Brand New

Friday Likes 45

2013-05-17T11:13:02Z

Backgrounds of lightly-colored hues abound in this week's Friday Likes with work from the UK, Russia, and Greece.

Potwash Josh

The task for this student project was to "make a seemingly un-brandable field of work appear extremely professional." Preston, UK-based Sam Sharples chose the field of washing pots for fictional industry superstar "Potwash John". Being student work there are a few details about the identity that are a little undercooked, but the main visual device of the pink and blue plastic against light blue and pink backgrounds respectively truly elevate this humble pot washer into a fashionable brand. The humor of the concept and execution are scrubby-good. [More].

Malina.am

Meaning "raspberry" in Russian, Malina is a new internet television channel that "depicts and is intended for those whose life is bright and successful." What I understand is that the programming is led by experts in their fields, including "deputies, ministers, businessmen, renowned musicians and public figures" that serve as hosts and journalists. Yekaterinburg, Russia-based StreetArt created an explosive identity around the color of raspberry, instead of trying to include the raspberry somewhere in there. It's hip, it's internet-ey, it has the professionalism of a regular TV channel, and it sometimes goes boom — see animations at the link. [More]

Elina's Bakery

Baking goodies from her home in Athens, Greece, Elina Smith's logo is as charming as a baby cupcake. Mixing an oven with a roof's house, the message couldn't be clearer: homemade. It's not a perfect logo, it's perhaps a little too thick, with some of the corners getting a little mushy but it's a real tasty idea. The logo and identity, designed by local designers George Strouzas and Konstantina Yiannakopoulou, are printed on lightly-colored hued papers and is complemented by an illustration of lots of big buildings, which seem like another project altogether but I guess they do sort of help offset the little house as something special among the city's bustle. [More]

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Mall of America Gets Wrapped Up

2013-05-16T12:13:35Z

Opened to the public in 1992 in the suburb of Bloomington in Minneapolis near the Twin Cities, the Mall of America (MOA) is he United States' largest retail and entertainment complex as a 4.87 million square foot structure sitting in a plot of land 78 acres big — either 7 baseball stadiums or 32 Boeing 747s would fit inside. Attracting 42 million visitors annually, MOA houses 520 shops, an indoor amusement park with 27 rides, an indoor aquarium, a 14-screen movie theater, and even a chapel that weds over 300 couples every year. In other words: it's big, it's bombastic, and, um, it's big. Yesterday, MOA introduced its new identity designed by Minneapolis-based Duffy & Partners.

The creative process recognized the equity found in the star of the original logo and transformed it into the dynamic new star made of vibrant colored ribbons. The ribbons depict the multitude of the always fresh, exciting and new experiences at Mall of America which is the magic of the brand.
— Press release

As an animation, flowing ribbons of color streak across the screen to create the "star" shape. These ribbons are designed to be a nod to the ribbons of the retired Mall of America logo. The fluid motion of the ribbons represents the Mall's constant change and innovation, while the ribbons themselves are more literally interpreted as a representation of shopping and gift-giving.
— Press release

Identity elements.

Identity presentation video. Animated logo and a few more applications not shown in images in this post.

Above and below, the identity on staples of the mall experience.

The previous logo was a rather gaudy and unsophisticated interpretation of what MOA is, with a very poor rendition of the star and stripes and poor typography — more Big Gulp than Starbucks Macchiato. The new logo is a fantastic evolution of the same elements now executed with proper sophistication and accuracy. It's still not Saks-Fifth-Avenue sophisticated but that's something it can not be or should not be. The logo is simple and pretty and fun and makes you want to wrap everything you bought in colorful ribbons. It turns MOA from a kitschy destination to high-end one. We've seen ribbon-based logos before so, in that respect this is nothing new, but here they make conceptual sense and are perfectly applied when used as patterns and visual device to hold the name of the mall. The flexibility of the whole system is subtle yet very important to keep fresh what must be hundreds of communication materials issued monthly throughout the mall. Overall, a great system all around, from logo to prototype mugs.

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Destination: Corner of Stuff and Stuff

2013-05-15T11:24:50Z

In 2005, the MoMA Design Store launched the first of its Destination: Design series that brings products from different cities and countries from around the world to the museum's store. The project has a couple of benefits: a) more cool stuff to buy at MoMA and b) exposure for local artists who may not otherwise get a chance to sell their work at such large scale. So far, the series has brought products from Finland, Denmark, Buenos Aires, Berlin, Japan, Seoul, Brazil, Portugal, Istanbul, and Mexico. Its latest edition is Destination: NYC, a collection with approximately 200 lifestyle products including home accessories, furniture, paper goods and jewelry — all products are manufactured in the U.S.. Each edition in the series has had its own identity, sometimes designed in-house at MoMA, others in collaboration. This one was designed with the School of Visual Arts Masters in Branding Program under the guidance of Mark Kingsley, who also wrote advertising headlines and copy, designed window and store displays (currently in progress) and product photography.

Destination NYC uses a flexible identity where disparate elements, from all corners of the world, collide, contrast and combine into a vibrant whole. The holding shape suggests the everyday landmark of New York City: the corner.

"Meet me at the corner of..."

"It's at the corner of..."
— Presentation materials

All version of the logo.

Detail view of each "corner".

There is plenty of stuff to see, so I'll state my peace early on. If there is one thing to say about this, it is that it feels like New York. It's messy, it's busy, it's cacophonous, it's a bunch of stuff piled on each other regardless of whether it's cool (graffiti) or uncool (pigeon). The concept of putting it all in a "corner" is a great way to tie it all together. The logos have a great, raw energy to them that is then nicely tempered in application with more MoMA-esque approaches of simple typography and white backgrounds. Overall, the project is a fun, over-the-top answer to a somewhat ephemeral project that will live until the next Destination arrives.

MoMA website.

Video for display use at MoMA's Soho store.

Video for display use at MoMA store, split across three screens.

Prototypes for stuff.

Urban panels.

Wild postings.

Wild postings detail.

Merchandise display.

Process and presentation images. Click on each to view bigger.

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Kering Goes Owl Out with New Branding

2013-05-14T11:26:03Z

Established in 1963 as Pinault — later Pinault-Printemps, later Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, most recently PPR, and completely renamed as Kering this past March — is one of the most comprehensive parent company of luxury brands, including Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Brioni, Christopher Kane, and Stella McCartney among others as well as sports brand Puma. Family-owned since its inception, Kering is present in more than 120 countries, it employs 33,000 people and generates 9.7 billion euros in revenue. The new name was created internally with help from Havas Lifestyle, who are also credited with designing the logo and identity while Dragon Rouge is credited with brand strategy and the signature.

Logo animation.

Brand introduction video.

First and foremost, Kering can be pronounced as 'caring' in English, which expresses our company culture of taking care of our brands, people, stakeholders and the environment. The suffix '-ing' expresses the idea of movement, one of the constants in the Group's history, as well as its international dimension. The stem 'ker', meaning home in Breton, is a proud reminder of our origins in the Brittany region of France.
— Press release

Our new emblem, the owl, represents vision, as well as being a sign of wisdom. A discreet and protective animal, it is a powerful symbol for a Group that spots potential and guides and nurtures its brands and people.
— Press release

With its sharp vision and 270° swiveling radius of the head, the owl represents Kering's visionary character and foresight, its ability to anticipate trends and spot the potential in people and brands. A protective and unobtrusive creature, the bird of the goddess Athena, it symbolises wisdom and intelligent activity.
— PDF dossier

The previous logo was exactly what most acronym-based logos for corporations end up looking like: stiff and forgettable. Nothing necessarily wrong with it but when you see the alternative, as is the case here, you wonder why companies will settle for so little. The new logo is an excellent evolution that establishes the parent company of all these luxury brands as a brand all its own. (It could be argued that a parent company should not call too much attention to itself and recede to the background with a stiff and forgettable logo). The owl icon is charming and sophisticated, something you could see debossed on a black leather folder with financial numbers inside, yet, in the way the owl's face is drawn, there is an interesting playfulness to it. The airy wordmark is a great complement to the owl, if a little big in relationship. It has just the right amount of customization in the little swashes on the "K" and "R" and nothing more.

Lastly, our new signature, 'Empowering Imagination', places imagination at the heart of our business, enabling us to create value in the widest sense. At Kering, we encourage and take care of imagination to push our brands and teams to new limits, to create, innovate and realise their artistic and financial potential — in the most sustainable manner.
— Press release

Launch campaign print ads, how all the elements come together.

Then things start to get wonky in application and with the introduction of the handwritten signature. It's like another company altogether. One trying to be hipper but keeping that fashion-world-print-ad aesthetic of forced bluntness. This is only the launch campaign and its point is to communicate the name change and introduce the brand's elements so hopefully as recognition rises, the applications will get better.

Thanks to Witek Gottesman for the tip.

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The Future of Fox is Now

2013-05-13T11:12:16Z

Hinted to as early as July of 2012 and officially announced this past December, Rupert Mudorch's News Corporation is splitting into two separate businesses. The first, to remain named News Corporation will handle all the publishing properties — newspapers and magazines — like The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post, with the former's managing editor, Robert Thompson, as CEO. The second, to be renamed 21st Century Fox will handle the entertainment properties — cable and television channels, filmed entertainment, and direct satellite broadcasting businesses — including the FOX network, 20th Century FOX, FX, among dozens of other channels with Rupert Murdoch as CEO. Absolutely every single property will retain its existing name and logo. The name, 21st Century Fox, will serve as the parent company only and the logo — announced this past Thursday via an e-mail to employees — will only be a business-to-business mark. It was designed by Pentagram partners Michael Gericke and Emily Oberman.

The name and symbol distill the elements of Fox's familiar searchlights-and-monument logo into a dynamic new identity. The 21st Century Fox logo features a pair of sweeping searchlights that suggest entertainment, broadcasting and limitless possibilities within a circle shape inspired by a lens. Iconic and distinctive, the symbol is accompanied by a wordmark set in strong, stacked lettering that is derived from the typographic pedestal of the Twentieth Century Fox logo and Fox Broadcasting's wordmark.
— Pentagram project page

"Today I am proud to unveil our new logo, which serves as a powerful symbol of the inspiration and high bar set by our company. Like our name, the logo reflects the rich creative heritage of Twentieth Century Fox and signals the promise of the 21st century and our restless drive toward the future."
— E-mail from News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch to employees

For extra clarification as it relates to entertainment properties that contain the name FOX: 21st Century Fox is the parent company, the existing logos DO NOT change.

To clarify for a third time, the new logo does not replace the famous 20th Century Fox logo and movie opener — I'll take bets now on how many people in the comments bitch about how that logo should not have been changed. Anyway, with that in mind, this new logo has a couple of roles to play or things to communicate: 1) Its association with all things "FOX" and 2) its role as an entertainment company. The first is achieved by modeling the typography after the FOX Network logo (shown in blue above) and to a certain degree on the lettering on the 20th Century Fox logo as well as by translating its moving spotlights into a static version that, in turn, help achieve the second aspect of entertainment: Creating an instant association with the famous logo and red carpet events and movie openings that enjoy the spectacle of moving spotlights.

So, the logo does its job. It just happens to do it in a rather underwhelming way. The typography feels far too informal — and Kabel-ish — to elicit the associations with the monument-like lettering of the studio it takes its name from and there is also something not quite finished or finessed about the spotlights in a circle, or maybe it's just the large size of it against the typography. Perhaps we've grown so accustomed to the corporate-ness of News Corp. that this relatively playful logo is just not corporate enough.

Finally, for some levity and because there really aren't that many opportunities to break this out, I leave you with one of the best renditions of the 20th Century Fox fanfare. Take it away, Mr. Wiggum.

Thanks to Barkley Anderson for first tip.

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Friday Likes 44

2013-05-10T11:12:33Z

Things revolve around hand-drawn logos, animals, bearded tattooed models and other fine European accoutrements.

Liseberg

To more fully appreciate the new identity for Liseberg, an amusement park located in Gothenburg, Sweden, it's probably best that you first look at the old logo (make it pop-up here). Chuck E. Cheese-ish, ain't it? The new identity by Stockholm-based Happy F&B adds sophistication where there was none, with a perfectly balanced color palette and fun graphics, along with a redesigned, 1-color rabbit. I would go to there just for the popcorn boxes. [More].

The Collection

I must be on a kick of ugly-ish design (what with the BNC13 identity and all) but I really like this harsh signature-like logo by London-based mind design for The Collection, a (I believe, now-defunct) restaurant at the Royal Academy of Arts designed by interior designer Tom Dixon. The logo is jerky and bendy but it becomes almost luxurious in application with some metallic inks but it can also be hip as a neon sign. The rest of the identity uses a condensed sans serif and a palette of purples and teals and split fountains that seem like another project altogether (but one that would also be cool on its own). Regardless, all is good. [More]

Roar

Nothing says "roar" like a chicken, jack russell terrier, and a goat, right? Yet that's what makes this identity by London-based ORB get people's attention. To give a voice to Roar — a provider of business communications (VoIP telphony, broadband, or mobile services) — ORB brought together a cackle of animals and a bearded model to become spokesbeings for the company in a quirky video introduction and identity. [More]

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Maha Music Festival Puts a Bird on it

2013-05-09T11:19:32Z

First staged in 2009, the Maha Music Festival is a volunteer-run event in Omaha, Nebraska, featuring local, regional, and national indie and alternative rock artists that last attracted over 4,000 attendees — 2013 will be headlined by The Flaming Lips. Starting in 2012 the festival adopted a new identity by local firm Oxide Design. I realize this breaks my own criteria of the timeliness of work to be posted on Brand New and for all Omahans who consider this old news we deeply apologize (not too deeply) but, for some reason, today I struggled to find something interesting to post and this project had been piled on with other news since February and, well, it's interesting.

Bird icon evolution.

[We] looked to evoke the lore of the Maha while simultaneously capturing the festival's key elements: pride, place, and independence. We found the perfect solution in the great chief of the Maha, Chief Blackbird. The Maha were the most powerful Native American tribe of the Great Plains — a people whose name inspired our city's, and then the festival's. Oxide developed a modern symbol for the Chief that hints at the visual style of the Plains Indians, but is still pure rock n' roll.
— Oxide Design case study

As we expanded on the identity, we wanted to capture the feel of the festival by implementing the bold, gritty visual style that so perfectly represents rock music. Black and white grainy photography, vintage Omaha maps, and rough textures create the building blocks for all collateral pieces.
— Oxide Design case study

The previous logo was already quite good, if a little Hawaiian in flavor — whatever that means — with what appears to be a sun setting behind the sea. The MAHA lettering was nice and the texture gave it that indie feel. Too bad about that Helvetica plopped in at the bottom. But that old logo could have been for any number of music festivals. The new identity, well, it brings it home. In both concept and execution. The blackbird icon is bold and graphic and, more importantly in this case, it looks great on a t-shirt. The "MAHA" custom lettering is a great complement to the icon and even the "Music Festival" at the bottom is well considered and a good complementary typeface for the rest of the materials. Fun project for a fun client.

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TaskRabbit's Bag Gone Missing

2013-05-08T11:15:17Z

Established in 2008, TaskRabbit is an online service that connects people (TaskPosters) who need something done and either don't have the time to do it, the desire to do it, or the expertise to do it with people (TaskRabbits) that have the time, desire, and expertise to do it — perhaps, too, the need (or want) for some extra cash. The premise is simple: say you have a wall that needs to be painted and you post it as a task and establish a fee you are willing to pay, then TaskRabbits bid to do the task by submitting their own fee and expertise, you choose and the person comes in and does the job. TaskRabbit is available in few cities at the moment, like New York, San Francisco, Austin, and Chicago and there are over 4,000 vetted TaskRabbits running around doing errands and jobs. This month, TaskRabbit introduced a new logo designed in-house.

"We wanted to simplify. Not only has our B2B product, TaskRabbit for Business, experienced rapid growth, but we've also seen an increase in users accessing our product via mobile devices. We tried modifying the earlier rabbit logo mark with some success, but realized that we needed a heftier shift in identity expression. The old rabbit posed some technical barriers, including readability at small sizes. Since changing the rabbit is a pretty significant design decision, we decided to take the opportunity to take a critical look at our visual expression and reevaluate the design as a whole."
— TaskRabbit blog post

"Part of the reasoning behind redesigning the rabbit came from customer feedback about how TaskPosters and TaskRabbits perceived the brand. We did some research to gather these learnings and determined it was time to redefine the principle meaning behind TaskRabbit to evoke impressions of professionalism while sustaining a friendly and familiar demeanor."
— TaskRabbit blog post

Thanks for clearing that up. Wasn't sure what part of the rabbit was based on circles.

As poorly drawn as the old rabbit was — weird changes in line thicknesses, a bag without straps, strange feet — it had a clear message: running around doing stuff, quickly. And the all lowercase, italic wordmark was anything but pretty. The new logo is an aesthetic improvement but takes away the instant message of the original. Now, the rabbit is sitting, static. It could be argued that it — the blog post hints the rabbit is a she and is internally called "Hazel" — is waiting patiently for her next task. But it's really not. It's just a rabbit now. A rabbit that lost her messenger bag, that differentiated it from other rabbits. It's better drawn in some respects: the line-work is better, but the hind leg becomes some kind of fox tail that seems to wrap under the body, while the puffy tail sits at top. Not sure what happened there. The rabbit also mostly just works against a green background where the circle that appears in the white background version is not visible, which looks kind of strange. The typography at first glance also looks like an improvement but the design team got a little carried away with customizing whatever that font used to be. They have swashed the "k" and "R", rounded one corner of the characters, chopped of the "t" on both sides, etc. Also, in application, they list Omnes and Source Sans Pro as primary typefaces with ITC Avant Garde Gothic as a secondary typeface… um, no. Unless you are being graphically ironic, you do not mix three sans serif fonts like that. I'm thinking I'll apply as a TaskRabbit and run the errand of selecting some typefaces for them.

Thanks to Joey Cordes for the tip.

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2013 Brand New Conference: Registration Open

2013-05-07T16:53:36Z

Speakers, details, registration, and more are all now live for the 2013 Brand New Conference.

A few things:
1) Early-bird pricing will only be available for one month, ending on June 28.
2) Between speakers, sponsor-reserved tickets, and pre-sale registrants there are already 119 seats taken, less than 400 left.
3) An explanation of this year's hardcore identity can be found here.

Hope to see many of you there.

And many thanks to our sponsors who signed up for launch: School of Visual Arts - MPS in Branding, Squarespace, Neenah Paper, MailChimp, Monotype, and Hoefler & Frere-Jones.

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Dutch King Gets His Day in the Sun

2013-05-07T11:05:37Z

On April 30, 2013, Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand (Willem-Alexander to friends and press) became the King of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (the Netherlands to friends and bloggers) as his mother, Queen Beatrix, abdicated the throne after 33 years. Willem-Alexander is the first King to take the throne in 123 years. For his inauguration day and the days leading up to it, the City of Amsterdam worked with Amsterdam-based Koeweiden Postma on the "dressing" of the city to celebrate the occasion.

"We were given just one week. The design brief was simple: create a design that is both festive and regal. The most important conditions were: the design cannot include a crown, nor can it show text or any images of the new monarch."

In short, decorate the space around the National Palace with the national colours red, white and blue, because the event is all about the King of the Netherlands. And add orange and "I Amsterdam" around the rest of the city where people are celebrating Queen's Day as they do every year. Orange is after all the colour symbolising the Netherlands at its most festive because of its association with our royal family, the House of Orange-Nassau.
Koeweiden Postma case study

"During the very first meeting with the City of Amsterdam, we discussed possible symbols to use for the event, as we felt using just the colours would be insufficient. So we came up with the initials of Willem-Alexander. As starting point of the design we used the existing monogram of Willem-Alexander, but without the crown. The rest of the design speaks for itself."
Koeweiden Postma case study

Well, this is fun, isn't it? It really is quite amazing what a good balance of regalness, festiveness, and Dutchness this project achieved. Designing a monogram fit for a king can't be easy yet this solution is remarkably simple and effective but most importantly it establishes the diagonal-line foundation for the 1,100 flags and banners, 500 bus shelter posters, and 30 decorated buildings that appeared throughout the city. Even the gradients, that would otherwise seem gratuitous add just enough dimension to the graphics to make them sizzle a little bit more. I can't imagine the complexities of a project like this so it's quite commendable that the result is vibrant and contemporary without veering into the gaudiness expected of Royal events.

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Hand Beats Filter in New Instagram Wordmark

2013-05-06T11:03:20Z

Established in 2010 and hundreds of millions of photographs ago, Instagram is a "fun and quirky way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures". Obviously, that's an understatement. For its 100 million users, Instagram is as much part of life as texting and e-mailing and Facebook (who we all know paid a cool billion dollars to acquire Instagram in April of 2012 — who's laughing now?) and its filters have established a new lingua franca for documenting food, clouds, and POV of places you are not in. Point being: Instagram is big. And important. Small changes are big changes. And its latest update, version 3.5, brought along with it a redesigned wordmark crafted by Denver, CO-based Mackey Saturday.

It was always essential that the design maintained everything that we've all grown to know and love about Instagram while creating a logotype that was more refined, durable, and that positioned the brand for expansion. Looking to the past to inspire the future, the script connects with the nostalgia that Instagram was built from, maintains the important character of the original typeface, and places the brand in a unique and prominent position both in the current and future landscape.
— Dribbble shot

Mackey Saturday at work.

Vector-y details.

The previous wordmark was typeset out of the box using Billabong. Not the most horrible of 1950s script typefaces but also not necessarily the best one, especially that capital "I". I always appreciate a company dropping a stock font in exchange for a custom-drawn one. Even more so when it's well done. The change here is a wonderful evolution that transforms the well-known wordmark into something that feels similar but definitely looks (and reads) better, even keeping the quirkiness of the "I". The new upright script flows perfectly from character to character and then has enough for one last little kick in the flourish of the "m". This might seem like a small, meaningless change but it lifts Instagram from one-hit-wonder app to what it actually is, a lifestyle brand.

Testing the new wordmark with its own filters.

Thanks to Bradford Barron for first tip.

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Friday Likes 43

2013-05-03T11:08:49Z

Today we go full on Nordic with firms and clients from Denmark and Norway and an aesthetic that you just can't get either on this side of the pond or even in other parts of that side of the pond. What I'm trying to say: They got serious design skills up there.

Højmark Cycles

Like the streamlined kit of parts that Højmark Cycles uses to build its custom bicycles for clients, Danish firm Ineo Designlab used its own set of streamlined sticks and balls to craft a custom, geometric, stencil wordmark. The resulting logo is as alluring as the frame of a bike and the identity goes above and beyond with a gorgeous set of custom numerals for catalog price sheets. I could ride this all day long. [More].

Advance Nonwoven

This is not something I typically like and when seeing the full identity there isn't that much there — and when you are there, the logo's typography leaves much to be desired — but I have to admit that I just completely fell for the image above. How pretty is that? And it's also quite an appropriate solution by another Danish firm ME! ME! ME! for Advance Nonwoven, a company that creates insulation products from 100% organic and recyclable fibers. So the logo looks technological and woven-ish and warm. Win, win, win. [More]

Krohn

The extra minimalist logo for interior architecture firm Krohn, explains Oslo-based Commando Group, is based "on a room seen from the central perspective," that "after trying out different views we saw that in a certain angle, the room becomes a disjointed 'K'!" And to prove it works both ways you can drag the logo around on the client's website. Web bells and whistles aside, the identity is simple and confident with some metallic ink sprinkled around for a little bit of glitz. [More]

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X Marks the Port

2013-05-02T11:03:35Z

Used as far back as the thirteenth century, the Port of Amsterdam is ranked as the number 4 port in Europe, handling almost 93 million metric tons of cargo annually, employing directly (and indirectly through port-related companies) 55,000 people. The Port's main goal, besides moving stuff, is "stimulating economic activity and employment in the entire Amsterdam port region." Previously owned and managed by the local government, this April the port was established as an independent, corporate entity with the City of Amsterdam as the main shareholder and a new logo was introduced, designed by Groningen, the Netherlands-based Hole in the Dyke.

The logo for the new Port Company is based on two forms - the circle and the (Andreas) Cross. The eye is 'forced' to see the form of the circle which is actually not there. The logo reflects the contrast between new and well-known; between open and closed; between looking inwards or looking outwards.
— Hole in the Dyke case study

New logo introduction video. Probably the most charming, funniest (if not, at least, pun-iest) introduction video in a while.

When I was first looking up this story I thought the old logo was the new, since it feels fresh, stylish, and minimal in that sophisticated-yet-slightly-edgy European way — I mean, who wouldn't want a client to accept a logo with three bold Xs? The new logo manages to go even more minimal and still maintain a little bit of that edge by summarizing the three Xs into one with a Gestaltenish circle at its center. Bold, simple, port-like (if there is such a thing as logos that feel like ports). While it's usually pretty to have a lot of colorful color variations, this logo doesn't benefit at all from them as it takes away from the starkness of the mark and in application, as seen in the banners above the boat photo, the identity falls flat — and it's too bad the nice patterns developed didn't find (or haven't found) a way into the application. As nice as the logo is, though, the best part about this whole project is the pun-firing Patricia (directly above).

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Facebook's Radically New "f" Logo

2013-05-01T11:22:36Z

I will spare you my usual introductory paragraph this morning since you all know what Facebook is and what it does and get right to the point. Last month, without much fanfare, Facebook introduced a revised version of its "f Logo" which is meant to be used to promote an organization's or person's presence on Facebook. It's ubiquitous — yet I had never realized there was, officially, a lighter blue line at the bottom of it. Along with the new "f Logo" also comes an official brand page and a revised set of icons for all the different services/pages found throughout the Facebook universe. Obviously this is not the most earth-shattering change in the history of logo changes but it's my duty to report on it, since, like, a billion people use Facebook.

The "f Logo" in detail. You probably don't need to see it that big but there it is.

For the record, these are the official "Thumbs Up", "Like Button", and "Find Us on Facebook Badge" assets.

Interestingly, you can't download the Facebook logo from the assets page.

So, yeah, there is no more lighter blue line. And the world keeps chugging along. I don't even know why it was there in the first place. In the new version the "f" bleeds out and becomes bigger, which is very helpful since people are using the social sharing icons in really tiny dimensions now that there is dozens of icons to share stuff with. What's more interesting about this whole story is Facebook making a more conscious effort to establish what's right and wrong since so many people have just grabbed unofficial icons off Google image searches or just created their own (I know I have) — and also now that Twitter has upped its game graphically, Facebook can't rest on its laurels. And for a site that changes design every other month and where every platform experience feels different (and almost alien to each other) perhaps this is a sign that things are about to get more consistent. The icons shown below are also a good indication of a graphic standard being set in place. And that can only be promising. Unless they change everything again in a few months, which wouldn't be surprising.

Logos/icons for other large pages/sections/services from Facebook. Gathered first by Tom Waddington.

Thanks to Erik Weiss for first tip.

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Historic Houses Trust Presses Caps Lock Key

2013-04-30T10:57:31Z

Established in 1980, the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales in Australia protects and cares "for significant historic places, buildings, collections and landscapes with integrity, and enable people to enjoy and learn about them." Along with twelve of the state's most important historic houses, the trust also manages landscapes, a library and collections of paintings, furniture and objects. This month the trust announced it would be launching a new, public-facing brand under the name of Sydney Living Museums with the goal of increasing visits and awareness of this cultural institution. It will maintain Historic Houses Trust as the operational name. The new identity has been designed by Sydney-based Frost*.

The brand strategy and name is realised visually through a new identity, also created by Frost*. The mark centres on the idea of 'unlocking stories', and draws on the key as a symbol of entry into other peoples' homes.
— Frost* blog post

Our logo, constructed with our initials, is inspired by the amazing array of historic keys that we have: from the giant key unlocking Elizabeth Bay House, to the master's key for the Hyde Park Barracks and the keys to the cells at the Justice & Police Museum.
— SLM new site

The previous logo was pretty nice, with a chair-like "h" inside a metaphorically-home-like "H", providing a nice concept and execution (except for that odd italic "t" for Trust). The new logo goes for a similar, initials-based, typographic play by turning SLM into the shape of a key. At first the idea seems kind of dopey and, well, at second, it also seems kind of dopey — a little too much like an early design school assignment. However, the resulting logo — despite the humongous size of the "S" in relation to the other two letters and to any key handles I have ever opened a door with — is quite charming, sure to bring a smile to the face of visitors who figure out that it's a key and the initials of the organization. (I know it's not that hard but, hey, people, you know…). In application the logo is used far too big for my taste, making the key look strangely out of proportion with everything else but because the text of the logo is so small in relation to the key you can't really make it much smaller — a secondary lock-up might be beneficial. Overall, "cute" I would say.

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