New logo: Billboard

The Billboard brand is known around the world for its many music-related charts that are seen as the ultimate measure of success in the music business. The number of people who read the actual magazine behind the brand is probably a fraction of that, but this week it is launching a new look, created by Michael Bierut of Pentagram in New York, working with Billboard's own designers.

Since the issue of July 16, 1966, Billboard's masthead has featured a Bauhaus-inspired wordmark where four of the counters have been filled with different colors. It was given a small update in 1984 and has since remained unchanged.

It is now replaced by a thicker all lower-case wordmark that exploits the geometric nature of the name. On magazine covers, it is now presented in one color without filled counters, while the colored dots will remain in marketing and for digital platforms.

The entire magazine has been redesigned to be more relevant in today's music industry. This includes the charts, which are now easier to read.
Read more »

New logo: Weight Watchers

Most of you are probably familiar with Weight Watchers, an American company that offers dieting products and weight loss guidance. On Monday, December 3, Weight Watchers launched a new weight loss program called Weight Watchers 360°. The reason you are reading about that here is that at the simultaneously the company launched a new corporate identity, created by Paula Scher at Pentagram.

Weight Watchers itself says the new identity "brings to life the transformation members experience when they adopt a new lifestyle that can lead to significant weight loss". The gradient from dark to light is the visual expression of the transformation Weight Watchers costumers go through. The typeface is designed by Jeremy Mickel and is a customisation of his Fort typeface.
Read more »

New logo: Here maps

Yesterday, November 13, Nokia unveiled the name for their digital map service that will utilise Nokia's expertise in digital mapping, as well as the technology of a recently purchase 3D mapping company called Earthmine. It will simply be called Here and be accessible across multiple devices. The new logo consists of the word here, tilted at an angle. The service's official Twitter account says "the tilted logo symbolizes the pin on a map".
Read more »

New logo: Cohen Media Group

Cohen Media Group is a growing producer and distributor of independent film, formed in 2008 by real estate magnate and movie lover Charles S. Cohen. Earlier this year, it got a new corporate identity, created by Paula Scher at Pentagram. At the center is a bold and angular C. The C can also be used in large form as a frame device. A custom typeface is used for the logo-type.
Read more »

New logo: Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra

The Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra (OPL, Orchestre philharmonique du Luxembourg in French) was founded in 1933 as the orchestra of RTL, Luxembourg's state broadcaster. When RTL was privatized in the 1990s, the orchestra was turned into a separate institution and adopted its current name.

This month it has adopted a new visual identity, created by Justus Oehler of Pentagram in Berlin. He also designed the identity for Philharmonie Luxembourg, the orchestra's concert hall, for its opening in 2005.
Read more »

New logo: Windows 8

Last Monday, February 13, several tech websites lit up after the Chinese website CNBeta had published some allegedly leaked images of the logo for Microsoft's upcoming operating system Windows 8. It marked a break with the multicolored "flag" that had been seen by Windows users since the introduction of Windows 3.1 twenty years ago.

Microsoft confirmed the new logo on Friday, February 17, with a post on the official Windows blog. The team behind Windows 8 intends it to be "a complete reimagination" of the OS, and that also reflects the "reimagined" logo. Microsoft worked with Pentagram to design the new Windows logo, and the Pentagram team was headed by Paula Scher. Early in the development she allegedly asked, "Your name is Windows. Why are you a flag?", which is a good summary of the rationale behind the design.

Both Microsoft and Pentagram have posted articles with lots of details on the rebrand, and they are recommended reading if you want to learn more.
Read more »

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.
Read more »

New logo: St Pete Clearwater

Pinellas County is county in Florida which is a part of what is called the Tampa Bay Area. The county is marketed by an official tourism marketing organization called St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. It is named after the two largest cities in the county, and those two names are also used when marketing the county. Late January this year, a new identity was launched for the area, created by a team at Pentagram in New York.

Previous logo.

The previous identity was launched around October 2007 when the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Convention and Visitors Bureau changed its brand name to Visit St. Pete Clearwater.

Choosing from several possible symbols, Pentagram's Michael Bierut and Joe Marianek settled on a round symbol with swirls that can represent "breaking waves and bright sun" as well as the initials S, P and C. This is combined with the Mr Eaves typeface.

Visit St. Pete Clearwater first published the new identity on their Facebook page on January 27, announcing a bus ad campaign that would start in New York City that same weekend. Pentagram tweeted about this on January 28, publishing a case study on March 11. The official Visit St. Pete Clearwater site wasn't updated until several months after the new logo first appeared.
Read more »

New logo: Two Heavens Creation

Two Heavens Creation is a collaboration project which seeks to promote cultural collaboration between Austria and China. It was created last year by an agreement between China Heaven Creation International Performing Arts from China and Wien Holding and Wiener Stadthalle Betriebs- und Veranstaltungs from Austria.

The logo for this project was created by Pentagram in Berlin by Justus Oehler and his team. The symbol represents the project through letters and symbolism. Two letters H (for "Heaven") lean over to form a bridge (probably representing cooperation). The bridge can also be read as a C, for creation. A "sunburst" gradient goes from red (present in the flags of Austria and China) to yellow.

The symbol on its own.

I don't know when this was launched. Pentagram's case study was published on April 27, but it is possible that the identity was launched well before that.

Pentagram (archive)