12 Conference — sorry non-Americans, I know that means absolutely nothing to you (not that I blame you and in the bigger picture it doesn’t really matter other than you should know that’s the higher echelon of college sports) — the Oregon State Beavers are the sports team of Oregon State University. They haven’t been overly successful in terms of winning — only three NCAA national championships in Wrestling, Cross Country, and Baseball — but they have big followings in their football and basketball programs. Yesterday, the Beavers introduced a new logo, identity system, and uniforms designed by Nike’s Graphic Identity Group. The new beaver and block typography will replace the old beaver (obviously) as well as the well-known “OS” monogram and typography (all shown in animated GIF form above).

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Opinion BY Armin

Brighton’s D and F: Anything but Fail

Originally built as the stables and riding house of the Prince of Wales in 1803, the Brighton Dome in Brighton, England — dubbed “city on the edge” — is one of the premier performance venues in the UK, hosting “over 600 events spanning music, theatre, dance, comedy, literature, spoken word, visual arts, film, digital and more.” Brighton Dome consists of three separate spaces: The main Concert Hall, the Corn Exchange, and the Studio Theatre. The Dome and its venues, along with multiple others, and the city of Brighton have been host, since 1967, to the Brighton Festival, a “three week celebration of music, theatre, dance, circus, art and film.” These two entities have been given a new, cohesive identity by London-based johnsonbanks, who explain that the Dome “has always struggled to clearly identify itself, even to the local arts community” and that “each of its constituent parts and multiple venues tended to act independently of each other across 11 months of yearly programming,” while the Festival has undergone an identity redesign each year.

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Opinion BY Armin

Credit Dos and Don’ts

Launched in 2010, Credit Do is a non-profit organization that aims to give youngsters a good grasp of what it takes to be financially responsible and independent while at the same time doing social good. Participants enroll in a project like, say, a food drive and they earn credit towards purchasing food, clothes, supplies, etc. from the local supermarket involved and then for every credit they earn ($10 an hour) another company will match that amount and place it in the participant’s saving account. A cycle of goodwill and small amounts of money earned! All the while, Credit Do provides simple lessons on finances. This month, they launched their first comprehensive website and new identity by New York, NY-based Mucca.

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Opinion BY Armin

Futurebrand’s Future Looks Fuzzy

Established in 1999, Futurebrand is a global brand consultancy — “built on an inimitable focus on innovation and the future” for added pizzaz in their own description — with 26 offices in 18 countries and is part of McCann Worldgroup. Most recently Futurebrand redesigned the American Airlines and Fiji Airways identities and were in charge of deploying the Look of the Games at the London Olympics. They first gained attention in 2003 when they redesigned the UPS logo. This week they introduced a new identity for themselves along with new positioning, “We are the creative future company.”

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A B-Side BY Armin

Nebraska Huskers (Secondary Logo)

About: (Est. 2013) “The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) is the name given to several sports teams of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference. The Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Division I, fielding 21 varsity teams in 15 sports.” (Source: Wikipedia)

Design by: Design department at The Collegiate Licensing Company.

Ed.’s Notes: This is ONLY for the secondary logo, not the main Nebraska university logo nor the main Huskers logo.

Relevant links: In-depth article from the Huskers about the change.

Thanks to Jim Kosmicki for the tip.

Opinion BY Rietje Gieskes

A New Vision for New Visions for Public Schools

New York city public schools benefit greatly from private sector support through organizations like New Visions for Public Schools. Currently the largest of its kind, the nonprofit has prominent supporters like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education. The organization provides funding to a variety of schools, including over 74 public and charter schools, and helps to develop teacher residency programs. With a new day, comes a new vision, as demonstrated by the organization’s new identity designed by New York, NY-based Chermayeff & Geismar.

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Opinion BY Armin

Houston Astros Looking Stellar

Established in 1962 as the Houston Colt 45s, the Houston Astros, as they were renamed in 1965 when they moved into the Astrodome, are the Major League Baseball team for Houston, Texas. The team’s best season came in 2005 when they made it to the World Series but were swept by the Chicago White Sox. In November 2011, it was announced that, after 51 years in the National League, the Astros would move to the American League, a move that balances the two leagues, now each with 15. I’m sure to actual baseball fans this has more philosophical meaning but to me, as math equations go, it makes sense. This past Friday — after MLB stole its thunder by leaking merchandise with the new logo early (and offering an apology) — the Astros unveiled their new logo, uniforms, and mascot at their stadium.

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A B-Side BY Armin

British Film Institute

Established in 1933, the British Film Institute (BFI), as its name implies, is dedicated to all that is good and holy about British film. Back in 2006 we reported on BFI’s new flexible-ish identity by johnson banks, which I liked quite a bit and in our early years of Brand New was one of the first heated comment threads. A new, dumbed-down version of the logo has been designed by London-based Dewynters.

A B-Side BY Armin

Southland Conference

Established in 1963, the Southland Conference participates in all sports in NCAA’s Division I and includes ten teams from Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisian. A revision to its logo, designed by Norman, OK-based Old Hat Creative, was announced in June From the press release: “[The] mark now has a beveled, three-dimensional look, and a brighter gold trim is now two-toned and also beveled. The familiar Southland starburst on the full logo has also been modified to feature 10 points.” Bigger view of the logo below (or after the jump).

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A B-Side BY Armin

OLN

Launched in 1997, OLN (originally Outdoor Life Network) is a Canadian television channel owned by Rogers Media “offering viewers a one-stop destination for adrenaline pumping action and adventure entertainment” with original reality, adventure, and travel series, and sporting events. A new logo was introduced recently. No design credit given and no press release issued.

Thanks to Shawn for the tip.

A B-Side BY Armin

Melbourne Tigers

Founded in 1931, the Melbourne Tigers are Australia’s oldest and one of the most respected teams in the National Basketball League. They have won four championships, most recently in 2008. No design credit given and no press release issued, which isn’t needed really: we don’t need anyone to let us know how much this sucks.

Thanks to Matt Gibbs for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

Madefire Makesawesome

Launched earlier this June, Madefire is a new digital publishing platform for comics and graphic novels through two main features: a desktop web tool where creators can produce their stories, and an iPad that delivers the content, or “Motion Books,” on steroids with animation, music, and sound effects. Among notable artists contributing to the first wave of Motion Books is Watchmen creator Dave Gibbons with the comic “Treatment” and one of the founders of Madefire is Ben Wolstenholme, CEO of Moving Brands, who engaged his team to design the new publishing venture’s identity and user interface.

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A B-Side BY Armin

New Image Systems

New Image Systems, formerly known as New Image Creative Web Solutions, is an IT services company in Germany. A new identity was designed by Berlin-based Boymeetsgirl, who explains: “The sophisticated mark — an allegory to an extraordinary solid network — the distinctive console-styled typography, the powerful colors, the linear design system which is derived from the mark, and the use of a very particular kind of paper with a extreme high opacity decodes the new name into a visual identity that stands out from the masses of IT service providers and manifests the ambition to create remarkable software and system-solutions.” Application images below (or after the jump).

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Opinion BY Armin

It’s Mama Logo Time

Launched in 1984, Lifetime Television is a channel generally devoted and targeted to women. Its most current positioning is being “committed to offering the highest quality entertainment and information programming, and advocating a wide range of issues affecting women and their families.” Long an outlet for bad, made for TV movies, Lifetime has gathered a little bit of steam in the last year or so with shows like Project Runway, Army Wives, and Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Cleavage The Client List, which have yielded actual viewership growth. Lifetime last redesigned their logo in 2008, covered here, which replaced a short-lived logo designed in 2006, so it’s evident that they haven’t landed in a place worth staying a long time for. Last week, Lifetime introduced a completely new look led by Tim Nolan, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Lifetime Networks in collaboration with New York, NY-based Leroy + Clarkson.

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Opinion BY Armin

Boca Goes Global

Established in 1905, Club Atlético Boca Juniors (Boca Juniors for short and Boca for even shorter) is one of the best soccer teams in the world and the history of the sport. Based in the La Boca neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Boca has won 51 national and international titles, including the most recent championship title of Argentina’s premier league. Beyond soccer, Boca Juniors also manages teams in other sports like basketball and volleyball, runs 24 soccer schools around the world, and even has its own hotel, Hotel Boca. At the end of April, Boca Juniors introduced a new global identity for all of its different properties, designed by Buenos Aires-based BridgerConway. From what I understand, this new logo does not replace the team’s shield but rather acts as a complement and endorser.

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Opinion BY Armin

Simplicity Galore

Launched no more than six months ago in December 2011, Coursekit is an online application that re-imagines the education experience for the Internet age by combining simple course management tools with social networking. Over 600 institutions use the service where teachers students can have discussions, share resources, and give and receive grade assignments on the spot. Yesterday, Coursekit announced it would change its name to Lore — co-founder and CEO Joseph Cohen explains that it “gives us freedom to grow, and reflects our belief that learning is about connecting people.” A very nice parallax scrolling microsite explains the name change and defines Lore as “knowledge shared between people.” The design was done in-house, led by Aaron Carambula. The process and inspiration of the identity is captured in another microsite worth a look.

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A B-Side BY Armin

Colorado Springs

Located in South-Central Colorado, Colorado Springs is home to a little over 400,000 folks, many of which were offended at the “before” image shown above which was introduced in November of last year which led to a whole ordeal of doing a new logo. Story here. The new-new logo was designed by local design firm Fixer Creative Co. after an open call for proposals. Their story here.