Friday, December 30, 2011

2011 in review: Volume 4


And here's the fourth and final volume of "2011 in review". Most of these logos were revealed in October, November and December.
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Thursday, December 29, 2011

2011 in review: Volume 3


The third part of "2011 in review" mostly features rebrands unveiled in July, August and September, with some links to more information, the agencies behind them and the dates they were revealed.
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

2011 in review: Volume 2


Here's the second part of "2011 in review". Of these rebrands, most, but not all, were revealed in April, May and June.

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

2011 in review: Volume 1


As we near the end of 2011, here's a summary of the many great branding projects launched and unveiled this year. The review will be portioned out over the next few days, the second part is scheduled for tomorrow.
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Friday, December 23, 2011

New logo: NHL Network


NHL Network is an American cable network dedicated to coverage of the National Hockey League and ice hockey in general. The day after Christmas Day, December 26, the network islaunching a new look along with some significant new programming.

Compared to the more modern logo the network has used until now, the new logo is more aligned with NHL aesthetics, featuring the shield also used by NHL.

The sports branding boutique Studio1 were involved in the rebrand. The new network ID can be seen on their website.
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Olympic bid logo: Baku 2020


The parade of logos to represent the different bids for the Summer Olympics in 2020 continues. Tokyo was first, and the second bid to reveal its bid logo became Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. This was done at a ceremony on December 21, featuring officials and "a spectacular flash-mob performed by more than 500 Baku youngsters".

At the same time, the bid's slogan, "Together We Can", was unveiled. The logo follows the same sentiment and is inspired by Azerbaijani carpets, where threads come together to form a fabric.
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Thursday, December 22, 2011

New logo: Blip


Blip.tv is an online platform for original web video series. This week, on December 20, it shortened its name to "Blip" and introduced a new fresh logo that had the added prestige of being designed at Chermayeff & Geismar.
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Wednesday, December 21, 2011

New logo: AMC Networks


AMC Networks is a American media company that owns four cable channels, the most popular being AMC, home of Mad Men. The others are IFC, Sundance Channel and WE TV, that all provide programming for certain niche audiences. Until recently known as Rainbow Media Holdings and owned by the cable company Cablevision, it was spun off as a separate company on July 1 and began trading on NASDAQ. The motion branding agency Loyalkaspar were involved in the rebrand, and this week they posted a case study with some information about the work on their website.

Thw spin-off was approved in March, along with the namechange. The new look was unveiled at The Cable Show in mid-June.
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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

New logo: YLE


YLE (an abbrevation of Yleisradio, meaning "Broadcasting") is Finland's national broadcaster. Yesterday, December 19, YLE revealed a new corporate identity, scheduled for launch in March 2012. The stated reason for this is "to help the Finns find and recognise YLE content". It is also said to be "a way to get closer to the Finns".

The new logo consists of a square with rounded corners and "YLE" written in lowercase with fashionable typeface. The colour is said to be a combination of the blue and green from the previous logo, but YLE also acknowledges that the new colour is "clearer and fresher" than the previous.

Most of the work on the new identity was done in-house at YLE, by a team lead by Tuire Nuolivirta. New typefaces were developed by Finnish typographer Saku Heinänen. The work is rooted in YLE's core values - Finnishness, reliablity, versatility, independence and respect for the human being.

YLE's TV channels will also launch new identites when the new corporate logo goes live in March. Much of the identity work isn't finished yet, so expect more news on this next year.
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New logo: CTV News Channel


CTV News Channel, a Canadian cable news network associated with with the CTV network, launched a new studio and a new look yesterday, December 19. At the same time, it finally started producing its programs in high-definition.

The new look is brighter and more contemporary and is certainly an improvment compared to what was there before. The logo has been remodeled, but isn't that different to the previous one.

The set design was created by a Michael "Spike" Parks, the graphics seem not to be credited.
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Monday, December 19, 2011

New look: Kingsmill


Kingsmill, the primary bread brand from the British bakery group Allied Bakeries, has introduced a new look, adopting a new consistent packaging design across its product range. All packaging now features a prominent "window" that allows consumers to see the bread.

Kingsmill's previous design was introduced in early 2007 and created by the British brand consultancy Vibrandt, now known as 1HQ. It broke a tradition of "regal" victoriana logos and imagery for a fresh, bold and modern design. The crown that was present in previous logos was dropped in favour of a sunburst that one might interpret as a crown. Later packaging design has been created by both 1HQ and Dragon Rouge.

The new design aims to provide consistency with a common design across the product range and is more an update than a break with the 2007 design. The new logo is a refreshed version of its predecessor with a lighter typeface.
"The new packaging has been designed to give the Kingsmill brand a more consistent look across the whole range. The look and feel of the original branding has been retained so that shoppers can easily recognise the brand on the fixture however the Kingsmill's logo has been updated and a large transparent window has been added to the pack to allow the shoppers can easily see the bread. "Just as consumers like to pick up a loaf to feel how fresh it is, they also want to see what the bread looks like," said Allied Bakeries brands director Will Ghali." - Allied Bakeries press release
There has been some weeding out in the vast sub-brand portfolio, which means the "Great Everyday" and "Love to Toast" sub-brands have been abolished.
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Friday, December 16, 2011

New logo: State Farm


The major American insurance company State Farm, one of the 50 largest companies in the US, announced yesterday, December 15, that it was going to phase in a new corporate identity from January 2, as it celebrates its 90th anniversary. This replaces a symbol that has been essentially unchanged since it was introduced in the 1950s. The new corporate identity was created by Chermayeff & Geismar, who simplified the classic logo by removing the words and separating the ovals.

The current State Farm logo is one of the oldest corporate logos still in use by a major American corporation. According to American trademark designs it was designed in 1953 by a forgotten firm called Whitaker-Guernsey Studio and registered in 1956. It was also a simplification of a previous symbol that included a car, a cornucopia and a fireman's cap rather than the actual words "auto", "life" and "fire". In recent years, the logo has often been used with a wordmark, as seen in the example below.
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Thursday, December 15, 2011

New logo: Frosta


Frosta is a German brand of frozen food, including fish, vegetables and ready-meals, available in Germany, Austria and several East European markets. This spring, Frosta started introducing a refreshed logo and packaging design.

The refresh adds a green plate to the logo that includes a "purity seal" and a slogan that touts the product's lack of artificial ingredients. For the German market, the slogan is 100% echt Genuss ("100% real enjoyment").

The logo itself has given up many of its bevels and gradients. The logo-type that dates back to the 1960s has been modernised, keeping the classic lowercase O, but straightening up the tilted A and adding some rounded corners. The packaging has been overhauled to also highlight the natural ingredients.
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Wednesday, December 14, 2011

New look: ORF 2


ORF 2 is the most watched TV channel in Austria, part of the state broadcaster ORF. Its schedule has a conventional European public service profile with culture, information, regional news and German drama, unlike ORF 1 which features lots of imported series and movies.

Yesterday, December 13, it was announced that ORF 2 is going to launch a new look on January 9, 2012, almost exactly one after its sister channel ORF 1, which launched a new look on January 8 this year, altering its name to "ORF eins" at the same time.

The new on-air graphics are based around a vertical "navigation bar" at the center of the screen. The bar splits the screen into two parts, generating a theme of duality inspired by the channel's name. This is most obvious in the idents and break bumpers that feature different sets of twins, ordinary people supposed to represent the audience, not models or celebrities.

A new colour scheme of red and white, Austria's national colours, dominates all graphics, emphasising the broadcaster's strong Autrian roots and content. The logo has received some adjustment to fit wit the new graphics, removing the gap between the 'ORF' and '2' boxes.

In addition to new audiovisual design for TV continuity, ORF 2 will also launch new intros for its regional news programmes.
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New logo: Sallie Mae


Sallie Mae is the leading student loan organization in the United States. Originally created in the early 1970s as the government-sponsored Student Loan Marketing Association, it is now a private company called SLM Corporation. Much of the company's business is managing federally guaranteed student loans, and it faced a major blow last year when legislation was passed to allow the federal government to loan directly to students, bypassing middlemen like Sallie Mae.

On Monday, December 12, Sallie Mae started trading on NASDAQ, and introduced a new corporate identity. The new logo features almost the same typeface as its predecessor, but adds three archs. No rationale to exlain the logo has been provided, but one can easily read something aspirational into it.
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Tuesday, December 13, 2011

New logo: Mentrum


Mentrum is a Dutch care organisation for people with complex psychiatric problems, part of the Dutch mental health organisation Arkin. In November, Mentrum also started offering treatment for serious addiction problems, and introduced a new visual identity, created by Millford Brand-id.
"The logo uses stacked stones. In different cultures stacks of cobbles are placed along the road to mark a route. Travellers add a cobble to the balancing stack making it grow, fall over and be built all over again. Mentrum too is working steadily towards a more balanced human being." - Millford
Millford has a long-standing relationship with Arkin. They were behind its corporate identity back in 2008 when the company was created through a merger, and would later create identities for other divisions.
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Monday, December 12, 2011

New logo: Łódź


Łódź is Poland's third largest city. Last week, on December 6, it unveiled a new logo at a ceremony.

The logo is credited to one Justyna Żychalska and was selected through a compeititon. It features four letters inspired by the geometric alphabet created by avant-garde painter Władysław Strzemiński, who worked and is buried in Łódź. The new slogan Łódź kreuje, "Łódź creates", is included in the logo.

According to the mayor the new logo "strongly identifies the city with artistic achievements, without which there would be no modern art".
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New logo: YouTube


A big web-related story at the beginning of this month was a major facelift for the video-sharing site Youtube. In addition to an overhauled page layout, it brought a refresh to the Youtube logo.

Where the previous "screen" had both a glare and a gradient, the new one only has a subtle, slightly darker gradient. This update seems directed at evolving and going back to basics, scaling back some of the fancy effects, just like previous Google-related logo changes. For example, the update of the main Google logo last year brought brighter colors and scaled back bevels and drop shadows, but didn't change the integrity of the logo.

The last time Youtube updated their logo was in 2006.
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Friday, December 9, 2011

Logo roundup: November 2011


Here's a selection of new logos and rebrands the were revealed in November. This is usually a slow month, so this logo roundup only brings you a handful of rebrands.

If you feel there is something significant missing in this post, feel free to drop me a line in the comments section. Previous logo roundups can be found here.
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Thursday, December 8, 2011

New logo: Baltimor


Baltimor is a major Russian ketchup brand. Its name doesn't have anything to do with Baltimore, Maryland, rather it is an abbreviation of the Russian name for the Baltic Sea, Baltiyskoe More. The company was founded in 1995 in Saint Petersburg, located by the Baltic Sea.

Since 2009, it has been owned by Unilever. This autumn (August, according to the company, November, according to other sources), Baltimor launched a new visual identity and packaging design for its many varieties.

Unilever hired Anthem Worldwide to design the new packaging. The mediocre logo has been straightened up, giving it some premium value. An additional field with an eagle, a tomato and the year of establishment has been added. The packaging has been updated and harmonised to bring it up to today's design standards.
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New look: France Ô


France Ô is a television channel operated by the French state television broadcaster France Télévisions. It is dedicated to programmes from the French overseas departments (French Guiana and several island territories in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans). It started out as the satellite channel from the overseas broadcaster RFO, but was renamed France Ô in 2005 and is now a nationwide channel available to most viewers in mainland France.

In September, France Télévisions introduced new looks for three of its channels, and France Ô soon followed. The new look was created by the French broadcast design agency Gédéon, which has a decades-long relationship with France Télévisions. They were also behind the identity for France Ô when it relaunched in 2005, as well as this years new look for France 3.

Channel IDs feature people on city walls interacting with the signature O and its circumflex. A colour band acts as a "shutter" to navigate between IDs and promos. A catchy musical theme was composed by La Plage Records. Gédéon also created new graphics for the news programmes on France Ô, once again with music by La Plage.

A montage of the new graphics can be seen on Gédéon's web site. A bunch of snapshots are available below.
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Wednesday, December 7, 2011

New logo: Nöm


The Austrian dairy company NÖM (once an abbreviation for Niederösterreichischen Molkerei) has spent this year introducing a refreshed logo across its product range. The Austrian brand design agency Moodley has been credited for both the new logo and new milk packaging design.

The milk packaging adopted a new look, described as more cheerful and natural, back in September. However, the new logo had appeared on other packaging before that, having been around at least since the spring.
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New logo: Sygnity


Sygnity is a Polish information technology services provides. On Monday, December 5, it launched a new corporate identity, replacing a logo that had been used since the company was formed through a merger in 2007. A press release says the new identity has a "more open and modern character".
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Tuesday, December 6, 2011

New logo: Rosinterbank


Rosinterbank (РосинтерБанк in Russian), a Russian commercial bank founded in 1990, adopted a new corporate identity last week, on December 2.

The previous logo featured a cube and Russia's national colours. The rebrand introduces green as the dominant corporate colour, supplemented with grey. As its new symbol, the bank has chosen a wallet. A simple, tangible and somewhat underused symbol of money and banking. A companion that is always with you.
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Monday, December 5, 2011

New logo: Digital Radio UK


This weekend a new campaign was launched to market digital radio in the the United Kingdom with the slogan "If you love radio, let it live". Behind it was the BBC and Digital Radio UK, an organisation which represents digital radio broadcasters and the transmitter operator.

As part of this campaign, Digital Radio UK introduced a new green "pulse" logo, designed by Lambie-Nairn.
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Follow-up: LU


Very loyal readers may remember the new visual identity for the French biscuit brand LU a couple of months back. Behind it was the French design agency Dragon Rouge. Raymond Loewy, who did the same thing over fifty years earlier, compared it to redesigning the French flag when he faced the same task

When I published the original article, information was somewhat scarce. Last month, Dragon Rouge launched a new global website, and it includes a case study for this rebrand with a bunch of nice pictures and more information. Of those against the new logo, this could help turn around the ones who are not too stubborn.
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Friday, December 2, 2011

New logo: Airlines for America


The Air Transport Association of America, the trade organization for airlines in the United States, rebranded yesterday, December 1, and became Airlines for America (A4A), shedding a name it had used since its foundation in 1936. It also adopts the tagline "We Connect the World" and a new symbol made up of five planes in different colors that form a star.

The visual identity was developed by Pentagram (perhaps under the creative leadership of Michael Bierut, who is quoted in the press release).

From the press release:
  • New name: “Airlines for America” represents the association’s membership and mission as advocates for the American airline industry and its passengers. A4A’s members move about 2 million passengers and 50,000 tons of cargo every day and commercial aviation is the third-largest sector contributing to the U.S. economy.
  • New tagline: “We Connect the World” represents that A4A’s members have a vital network that connects the U.S. economy to the global marketplace. “Commercial aviation drives more than 10 million U.S. jobs and more than $1 trillion a year in economic activity and 5 percent of U.S. GDP,” Calio said.
  • New visual identity: The new logo of five connected aircraft shows the unity of America’s airlines in their shared goal of being global models of safety, customer service and environmental responsibility.
The previous symbol was launched in the early 1990s, although the typeface was introduced later on.
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New logo: Hill+Knowlton Strategies


The American PR firm Hill & Knowlton, part of the WPP Group, rebranded yesterday, altering its name to Hill+Knowlton Strategies, reflecting "a renewed emphasis on strategic communications advice that ensures a client's business imperatives are achieved".

The previous corporate identity was launched internally in the fall of 2002 and unveiled publicly on January 7, 2003. It was created by the London design agency The Partners, also owned by WPP.
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Thursday, December 1, 2011

Olympic bid logo: Tokyo 2020


After the Winter Olympics for 2018 were awarded to PyeongChang in South Korea this summer, the process to select the host for the 2020 Summer Games went into high gear. Six approved bids have been submitted to the International Olympic Committee, and over the coming months they will all reveal their bid logos.

The first one out was Tokyo, who revealed their Applicant City logo yesterday, November 30, at the Tokyo Mode Gakuen design school. It depicts a circular arrangement of cherry blossoms, a flower commonly used as a symbol of Japan and its culture. The five Olympic colors are all represented with the addition of Edo purple, a color traditionally associated with Tokyo.

The logo was selected through a contest won by Ai Shimamine, a fourth year art student.
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New logo: nPremium


The Polish satellite TV platform N is launching four premium movie channels on December 15, after securing important content deals. The channels will be called nPremium and are replacing two existing movie channels called nFilm.

The visual identity, unveiled yesterday, was created by the Polish design agency Mamastudio, with on-air animation from a studio called Televisor.

On screen, the colourful logo will be animated. For example it will fold up into a smaller version when used as a screen bug.
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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

New logo: Lifetime Movie Network


Lifetime Movie Network (LMN) is one of two spin-off channels from the popular American women's cable network Lifetime, the other being something called "Lifetime Real Women". It is based around women-oriented movies, specifically the emotional made-for-TV movies that are synonymous with Lifetime. Originally launched in 1998 as part of a wave of new digital cable channels, the channel has achieved some ratings success in recent years.

In its thirteen year history, LMN has gone through many rebrands and at least seven different logos. It has also had a hard time deciding whether it should primarily refer to itself by its full name or its initials, having switched between the two a few times. In the last couple of years, the logo has included both names in Lifetime's typeface, as well as a ring made up of dots.

This year, LMN has rebranded once again, adopting a logo independent of its parent network, with the initials in a rounded "feminine" typeface and some rectangles to immitate film sprockets.
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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

New look: Kommersant TV


The company behind the Russian business-oriented newspaper Kommersant launched a news channel back in October called Kommersant TV. In addition to being carried by some Russian TV distributors, the channel is streamed on the web for free. Its identity and on-screen graphics were developed by two British agencies, DixonBaxi and AllofUs. Intros and identity spots were produced by Double G Studios.

Unlike most news channels, Kommersant TV doesn't have any news reports or anchors. Instead, the broadcasts are made up of telegrams read by an out-of-vision newsreader with information screens showing text and images. This means the channel can easily be shown mute in public spaces. It can be compared to on-board TV channels available in some public transport systems, or updated teletext pages.

The way the channel is set up gives a sense of flow with seamless transition between intros, news stories, segments and ad breaks. The on-screen graphics are clean and modern.


The very simple logo consists of the letter Ъ in a square. This letter, also known as the hard sign or "tvjordyj znak", is the final letter in Kommersant (Коммерсантъ in cyrillic), which has always been emphasized in Kommersant's nameplate.

In addition to the intros and information graphics, there are also a number of unconventional and artistic identity spots, featuring milk being poured on an armchair, splattering black ink and pink colour thown on a sculpture. DixonBaxi has posted a 47 second sequence with the armchair and various objects.
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Friday, November 25, 2011

A Lambie-Nairn showreel from 1996


I recently stumbled upon an old showreel and a presentation video from the UK broadcast design agency Lambie-Nairn that had been uploaded to Youtube by a user called "deeman3000". Founded in 1976, Lambie-Nairn established itself as a leading broadcast design agency in the late 1980s/early 1990s. These videos were probably produced in 1996 and mostly feature material created during the five years prior to that.

This was during a time when it seemed like the company strived to rebrand a channel in every European country. Aside from the acclaimed work the BBC, Lambie-Nairn also worked with other UK broadcasters as well as clients in France, Germany, Scandinavia, New Zealand, Benelux and Russia.

Although every project is unique, one can detect some recurring methods in this body of work, like many filmed sequences featuring different props or actors with heavy makeup, rather than three-dimensional computer animation. Many of these could be shown on television today, if properly remastered for high-definition, but they are of their time and would probably be considered too high-brow in today's environment.

But most of all, they are marked by a certain British wit and sober design sensibility, even in some of the fast-paced epilepsy-inducing examples.

This period was not the peak for the agency. The very next year, it would win the prestigious assignment to rebrand the BBC. Not only did the company create the current straightened-up BBC logo. The Beeb was at this point gearing up to launch a string of new digital channels, both regular public service channels and advertising-funded ones as part of the UKTV partnership, and this would provide steady work for Lambie-Nairn over the following years. If you were watching the BBC between 1997-2003, you could expect the channel branding to be created by Lambie-Nairn.

The agency also continued its international activities, delivering new branding to clients like VRT Belgium (1997), Euronews (1998), the Sci Fi Channel (2002) and LCI France (2005) as well as new Middle Eastern networks like Alhurra and Adu Dhabi TV. It would also move into non-TV branding, and was behind the successful launch of O2 in 2002.

Martin Lambie-Nairn himself left in 2008, one of his last projects being a relaunch of BBC News. Most of the creative professionals who worked with him during these years have also moved on to other agencies.

The two videos can be seen below, along with some stills and short descriptions of the work featured in them. Martin Lambie-Nairn published a book in 1997, and it provides extended descriptions of the work included in these videos. Unfortunately, it is out of print and is somewhat hard to get hold on if you aren't close to a UK library.
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Thursday, November 24, 2011

New logo: TC. Transcontinental


Yesterday, November 23, the Canadian print media company Transcontinental changed its name to TC. Transcontinental to "better reflect its evolution into a leading player in the new marketing communications landscape". Based in Montreal, TC. Continental owns several newspapers and magazines.
"Beyond the truncation of the word Transcontinental, the ‘t’ in the new ‘tc’ stands for technology, while the ‘c’ represents community. In the chosen typography, the bold, upright ‘t’ embodies confidence and solidity. The ‘c’, with its generous opening, signifies willingness to communicate. The red dot from the former logo is transformed into a black one, which represents the digital economy as well as the point of contact between the company and its customers. The logo is black or white, depending on context and usage. Keeping the main typographic element devoid of color will allow the use of various colors to illustrate sub-brands." - Press release
The company's two divisions are now called TC. Media and TC. Transcontinental Publishing. It has also secured the domain name tc.tc (.tc is the top-level domain for Turks and Caicos), which is currently redirecting to tctranscontinental.com.
The new brand identity was developed with two Montreal-based firms, the brand consultancy Cohesion Strategies and the advertising/design agency Bleublancrouge.
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New logo: AXN Crime


AXN Crime is a TV channel brand owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, available in several countries in Central Europe.

The channel launched a new on-air look in October. This also involves a new logo that provides a necessary update without going to far from its predecessor.

AXN Crime was launched in 2006 and is available in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. It broadcasts both newer series and classics such as Starsky & Hutch and Murder, She Wrote.
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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

New logo: Burton's Biscuit Company


This week, the UK biscuit manufacturer Burton's Foods announced that it was shedding the generic "Foods" tag to become "Burton's Biscuit Company". It also adopts the slogan "making every day more of a treat" and introduces a new "light-hearted" corporate identity to fit the friendlier name, reflecting the proud history behind the Burton's name.

The new identity was created by the London agency SomeOne. They also created a "brand cookie" with the company's brands baked in.

Burton's owns brands like Maryland Cookies, Jammie Dodgers and Wagon Wheels. It also has a licensing agreement with Cadbury, which means it manufactures products like Cadbury Fingers and Cadbury Digestives.

It is said the new branding will implemented by early 2012.
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Tuesday, November 22, 2011

New logo: Dr Gerard


Dr Gerard is a Polish brand for sweet biscuits. At the beginning of the year, it launched a modernised visual identity, created by Studio Projektowe IKAR in Warsaw.

The new logo is not only heart-shaped, it also contains a subtle "satisfied" smile. The golden outline is intended to emphasize the heart and add a premium character. The script wordmark was crafted specifically for this logo, "reflecting the care with which the company's products are prepared".

The company behind the brand is now also called Dr Gerard, but was known as Lider'S-KG until it took the name of its primary brand earlier this year. It is currently a part of the French Groupe Poult.

The new design was first introduced around January-February. Studio IKAR took credit for the design in April, and Polish trade media reported on the changes in May. The first product to receive the new design was "PryncyPałki", wafer sticks with dark chocolate cover, one of the company's most popular products.
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New logo: Ludwigshafen


The city of Ludwigshafen am Rhein in south-western Germany, with about 165,000 inhabitants, unveiled a new logo yesterday, November 21. Featuring a blue winking emoticon, it was developed by a local agency called Cyperfection.

The logo is part of a new brand platform that relies on likeability and self-confidence. The logo itself was required to be modern, confident, inclusive, and functional. The symbol is not only a friendly emoticon, the blue colour represents the city's location on the Rhine, as well as the letters L and U, a common abbrevation of the city name.

This replaces and older logo featuring a coat of arms.
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Monday, November 21, 2011

New logo: Dubai Financial Market


Dubai Financial Market, a stock exchange in Dubai, launched a new corporate identity yesterday, November 20, to "reflect the strategic direction and growth of DFM going forward and prepare DFM for a new era of sustainable growth".

The new logo has evolved from its predecessor, refining the Islamic symbol and achieving a better balance between symbol and typography.
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New look: Sky Krimi


Germany's satellite platform Sky Deutschland is continuing the refresh of its channels. Its thriller and crime series channel Sky Krimi launched a new look in early October, following the new look for its sports channels back in August.

Sky Krimi sets itself apart by mostly featuring German series, while its competitors in the same genre, RTL Crime and 13th Street, fill much of their schedules with American imports.

The new idents feature "crime scenes" in the form of still lifes filmed from several angles, with lines that connect the various items to the Sky Krimi logo. The somewhat quirky soundtrack and the humorous crime scenes avoids clichés and gives the channel an independent appearance. The idents share some themes and similarities with the idents adopted by the Danish public service channel DR2 two years ago.
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Friday, November 18, 2011

In detail: Sveriges Radio (2010)


Sveriges Radio is Sweden's public radio company. With four nationwide FM networks funded be a license fee, it dominates radio listening in the country. Last year, it implemented a company-wide rebrand that had its root in the perceived need to enforce one single name for the company.

For many years Sveriges Radio had referred to itself both by its full name and by its initials (SR). After an identity review, it was decided that the company needed one single verbal identity. It could either follow the lead of most other broadcasters and switch to an initialism that is never read out in full, or they would use the full name in all circumstances. They opted for the latter, as the full name differentiates Sveriges Radio in a crowded landscape and communicates that they are a Swedish company that does radio. An an identity overhaul was set in motion.
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New logo: Vibo


Viajes Iberia is a Spanish travel agency chain with about 950 stores around the country. Recently it was revealed that in an attempt to distance itself from Spain's national airline, Iberia, the travel agent intended to rebrand itself as Vibo. These changes also apply to the Portuguese chain D-Viagem.

The new visual identity was unveiled this week. At its center is a playful logo in blue colours. A similarly playful typeface will also be used for headlines etcetera. A distorted image with more elements has been published by the Spanish website Preferente.com.
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Thursday, November 17, 2011

New look: Krakuski


New logo.
Krakuski is a Polish brand for a variety of sweet biscuits, owned by the German food group Bahlsen, which has activities in many European countries. It is a relatively young brand, introduced in 2004 for products that were previously sold under the name "Lajkonik". This summer, it launched a new design.

The previous design was created by Dragon Rouge and launched in 2007. It involved a redesigned logo and added some characteristic Krakow buildings as well as a yellow background colour representing "well-baked biscuits".

The 2011 redesign adds a friendly good-natured neighbourhood baker to the logo, which now look somewhat like the curled corner of a paper sheet. The packaging has been redesigned to give distinct looks to different product segments, helping consumers navigate among the many varieties.

The new look has been around at least since June this year. An article published then credits the new logo and packaging to a studio called Well-Rounded Design (which doesn't seem to have a proper website).
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New logo: Perfect Equipment


Perfect Equipment is a Tennessee-based company that manufactures tire balance weights, and is a leader in that field. In early November, it officially launched a new corporate identity.

This rebrand would probably have passed by unnoticed had it not been for the fact that the new logo was created by Interbrand. It also came with the tagline "balancing the future", imagined in-house.
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