2012 in review

To end a great year, here's a summary of the noteworthy and the memorable in brand design during 2012.

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Logo round-up: Supplement 2012

The "logo round-ups" track logo changes that occurred during the past month and are quite popular. Unfortunately, there are always plenty of noteworthy logo changes that miss the deadline to be included in the monthly "logo round-up". In order not to let them pass by unnoticed, here's a special logo round-up that gathers noteworthy logo changes that occurred during January-November this year, but didn't make it into a logo round-up.
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New logo: Ving, Spies and Tjäreborg

European holiday giant Thomas Cook Group is using three primary brand for its travel operators in the Nordic countries; Ving in Norway and Sweden, Spies in Denmark and Tjäreborg in Finland. All three brands have histories going back to the 50s and enjoy strong positions in their respective markets. Today, it is launching a new visual identity with a common icon to be used by all three brands, created by Swedish design agency Happy F&B

From now on, all three brands will be represented by a glowing yellow and orange heart, nick-named "The Sunny Heart". The changes will also apply to the group hotel chains, Sunwing and Sunprime. Having a common visual identity allows both the travel operator and the hotels to be part of the same unified brand experience.
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New logo: Allens Linklaters

In May this year, Australia's leading law firm Allens Arthur Robinson formed an alliance with Linklaters, a global law firm head-quartered in London. This means Allens is Linklaters' partner in Australia, Linklaters is Allens partner in the rest of the world, and the two have agreed to form joint-ventures in Asia. Reflecting the fact that the two firms will work together, they also adopted a unified corporate identity, developed by Australian design agency Hulsbosch.

Allens Arthur Robinson dropped its two former names to become Allens. The Australian firm was keen to have its name first, a decision that also makes sense pronunciation wise. The new identity would use the same typeface as Linklaters global identity, with Linklaters set in its established magenta and Allens would use a blue shade. The two colours are equally strong and have almost the same lightness.

Two arrows separate the two equal brand, while also bringing them together. This arrow motif is also used extensively on stationery and other applications.
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New logo: Flywheel

Cabulous, a mobile app that helps people order a taxi, was relaunched last week as Flywheel. The new identity was developed by Moving Brands, who are promising more information in the future. Until then, we have a nice icon portraying a wheel with wings, that perhaps reminds one of the letter F. It lives in a clean vivid visual environment.
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New logo: Jimmy Dean

Jimmy Dean is a brand for meat-based food products – including something called "Pancakes & Sausage on a stick" – founded by a country singer of the same name and now owned by Hillshire Brands. Back in October it started rolling out a refreshed package design that is described as more consistent and contemporary. This also includes a new simplified logo with a rought stamp effect.
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New logo: Nestlé Docello

Nestlé Docello is a new brand for dessert mixes and sauces from Nestlé that mainly targets the professional sector, such as restaurants and caterers. It was introduced earlier this autumn for a range of products that until then had carried generic Nestlé branding. The new identity was developed to remind one of Italian delicacies and involves new colour-coded packaging.
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New look: TV4

TV4 is Sweden's most watched commercial TV channel, founded in 1990. Yesterday, December 13, it introduced a new on-air graphics package.

The previous graphics package was introduced in September 2006 and has had a very long run. The idents featured presenters of TV4 programmes in a red backstage environment.

In the new look, TV4 reaches out into the Swedish reality. Different shots of Swedish landscapes have a cloud of dots in different shades of red flying through them. The dots are motif that TV4 has used in various forms for several years, and the new look was created as an evolution of that.

The new look was developed with broadcast agency Fireplace. Chimney Stockholm did post production and animation while music was composed by Magnus Frykberg and Gustaf Thörn.
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New logo: Rebel

Rebel Sports is an Australian sporting goods retailer that bills itself as the largest such retailer in the country. In November it introduced a new brand identity, created by Australian branding agency Hulsbosch.

The name Rebel now has such high brand awareness that the word "sport" could be dropped from the logo. The new logo is a simple lowercase wordmark with a flipped E to signify healthy competition between individuals or against oneself. Using simple typography, a yellow-black-white colour scheme and monochrome imagery, the visual identity has been applied to all branded assets both instore and on advertising.
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New logo: Serla

Serla is a Finnish brand for hygiene tissue, such as paper towels and toilet paper, owned by a company called MetsäTissue. Over time it has been extended to Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the Baltic states. This year, Serla introduced a refreshed brand identity along with new more environmentally friendly packaging and improved paper quality.

The new packaging is designed to improve shelf navigation and introduces a simpler logo that gives up the leaf texture of its predecessor. The "Serla squirrel" that is the brand's mascot still takes a prominent spot on the packaging.
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New logo: Direct Énergie

Direct Énergie is a French power company, formed in 2003 after the energy market was opened up to private competition. In July this year it merged with another electricity company called Poweo. This presented the opportunity to introduce a new corporate identity, which was launched last week and was created by Dragon Rouge.

The new symbol is a circle, representing unity and togetherness. Its yellow colour is for warmth and optimism and the wordmark is set in rounded lowercase letters, which should convey proximity to consumers.
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New logo: Comcast

Back in January 2011 when NBCUniversal became majority-owned by Comcast and introduced its new simple purple logo, there was plenty of uproar about the removal of the NBC peacock. In an unexpected move, Comcast itself has suddenly started using a new logo that prominently features the NBC peacock over a wordmark set in thin capital letters.

Becoming the symbol of a communications company marks a change in use for the peacock, that until now has mainly been associated with television and associated media. The new logo was unveiled on Monday, December 10. At the moment we only have the primary corporate brandmark, but there are several other Comcast-branded assets, such as the Comcast Sportsnets, that will presumably have to be updated as well.
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New logo: Paraf

Last week, the large Turkish bank Halkbank introduced a new brand for its credit cards, until then branded as "Halkcard". The new brand was developed by Saffron Brand Consultants who were selected in competition with several other major brand consultancies. They developed both the name and visual identity.

Developed "as a tool that’s there when you need it most", the brand's name means "signature" in Turkish. This is reflected in the logo and background patterns, inspired by islamic art.
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Logo round-up: November 2012

Here's a round-up of logos unveiled this past November. This is usually a slow month, but there were still a good crop of significant and interesting project that you can read more about below.
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New logo: iTunes

In late November, Apple introduced iTunes 11, the latest version of their popular media player. It comes with a new version of the iTunes icon.

The icon was last updated two years ago when iTunes 10 was released. It was a significant change that confined the CD that had been used until then to history. As Steve Jobs explained at the time, the CD was becoming increasingly less relevant as music consumption was changing. This recent update is much less notable. The note has switched from black to grey and the entire is somewhat more three-dimensional. It also comes with a different variety of app icon glare.
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New look: ID by Stride

ID is a new chewing gum brand launched earlier this autumn by Kraft Foods (now known as Mondelez) in the United States. Its packaging was developed by Landor Associates in Cincinnati.

Primarily targeting teens, the packaging features original artwork commissioned from young emerging artists around the world. The artwork is hidden by a transparent cellophane wrap the consumer has to remove to see the artwork. This encourages interaction that should foster a relationship with the brand. The packaging carries a "by Stride" tag, linking it to a more established gum brand.
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New logo: Comviq

Comviq is a Swedish mobile telecommunication company, founded back to 1981 when it was the first company to challenge the state monopoly on mobile telephony. It is owned by Tele2 and operated as a separate brand, specialised in prepaid cards. Last month, on November 7, Comviq launched its first mobile subscription, and also relaunched its communication built on its core proposition of simplicity at low cost. A new corporate identity has been designed by Swedish design agency Kurppa Hosk.

Visually, the new look relies on an eccentric custom typeface, a few vibrant colours and a dripping paint motif. The three core product brands – Amigos, Kompis and Fastpris – are colour-coded with individual logo-types.
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New logo: Tourism Australia

Tourism Australia is the official organisation responsible for promoting Australia to tourists. Today, December 6, it has unveiled a new logo which is an evolution of the kangaroo logo used up until now. Interbrand Sydney was the agency behind this redesign.

The new logo is said to feature a "more modern design and vibrant colourful palette reflecting the rich and varied landscape of Australia". It is also said to be more sophisticated and better aligned with Tourism Australia's positioning.
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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.
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New logo: Terpel

Terpel is a major Colombian oil and gas company, the largest fuel distributor in the country. This week, it unveiled a new corporate identity, developed by independent brand agency CBX. It will be launched with a gradual update of its stations network. It should be associated with values such as proximity, dynamism, modernism, service, technology, familiarity, uniqueness, solidity and reliability.

The previous logo was introduced in 2006 as an update of the sun logo used up until then. This is allegedly the fourth logo makeover in the company's history.

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New logo: UniMás

TeleFutura is a Spanish language TV network in the United States. Established in 2002, it competes with Telemundo to be the second most watched Hispanic TV network. Univision, the market leader, is also the owner of TeleFutura and yesterday, December 3, it announced its intention to rebrand TeleFutura and change its name to UniMás on January 7, 2013. This is part of an enhanced commitment to more action, drama and sports for younger viewers, but will also link the network closer to its parent company. Broadcast design agency Troika developed the logo and brand identity for the rebranded network.

It has certainly been a year of rebrands for Spanish TV in the United States. Telemundo unveiled a new logo in May, and was followed by Univision in October, who also announced a new look for the largest Hispanic cable channel Galavisión in November. In addition to this, News Corp launched its new MundoFox network in August.
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New logo: Lätt & Lagom

Lätt & Lagom is a Swedish brand of spreadable butter and vegetable oil, introduced in 1974 and manufactured by Arla Foods. This autumn, it has introduced a new package design.

The previous very modern design has been made a little bit friendlier with an image of sourdough bread on the packaging and a serif ampersand included in the logo.
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New logo: Folkekirken

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark – better known as the Church of Denmark, or Folkekirken in Danish – is the state church of Denmark. Almost 80 percent of the population are members of the church, safely making it the largest religious community in the kingdom.

Over the weekend the church unveiled a new visual identity, created by Jacob Jensen Design. This is apparently the church's first attempt to introduce a common identity, and it hopes it will be widely adopted by the over 2000 parishes.

The new icon is made up of a circle and a cross, filled with numerous smaller icons. The cross is a simplified version of the Dagmar cross, that has historical significance to the church, and the circle should represent a baptismal font, as it is through baptism that people become members of the Christian community. The smaller icons consists of nine distinct symbols relating to Christianity that are repeated several times.

The church has also not selected a specific colour for their new logo, instead it can be reproduced in eight basic shades, plus the rainbow version seen above. The typeface, Garamond, was chosen to break with the motley composition of the icon.
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New logo: TVA

TVA is the most watched television network in Quebec, and by extension the most watched French language network in Canada. Last Thursday, November 29, it unveiled a completely new logo, reportedly developed with an agency called Sid Lee.

The previous logo was allegedly introduced 22 years ago and featured a triangle, a square and a circle, perhaps taking inspiration from its English counterpart CTV.

The new "dynamic" logo is said to reflect that dynamism of TVA and its brand, standing as "a symbol of a strong brand modernising itself, a brand synonymous with innovation, agility and creativity". On screen, the logo will be seen both in different colours as well as different 3D treatments that change depending on the programme.
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New logo: Eurovision

Back in June, the European Broadcasting Union, a federation of broadcasting organisations in Europe and its surroundings, announced a new corporate identity. At the time, we only had a fairly nondescript logo and some applications. Since then it has been announced that the corporate identity was created by Studio Dumbar in the Netherlands and some new elements have been revealed, including a symbol and a new logo for EBU's television cooperation Eurovision, as well as its radio counterpart Euroradio.

Yesterday, November 29, Eurovision revealed the new intro that will precede broadcasts over the Eurovision network. It will first be seen on-air before the Junior Eurovision Song Contest tomorrow.

The new intro features pulsating circles that eventually form the symbol included in the Eurovision logo. According to a press release, the symbol "reflects Eurovision's modern outward look and its ability to unite audiences in a unique, international broadcast experience". The opening fanfare, taken from Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Te Deum, has been used since the 1950s and is still there.
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More on: C More

In September, the Scandinavian branch of the premium TV channel Canal+ was renamed C More. It was covered here back in June when the rebrand was announced. The new logo was developed by Ohlsonsmith, while the on-air design came from Swedish broadcast design studio Dallas.

Dallas were also the agency behind the previous on-air design for Canal+ in Scandinavia, introduced in 2007. Where it was built on realistic 3D renderings on dark backgrounds, the new look is much brighter and lighter. Idents feature some kind of colourful smoke or streams of water that expand.
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Croustipate (2011)

Croustipate is a French brand for different products based on ready-made dough, such as pizza kits and pastries. In late 2011, the brand received received an overhauled design, created by the French design agency Graphèmes.

The redesign was based on the proposition that Croustipate "appropriates the pastry chefs expertise". Graphèmes simplified the brand expression to make it feel more exclusive. The new packaging is predominantly brown, were the old packaging featured a blue logo and several background colours. This is a quite radical change that does away with visual cues that have been established for over a decade. The logo contains some a straws of wheat and a slightly curled C that should remind us of rolled dough.
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New logo: University of the Arts Helsinki

The University of the Arts Helsinki (known in Finnish as Taideyliopisto) is a new arts education institution in the Finnish capital, due to begin next year when three well-respected academies are merged; the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, the Sibelius Academy and the Theatre Academy Helsinki. Its visual identity was revealed yesterday, November 27, and created by Finnish design studio Bond.

The names of the three academies that make up the new university are to be retained. They will be linked together through an X symbol and irregular three-dimensional wordmarks. My Finnish isn't great, but I've gathered that the X icon is intended to act as a starting point and a meeting place for discussions about the arts and art education.
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New look: Müller Corner

Müller Corner is a range of yoghurts sold by the German dairy company Müller on the British market. This month, the brand has received an overhauled package design, created by Coley Porter Bell. The redesign aims to "improve consumer appetite appeal and navigation at point of sale".

The brand's previous packaging turned out to be short-lived. It was introduced a little bit more than a year ago and created by JKR. It was covered here at the time. Back then, the plan was to create a unified "branded segment" in the store with packaging dominated by a cool blue shade.

CPB's redesign goes in the other direction, preferring to differentiate the flavours and variants with decorations and other imagery. At the same time, different blue shades are still part of the packaging.
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New logo: Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf is the capital and second largest city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the seventh largest city in all of Germany. Yesterday, Düsseldorf's mayor presented the above mark that will be used to market and represent the city. Reports say it will be supplementary and that existing city logos will remain in use.

The new symbol is recognised around the world as a happy emoticon, that is produced a colon and the letter D. That letter also happens to be the first letter in Düsseldorf. It was created by BBDO who were selected out of 66 agencies, five of which where allowed to put forth proposals to the mayor.
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New logo: Digi Sport

Digi Sport is a set of premium sports channels available in Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Croatia from the regional satellite company Digi. On August 1, it launched a completely new look, created by British broadcast design studio Kemistry, who had previously redesigned other channels for Digi. On-screen, the logo is constantly moving through fluid animation. Info graphics are also animated and use the same purple and blue colour scheme as the logo.
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New logo: Scottish Conservatives

The Conservative Party is governing the UK at the moment, but that mandate did certainly not come from Scotland that one sent one Conservative MP to Westminster in the last election. At a party convention held last weekend, the Scottish Conservatives introduced a new logo to replace a variation of the national party logo used until then.

The new icon is a combination of the Union Jack and the saltire on Scotland's flag, referred to as the "Union Saltire". It is said to be both distinctly Scottish and to reflect pride in the United Kingdom. Naturally, it has been ridiculed by representatives of other parties.
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New logo: Agricola

Agricola is a Romanian meat company, one of the largest producers of poultry in the country. It recently received a complete design overhaul, created by the Romanian brand consultancy BrandTailors. This was announced on September 17 this year.

To differentiate the company's corporate profile and consumer brands, the company has separated the design of its corporate brand and its consumer brand. Until now, they had used the same logo for everything.

The corporate symbol is inspired by the Pietroasele Treasure, a treasure of gold objects that now resides at the National Museum of Romanian History in Bucharest. It should represent the company's "pioneerdom, continuity and longevity". A real life version of the logo has been created and placed outside Agricola's headquarters.

The new product logo is a lime leaf that resembles a heart with a drop of dew. It should convey freshness, an its sometimes accompanied by the slogan "Heart of Freshness". The packaging is using an image of a farm and product windows where applicable.

Plenty of images and a long process video below:
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New logo: Bulgartabac

Bulgartabac is a Bulgarian tobacco company that is behind several regionally strong brands of cigarettes. Last week it presented a new logo to celebrate its 65th anniversary. The new icon combines the silhouette of a B with a simplified version of the compass rose from the previous logo.
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New logo: Leto Bank

Leto Bank (Лето Банк, meaning "Summer Bank") is a new Russian retail bank brand from the major financial group VTB. It launched in October with a name and visual identity developed by The Brand Union in London and Moscow with interior design by Start JudgeGill.

The brand was designed to be warm and to attract consumers that usually do not trust banks. The final O in the name can be used on its own as a sign, and should convey cooperation between the bank and its clients.
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New logo: Fiji

Tourism Fiji, the organisation that promotes the Pacific Ocean nation of Fiji to tourists, unveiled a new brand identity this month. It was presented on November 8 along with the new tagline "Where happiness finds you", and is said to capture the "spirit and essence of Fiji and its people".

Earlier this year, Fiji's national airline also unveiled a new identity. Many would probably argue that it does a better job of making Fiji stand apart.
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New logo: Yaroslavl Coast

Yaroslavl Coast (Ярославское взморье in Russian) is a government project to establish a lakeside resort by the Rybinsk Reservoir north of Moscow.

Its visual identity was developed by Art. Lebedev Studio and features a symbol inspired by topographical maps and natural motifs, like tree rings and seashell patterns. The primary version of the logo comes in multiple colours; there are also colour-coded version for different divisions within the project.
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New logo: ITV

First launched in London in 1955, and eventually expanding into a network covering the entire country, ITV is the oldest and most watched commercial TV channel in the United Kingdom. Through the years it has been the home of countless productions that we associate with the best of British television. It was originally made up of separate companies that were broadcasting under different names to different parts of the country, most of them have now merged into a single company covering all of England and Wales. Since 2002, the local names have been phased out and replaced by the ITV1 moniker.

After announcing that it would drop the numeral from the network's name to become simply ITV, a new brand identity was unveiled last week, on November 15. It was developed by an in-house team, headed by people poached from other broadcasters and agencies.

The new logo is flexible one, changing colour depending on its surroundings. The version seen above is how it will look when not accompanied with imagery.

The new look launches in January. ITV also has a string of spin-off channels, and the overhaul will be extended to them at the same time. Reportedly, ITV2, the entertainment channel, will be red, the drama channel ITV3 will be blue, while the male-skewing ITV4 with cult classics and sports becomes "slate grey".
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New logo: Sodastream

Many of you are probably familiar with Sodastream, the classic home carbonating system. This month it announced a major TV campaign, touting Sodastream as a sustainable solution that cuts down on wasted bottles and cans. At the same time, it introduced a new, simplified logo.
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New logo: Q-Meieriene

Q-meieriene is a Norwegian dairy company, controlled by the Kavli Foundation. Earlier this year, probably in the spring, the company introduced a new corporate identity. This includes an updated version of their Q logo as well as fresh and modern packaging.

Norwegian agency Strømme Throndsen Design have designed new milk cartons for Q-meieriene; I don't know if they were also behind the overall corporate identity.
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New logo: E. Leclerc

E. Leclerc is a major French hypermarket chain. It includes about 560 stores in France and a few dozen more in Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Slovenia. Recently, the chain has started rolling out an updated and somewhat modernised version of its logo. It features a new typeface and an inverted version of the L-in-front-of-a-moon icon.

Polish media are crediting Paris agency Saguez & Partners with creating the new logo. (Awaiting confirmation.)

Reports on a new logo appeared in September, and the company started using it in its marketing and on websites in late October and early November.
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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".
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New logo: Stimorol / Hollywood

Stimorol and Hollywood are two European chewing gum brands owned by Mondelez, which until recently was called Kraft Foods. The two brands have had the same owner since 2002, when Stimorol was acquired by Cadbury, which in turn was bought by Kraft Foods in 2010. Hollywood Chewing Gum is a classic French chewing gum brand dating back to the 1950s, while Stimorol was originally a Danish brand that is available in Scandinavia, Benelux and Switzerland.

This year, the two brands have both introduced new logos that feature a red smile, lining up with the smile logo already used by Trident in the UK.
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New logo: Brasil Kirin

Schincariol, a major Brazilian brewery company, announced yesterday, November 12, that it would change its name to Brasil Kirin, following its acquisition by the Japanese Kirin group last year. The new name was announced at a company event with 2000 employees and is strictly a change of corporate identity, all consumer brands remain unchanged.

The new logo combines Kirin's wordmark with the word "Brasil" in the same typeface and an icon of colourful shapes that can also be used as patterns.
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Logo round-up: October 2012

The new logos for Wendy's, Univision and AIG stand among the October rebrands. But there were plenty of other notable new logos launched last month around the world.

If you feel there's something significant missing, feel free to post a comment about it below.
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New look: Kasztelan

Kasztelan is a Polish pilsner brand that has been brewed since way back in the early 1970s. Today, it is a part of the Carlsberg Group. Polish design agency Studio DN Design Group have been responsible for the brand packaging and labels since 2006. In that time, the design has received slight incremental updates. Another such update was revealed recently and can be seen above.

The aim of these redesigns have been to transform Kasztelan from a regional brand into a national one.
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New logo: Layf Financial Group

Layf, spelled in Russian as Лайф, a cyrillisation of the English word "Life", is a Russian financial holding company that owns eight Russian banks and several other financial assets. In October, it unveiled a new corporate identity, created by Russian agency AIC.

The new logo features an organic and fluid icon made up of circles in different colours. I should reminds us both of cell division and fingerprints. The typeface used is Ebikastuz.
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New logo: Diamond Bank

Diamond Bank is an international bank based in Nigeria. On Wednesday, November 7, it unveiled a new corporate identity along with plans to open more offices. It is now marketed as "Diamond – Your Bank".

The new logo is essentially a refresh of the old one, the icon is mostly kept intact, but grey tones have been replaced by more optimistic colours.
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New logo: Senterpartiet

Senterpartiet, or the Centre Party, is a Norwegian political party that developed from the agrarian movement and today holds centrists views. It one of three parties in the social democratic coalition that rules Norway at the moment. This week, on November 6, Senterpartiet unveiled a new logo, created by Oslo agency Design Container.

The party symbol has long been a four leaf clover, and the new look is an evolution of that symbol. In the new logo, the clover has been redesigned to make its four petals resemble interlocking hearts. Green is the party's signature colour and is still dominant. A new graphical element made up of short lines has been created and is used in many applications.
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