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Euronews, a 15-year-old news channel with an unconventional approach — i.e., their “No Comment” segment features news clips presented without segues or comments, it just rolls — launched a new identity last week. Designed by Paris-based advertising agency FFL, the new logo is a white circle paired with the awful choice of either ITC Bauhaus or its rich version, Chalet 1970 — elements indicative of transparency and simplicity in the delivery of news that Euronews strives for, or, in their words, “The new euronews signature epitomises the fundamental values of the channel: honesty, integrity, neutrality, transparency in the broadcasting of information and,in particular, respect for the viewer who is looking for information over spectacle.” This page has a nice collection of brand statements and positioning about the channel and the new logo as well. I have never watched Euronews, so I will have to go by what I’ve read so far, and it feels like the positioning and the logo are on par with each other and, above all, signal confidence. I really don’t like the typeface choice at all because it is trying too hard to be different, and because it does not reflect the goal of simplicity, and the white circle could be a little pretentious, but it fits the quirky attitude of the channel.
Thanks to Ranwa Hakim for the tip.
Jump to Most Recent Comment
Darrin Crescenzi’s comment is:
Sunglass Hut?
On Jun.09.2008 at 12:16 PM
Mondayne’s comment is:
Sunglass Hut indeed.
On Jun.09.2008 at 12:41 PM
pedro’s comment is:
According to them, they spent two years coming up with the white circle. I think that may be a little too much.
On Jun.09.2008 at 12:49 PM
Rachel’s comment is:
I could not be more bored by this. It's "neutral" to the point of being non-existent.
On Jun.09.2008 at 12:51 PM
Harris’s comment is:
I think they spent 2 years trying to figure out what to put in the white circle, and then gave up.
On Jun.09.2008 at 01:01 PM
Rico’s comment is:
No comment.
On Jun.09.2008 at 01:10 PM
Brad’s comment is:
I'm going to file this one away. It will serve a re-assurance next time I'm worried that I've over-simplified somehting.
A circle for a logo mark? Where can I find clients like that?
On Jun.09.2008 at 01:20 PM
Whaleroot’s comment is:
For a brief second there it was almost cool. Like Jencos.
Gross.
On Jun.09.2008 at 01:22 PM
Pat Broderick’s comment is:
A circle for a logo mark? Where can I find clients like that?
Europe, apparently.
On Jun.09.2008 at 01:27 PM
word’s comment is:
the circle sits uncomfortably to the right, i cant shake the urge to nudge it to the left a bit, pissing me off. anyone else seeing that or am i crossed?
On Jun.09.2008 at 01:40 PM
kristen’s comment is:
A new tv network (part of Discovery) just launched less than a week ago, also using a circle for their logo: Planet Green.
Matheus’s comment is:
how can you trademark a circle? thats just super LOL
On Jun.09.2008 at 02:10 PM
Kosal Sen’s comment is:
Human Rights Watch used to have a circle-on-a-field-of-color logo. From their website now, looks like it's gone. And H&R Block is gonna have a fit when planet green gets big.
On Jun.09.2008 at 02:12 PM
john’s comment is:
Euro-eews is more like it.
/ try the veal
On Jun.09.2008 at 02:36 PM
Anonymous’s comment is:
"The new euronews signature epitomises the fundamental values of the channel: honesty, integrity, neutrality, transparency in the broadcasting of information and,in particular, respect for the viewer who is looking for information over spectacle.
Well, they nailed the "neutral" quality for sure. For a news organizations, this logo doesn't impart anything of interest at all. If I were asked to create the most boring, "neutral", sterile, empty and lifeless logomark I could, I'd probably start with a white circle.
White denotes purity, simplicity, cleanliness, emptiness...pretty much the opposite of what comes to mind when I think of a news outlet.
The former identity is outdated and visually jarring, but at least it conveyed a sense of action and vibrancy, coverage of the "spectrum" of news and information. This one makes me go "uhhhhh"
On Jun.09.2008 at 02:59 PM
ScottS’s comment is:
Well, they nailed the "neutral" quality for sure. For a news organizations, this logo doesn't impart anything of interest at all. If I were asked to create the most boring, "neutral", sterile, empty and lifeless logomark I could, I'd probably start with a white circle.
White denotes purity, simplicity, cleanliness, emptiness...pretty much the opposite of what comes to mind when I think of a news outlet.
The former identity is outdated and visually jarring, but at least it conveyed a sense of action and vibrancy, coverage of the "spectrum" of news and information. This one makes me go "hmmm"
On Jun.09.2008 at 03:00 PM
adrian’s comment is:
I do like the typeface.
On Jun.09.2008 at 03:01 PM
Malcolm’s comment is:
I'm not so into this. Granted, the exploding logo was awful, but a blank circle? I don't see pretentiousness, I just don't see much of anything.
On Jun.09.2008 at 03:02 PM
LadyN’s comment is:
From too much to not enough...wtf?
...do not go towards the white circled light...it's bad news...
On Jun.09.2008 at 03:16 PM
Bart O'Dell’s comment is:
If H&R Block can have a lime square, planet green has a lime circle, why not another geometric for another company?
These types of things make me wish I had clients like this. LOL.
On Jun.09.2008 at 03:20 PM
Mark’s comment is:
It looks pretty simple.
Is that supposed to be the moon? LOL
What's it supposed to mean?
On Jun.09.2008 at 04:02 PM
Lasse Rintakumpu’s comment is:
How fitting, a boring logo for a boring channel (and I'm saying this as a news addict).
On Jun.09.2008 at 04:24 PM
Freddy’s comment is:
the kerning is terrible!
On Jun.09.2008 at 05:14 PM
Jeff A.’s comment is:
The old logo was ugly, the new logo has no soul.
Truly uninspiring.
On Jun.09.2008 at 06:25 PM
Paul’s comment is:
"The old logo was ugly, the new logo has no soul."
true that!
Jesse’s comment is:
I like it.
On Jun.09.2008 at 08:10 PM
Glenn ’s comment is:
WTF? Truly lame and uninspired.
On Jun.09.2008 at 11:30 PM
Joshua Levi’s comment is:
It's difficult to justify calling this pretentious...
Who cares what people 'like?' Given the simplicity
of the symbol, I'm glad they hose a face that is
unique enough to stand on it's own.
Who cares about the sunglass hut? The sunglass hut
has nothing to do with a news channel and no one
in their right ming would confuse the two.
Logo's don't need souls--identities do. If we take this
logo in the context of the entire identity, it has one.
Go to the website, the news practically jumps off the page
and bites you in the face. The photos are the only color
on the page.
You don't even have to read the 'positioning' to get this
one--the wold is a blank canvas, not partisan news,
clarirty, focus, etc.
I suspect it didn't take FFL 2 years to make a circle.
I'm guessing thats when they won the pitch, a time after
that they started research, then created positioning, then
began design, then created a logo and communications
look and feel, then created guidelines around it, than
actually produced materials, then euronews prepared to
launch internally, then they finally launched.
Depending on the client and the scope, 2 years isn't an
exceptionally strange amount of time for projects like
this to take from pitch to launch...
This isn't my favorite identity in the world, but it's
conceptually solid, and executed wall across mediums.
Simple is hard.
On Jun.10.2008 at 02:01 AM
stefano picco’s comment is:
I think this is a great redesign, I like it very much and the simplicity is awesome!
On Jun.10.2008 at 03:15 AM
Viriathe’s comment is:
A great minimalistic design, neutral & clean
On Jun.10.2008 at 04:01 AM
Mondayne’s comment is:
Joshua Levi:
I totally laughed when you said "'m glad they hose a face that is unique enough to stand on it's own" because I imagined a person getting a fireman hose to the face. And then I reread it, and it all made sense.
But don't get me wrong, I'm not laughing at the spelling mistake, I do that all the time. ALL THE TIME!
On Jun.10.2008 at 05:23 AM
Joshua Levi’s comment is:
Mondayne--
Thanks for pointing that out. Thats a pretty good spelling mistake.
To clarify about the type, what I meant was having a symbol like this (or lack there of to a certain degree) requires having a wordmark that almost has the power to stand on its own without a symbol--letterforms that have some uniqueness to them. Is this the 'right' face? I can't say, but what I can say is having something like Avenir or Gotham paired with a white circle would most likely appear less 'unique.' This mark's trying to balance two opposing factors: blankness/non partisan feel with having a sense of identity, and that not the easiest thing to do.
On Jun.10.2008 at 08:31 AM
Mondayne’s comment is:
JL:
I am in complete agreement, if you've got a good logotype who needs a symbol? Canon, IBM, etc, etc don't need one. BUT what they do have is not just a standard typeface but something bespoke.
American Apparel on the other hand...um...
I guess it's not about a symbol, or about a logotype, or a particular typeface, or a style of imagery, or type of language used to describe yourself as a brand, or any of the parts, but the entire brand elements viewed together that gives the brand an identity.
I also agree that "trying to balance two opposing factors: blankness/non partisan feel with having a sense of identity, and that not the easiest thing to do"... But Bauhaus(esque)? Really? That one? It just doesn't look very credible, which a news broadcaster would probably need. Right?
On Jun.10.2008 at 09:25 AM
Stephen’s comment is:
!
On Jun.10.2008 at 11:04 AM
Mondayne’s comment is:
Stephen: Now that IS nice.
On Jun.10.2008 at 11:22 AM
VonK’s comment is:
The circle in the field of gray as it's cropped on this page doesn't make me think of "unfiltered, unbiased, etc." at all. All I can think is "what's outside that circle that's being filtered out?" It's like blinders, or tunnel-vision.
And yes, it's sitting just to the right of center. I'm assuming that's just how it's cropped here.
I'm not comfortable with the typeface. It does seem to be trying too hard to be different. I don't think it'll age well.
On Jun.10.2008 at 12:04 PM
Jeff’s comment is:
SNORE. And like Freddy said, some questionable kerning.
On Jun.10.2008 at 02:39 PM
TonyS’s comment is:
I agree with ScottS, and others who said "empty." The idea is more verbal than graphic, its message being "aren't we clever!" The type (trendy in the 30s? 70s?) underscores the narcissism. Net result, a brand significantly weakened.
On Jun.11.2008 at 03:19 PM
orangetiki’s comment is:
Good eyes with the kerning people. apparently it's so dull that I didn't notice that four lane highway between E and W
On Jun.11.2008 at 04:19 PM
Brandon’s comment is:
So, there's the Bass logo and this logo. I guess I'm taking dibs on the solid square!
On Jun.11.2008 at 05:25 PM
Christian’s comment is:
I actually do like to watch euronews, although they don't have any hosts or faces to remember. It's a pretty faceless TV station. However, what really annoys me is how they treat the time stamp with the relaunch. Instead of showing you 8:35, they are OK with just putting up :35 on the screen. You're supposed to guess the hour.
On Jun.11.2008 at 05:59 PM
Von Glitschka’s comment is:
Keeping with the whole European vibe.
On Jun.11.2008 at 08:04 PM
Tephlon’s comment is:
Yeah, the :37 threw me for a loop too, it's not THAT hard to get the right time (Euronews repeats their newscasts until new news comes up.)
I actually like how the whole new ID works together. It looks much better in motion.
On Jun.12.2008 at 07:05 AM
Philip’s comment is:
typeface truly sucks. if they want to show they're a little different, they shouldn't have used a typeface thats so common. i'd like to see their on-air identity package, and to see if they use bauhaus on their ticker. eek.
On Jun.12.2008 at 11:08 AM
PPatrício’s comment is:
I like to watch Euronews. The old logo was bad, but when I saw this one I was terrified. Plus, doesn't work very well on tv screen. Sometimes, it looks like there's a hole in the image or something is missing in it and then you realize "Oh, it's the damn logo!".
On Jun.13.2008 at 08:07 PM
DavidV’s comment is:
They started a survey in their website to check the opinions about the new look of the channel. If someone is interested, the link is http://www.demographix.com/surveys/3QM3-R63Y/7DEZXXNQ/index.html
, or just click on the big banner in the web.
Personally, I like the logo. Is true that it doesn't fit what is expected for a news channel, and that it isn't trendy at all, but is undoubtedly different ( I can't think of any news network with a similar style) and european. And I think that's what they tried to express, so they have what they wanted. And that's essentially what every company wants with its brand.
On Aug.30.2008 at 07:46 AM
WOP’s comment is:
The days of stand alone logos are long gone. Yes, this white circle can come across as a bit esoteric when taken out of context (like this design review site), but the screen application (real life) is brilliant, innovative and definitely conveys the idea of being a "neutral" news channel (which is actually refreshing in today's news media industry). The stark white mark makes total sense and is a nice addition to Euronews' raw-matter of fact approach. No crazy 3D explosions, swooshes or glossy animated crap here. Just news. Remember: Today, Form IS Function.
On Jan.06.2009 at 12:30 PM
Ty Halasz’s comment is:
How bland...
On Jan.07.2009 at 03:44 PM
Daniel’s comment is:
I assume the real logo is in the white circle and it glows in the dark or something … right?
On Mar.24.2009 at 10:50 AM
DK’s comment is:
i swear the circle is actually moving to the right. a permanently shifting but never moving logo!
yes, i admit that was a terrible pun.
On Mar.24.2009 at 01:56 PM
Shoon’s comment is:
If you place the logo (a white circle) on its own, clearly people are going to relate to Euronews and not say, a white circle, dot, blot or any circular smudge.
Money and time well spent on designing that stunning circle of white.
Watch me while i type out this really exaggerated sentence about me rolling my eyes.
On Mar.26.2009 at 01:14 PM
James Newcombe’s comment is:
That typeface is absolutely dreadful, and poorly executed as well - the kerning is a joke
On Apr.17.2009 at 06:24 AM
Tori’s comment is:
Looks like it could be pronounced euron eews or euron e w s.
On Apr.24.2009 at 02:04 AM
Fiona Carvell’s comment is:
It kind of reminds me of lots of other logos & things - The Open University, Pepsi, Football, an orange, the sun, a yawning mouth, a bubble....all of which are more interesting. Give me a pencil and I'll finish it off
On Jul.08.2009 at 07:46 AM
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