the taste of a new logo

The Pepsi logo has come a long way since its first hand-drawn logo in the 1800s. They recently unveiled new logos for their drinks...they are very futuristic looking and personally, I think they should have gone more classic - especially in a time when people are so worried and uncertain, what better time to go back to an old "friend"? But that's just my opinion. Take a look at the evolution of the logo for yourself. 

And the newest version debuted by Pepsi: 

So the logo is supposed to be a smile, or a grin if you will. I think it would have been cool to go back to an updated version of the circa 1973 logo. 

Mario & Luigi take the bus

Behold the Arlington Transit logo. This logo adorns the busses that shuffle weary commuters to and from the metro...and wherever else busses go. 

Now, behold the old school Nintendo logo. 

Look familiar? Change the colors a little bit and...

Yeah. That's what I thought. 

Michaels Italian Restaurant

So Michaels, the crafting mecca store has FINALLY decided to update its logo. Gone are the dated red letters that adorn weekly coupons in the Sunday paper, and in their place, this whimsical hand lettered font. 

On paper I enjoy the new logo. The handwritten style is definitely in keeping with the "crafting" mantra of the store. However, I'm not quite sure how this will look on the stores themselves. It looks more like a boutique style store, rather than the solid national crafting institution that it is. I know that their ads [and their coupons] will not be as identifiable in the Sunday paper, but could the same fate await the stores themselves? Let me explain. I inherited my creative spirit from my mother. While I prefer to keep it somewhat under control, my mother has let crafting go to her head a little too much [I mean this in a good way of course]. Recently my mom and I took a road trip. When planning said trip my mother grew very concerned because there was a Michaels one day only sale coupon [a "special" one besides the typical sunday paper regulars]. The problem was that this one day interfered with our trip. In order to appease my mother we pulled off the highway in Fredericksburg, Virginia in search of a Michaels so that her coupon would not go to waste. Lucky for us, all we needed to find was the giant strip mall infested road that ran through town, and then giant [ugly] red letters would alert us to the nearest Michaels. 

I ask this - with the new logo, will it be as easy to find when driving down the road? I fear that new logo will not be as substantial, nor easily identifiable to passersby. Should my mother and I find ourselves in an obscure town the day of a one day only Michaels sale, will we be able to distinguish the crafts giant from Michael's Italian Restaurant? I worry. 

Don't get me wrong, I like the new logo, I'm just not sure how it will work on a storefront. 

a world of metros

The logo for the London tube is a true design icon. Designed by Edward Johnston in 1918, the logo has remained relatively unaltered for nearly a century. Since then, cities around the world have developed underground, or in some cases above ground, modes of high-speed, mass transportation. With each city, comes a different logo, although many incorporate "M" into them because "Metro" is the most common term for the underground transportation throughout the world. Metrobits has a great overview of some of the different logos and what they represent.

Olympic Logos

In honor of the upcoming Beijing Olympics next month, here's a look at some Olympic logos, past and future.

logo equations

See more at Logologos.

Walmart 2.0

In case you hadn't heard yet, this week retail monster Walmart debuted their new logo for the world to see. This logo re-design, part of their effort to "refresh" their stores, is the

sixth logo redesign in the company's 46 year history (although one logo was never used for signage etc.) The new logo's color and simple, clean lines reflect to some extent the Web

 2.0 "style" that has been spreading beyond the internet, and influencing the corporate logo world. 

The Web 2.0 "style," and I use that word loosely, is characterized by large, clean, simple fonts, usually in bright or pastel colors, and they often appear shiny. Many employ gradients, drop shadows, reflections and other effects as well. Overall, there seems to be a trend towards getting away from a "box" and towards more of an icon, like on your computer desktop. In the past several years there has been a rash of corporate logo redesigns - most of which reflect the simpler style popularized by the Web 2.0 websites. 

Here's just a sampling of some of the other logo redesigns in the past few years. Some, such as Volkswagen, are very minor, whereas some, such as Holiday Inn and GM Goodwrench, are quite drastic.