There isn't much information on this one nor a live link but it does seem to be for real. Lale is a children's TV channel airing in Ukraine and is the first of its kind to be broadcast in the Crimean Tatar language. Lale means tulip. Designed by Moscow-based Art Lebedev, the bubbly wordmark spells out the name and the last two characters, "LE", form a tulip. That, my friends, is how you do a logo. (Check out what appears to be the old logo too, for contrast). And because it comes from the crazy minds of Art Lebedev, the applications are an explosion of awesomeness and color and kids jumping and abstract characters made out of the same basic shapes as the logo. Somebody put this on Sky, DirecTV, et al. [More / Process/Sketches].

D&AD Awards Ceremony 2013

Designing for designers can be hard. Designing for designers amped up on Yellow Pencil-mania is impossible. For this year's D&AD Awards Ceremony — where the coveted, and notoriously frustrating and difficult to win, Yellow Pencils are announced and awarded from all the nominations — London-based Bravo Charlie Mike Hotel used the organization's ampersand to create an amphibious character that works both as an "&" and an "E", turning D&D into DEAD and using it in sentences like Dead Good, Dead Excited, etc. It's a simple idea executed with just the right amount of visual edge that not only sets the tone for the evening and amuses attendees but it might very well win a Yellow Pencil itself next year. Which would be dead ironic. [More]

Fisix

Athletic men, this is for you. To use. All the rest of y'all lazy bastards (or athletic women), this is for you. To look at. Designed by Mucho for Fisix the identity and packaging for this range of cosmetic products that include massage creams and shampoos and skin balms strikes a really nice balance of something that looks like cosmetics with something science-y and manly without it being annoying in the way douchebag Axe is. The "fi" ligature in the black serif logo is quite hot, the color palette against the tan bottles is sophisticated, and the physics diagrams bring it all home. Time to break a sweat, boys. [More]

Established in 1928, Motorola was a telecommunications company that designed and produced a number of consumer and professional products, from two-way radios to cable TV set-top boxes to cellular and smartphones, including the once groundbreaking RAZR. After a rough patch towards the end of the first decade of the 2000s, Motorola was split into two independent companies: Motorola Solutions, which "provides mission-critical communications products and services to enterprises and governments" and Motorola Mobility, which "delivers personalized information to meet the needs of consumers both in the home and on the go." The latter keeping the smartphone side of the business. In 2012 Google acquired Motorola Mobility setting up a beneficial synergy between Google's Android OS and Motorola's hardware. This week, a new tiny logo for Motorola was spotted on the footer of Techweek100's site, a conference presented by Motorola. Later, not sure how, another version of the logo, confirmed by Motorola, appeared. No announcement, official reveal, or design credit.

Monogram in solid circle.

Monogram in a dashed-border circle.

The intention of the change is obvious: Google is marking its territory in a way just a touch more subtle than a cat peeing on its backyard. The change most people will notice is barely design related, it's in the nomenclature of it, "Motorola: A Google Company". I can't think of many (or any) consumer products or services being so heavily-handed "branded" (in the original sense of the word) as Google is doing here. Perhaps it's a maneuver that will last only a few years until people know that Motorola is Google's bitch because, sorry, but that's what this sounds like.

Graphically, the famous Motorola "M" remains the same and seems like it will still be used in a solid circle as usual. The biggest surprise is the multi-colored ring version that has popped all over the internet. It's an interesting extension that definitely signals something is different but not completely different. It works in providing a fresh take on the monogram and seeing it, literally, through a new frame. Although Google didn't have any problem putting its name on the logo, it held back in making the colored ring be Google's official colors because I guess that would be too much. The typography went from a bold, italic uppercase to a light, normal lowercase setting. It seems like it's been two or three years since we last saw this kind of friendly-fication of a logo. It does kind of work, especially in unison with the "a" and "company" being lowercase too. It does have a nice rhythm to it with all those "o"s and the customized "a" at the end is (although annoying) enough to give the wordmark some customization without going overboard. Overall, this is clearly a logo to signal change and to establish who's boss in this, so a definite success.

Thanks to Boudewijn Vermolen for first tip.

About: (Est. 1874) "Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional football club based in Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, who play in the Football League Championship. The club currently competes in the 2012-13 Championship, having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 2011-12 season, after finishing 18th." (Source: Wikipedia)

Design by: N/A.

Ed.'s Notes: I guess it's an improvement but, holy cow, that is some weird-ass typography.

Relevant links: Press release. Logo history.

Select quote: "The more modern, cleaner and dynamic design has been created following feedback from supporters, who expressed an overwhelming desire to see the long history of the club reflected in the crest. The new design sees the reintroduction of the Lancashire rose alongside the founding year of the club, 1877, in a reworking of the club's popular crest from the late 1970s. The new crest's compact design means it will be reproduced both more effectively and more prominently on a variety of Bolton Wanderers elements.

Thanks to Aaron Cotton for the tip.

First produced in 1997 by Modo & Modo SpA in Milan, Moleskine — produced by the eponymous Italian parent company since 2007 — is an extensive line of pocket-sized, trusted travel companion notebooks with over 14 million units sold in around 23,000 points-of-sale, including nine branded stores, in 90 countries across the globe. Between the classic notebooks and all its variants — small, large, ruled, squared, plain, colored covers — and dozens of special editions Moleskine's collection includes over 750 products. Earlier this month Moleskine introduced a new monogram and a revised wordmark desiged by Milan-based Achilli Ghizzardi Associati.

Animated GIF presenting the new logo.

"Sketches" of the new logo. In quotes because this image couldn't be any more Photoshopped unless it had Kim Kardashian on it.

The new monogram presents the brand as designer of open platforms for creativity, communication and sharing. […] Tthe intention was to create a fluid visual icon that communicates its multi-faceted and open nature while unifying its many objects, types of users and brand values.
— Press Release (PDF)

Monogram detail, above. With stuff, below.

Re: the above image. Shoot me now.

The logotype remains unchanged apart from a more emphasized roundness to the curves of the letters, creating a proprietary font for the first time in the company's history. Particular attention has been given to the letter M, which becomes the pivot for the whole visual identity.
— Press Release (PDF)

Detail of the wordmark. Apologies for fuzziness, it's the best I could find.

If it were designed today, I would vehemently complain about the old wordmark being set in the overused and underwhelming Copperplate Gothic but, now, compared to the atrocious update to it, I find the simplicity and established ubiquity of the old one a major loss. The new wordmark takes out all the edge and crispness of the old and sands down every corner down to a stubby soft corner, while getting rid of inward serifs that provided necessary balance. A major downgrade. Then there is the new monogram, that takes the new "M" and places eight rounded squares (that mimic the rounded corners of the notebooks, see?) around to create a 3-by-3 grid. It's not totally a bad idea, but why squares? As far as I can tell, there isn't a single square Moleskine out there and it's not like every logo should replicate its product or history but the disconnect here is quite obvious and flawed. The monogram then uses the logo-as-window in the most obvious and boring ways, kind of ruining that maneuver for the rest of us. Finally, the monogram is used in tandem with the new wordmark, where it becomes so small to be unreadable. Overall, a very disappointing evolution, specially considering the product's popularity and embrace in creative industries. It deserved better.

Thanks to Yotam Hadar for first tip.

About: "First Advantage provides comprehensive screening, identity and information solutions that give employers and housing providers access to actionable information that results in faster, more accurate people decisions. With an advanced global technology platform and superior customer service delivered by experts who understand local markets, First Advantage helps customers around the world build fully scalable, configurable screening programs that meet their unique needs. Headquartered in Alpharetta, Ga., First Advantage has offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia."

Design by: N/A.

Ed.'s Notes: As much as I don't like globes, or globes with pluses, or transparent globes, or cheesy gradient effects, there is something attractive about this, like a mosquito lamp. Also, that old logo? Pure, big-brother evil. Bigger view of the logo below (or after the jump).

Relevant links: Press release.

Select quote: "The new brand communicates First Advantage's substantial market leading position, which has grown significantly through the recent acquisition of LexisNexis' screening solutions. The logo -- a stylized globe spinning on its axis -- has a crisp, contemporary look that underscores First Advantage's goal to drive innovation in the screening market."

Original animated GIF, so it's a little crisper than header image.

Thanks toJames I. Bowie for the tip.