New logo: Aricent Group

Aricent is an international corporation which develops technology and software solutions for many big companies. It also owns the design firm Frog, which does some brand identity work. It was established in 1991 as Hughes Software Systems, and was briefly known as Flextronics Software Systems from 2004, before launching as an independent company called Aricent on October 26, 2006.

Previous Aricent logo from 2006


Recently, it unveiled a new brand positioning, which renames the company Aricent Group. That name will be used as corporate brand, but the Aricent name (sans Group) will remain as a sub-brand.

The new identity was created by Siegel+Gale.

New brand hierarchy.

The logo is a simple orange all-caps wordmark. The typeface used is called Friz Quadrata, with a modification on the initial A which is replicated in the new wordmark for the Aricent brand.

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New logo: PL2011.eu - Polish EU presidency

This article was originally published on May 12, but is re-published here as it was lost in the Blogger crash.

The European Union has two legislative bodies, one being the European Parliament which represents the peple, the other being the European Council which represents the national governments. Since it was created in the 1950s, the presidency of the council has rotated between the governments of different member states every six months. Over time, the counsil presidency has become a source of great pride and a chance to set the agenda for whoever is holding it.

Because of this, it has also become a tradition for the different governments to create a new logo to symbolize their presidency, tapping into the creative resources of the individual countries. This has lead to the creation of several interesting logos. With the plans to drastically reduce the significance of the presidency, and the introduction of a generic "ribbon" logo which was used by Spain, Belgium and Hungary during their presidencies, I somewhat assumed that this waste of taxpayer money was sadly coming to an end.

However, Poland seems to disagree, and yesterday they presented a new unique logo which will signify their presidency, which will start on July 1. It was very much inspired by the logo of Solidarność, the independent trade union which helped free Poland and Eastern Europe from communism. The designer behind it is also the same. Jerzy Janiszewski, who designed the Solidarność logo in 1980, has created a logo made up of six arrow head figures holding hands. One of the figures is holding a Polish flag, which is borrowed from the 1980 logo, as is the brush paint style.

The Solidarność logo

The values expressed in the logo are dynamics, postive energy and solidarity. It should also express that Poland is a young state, capable of initiating positive change in Europe.

Polish presidency (in Polish) (archive)
Facebook photo
EurActiv
PressEurop
Poland.pl

New logo: University of Maryland, Baltimore and University of Maryland Medical Center

On May 12, the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) and the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) revealed a new visual identity which unfies two institutions that previously had separate identities. UMB is a professional university, founded in 1807, while UMMC is a teaching hospital, which tracks its roots to a few decades later. Both instituions are located in Baltimore, Maryland. Although they are legally separate, they collaborate and have similar goals.

This new look replaces a cluttered image with a bunch of different independent logos that have been used by UMMC and UMB and its schools.

The new symbol is based on Davidge Hall, a building at the UMB/UMMC campus built almost 200 years ago with a dome and a portico. The portico, with a reduced number of columns, is clearly visible, while the dome can be seen in a more subtle arch.

The typefaces used are Trajan Pro for everything but the "of" part, which is Times New Roman Italic. Both are obvious and common typeface choices for university logos.

Previous UMB logo.

The previous UMB seal included elements from from the Maryland state seal and flag. They have been abandoned, but the yellow-red-black-white colour scheme is still present. Many other universities in Maryland base their logos on the state seal, so this helps distinguish UMB from them.

A previous UMMC logo (one of several, I haven't been able to track down which was the "main" version).

The UMMC logo contained a more literal representation of Davidge Hall.

The new look was launched on May 12, and will be phased in during the rest of the year, with a deadline set for January 1, 2012.
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