“New Butterfly not so Fly”
(more on the new MSN logo design via Brand New)

Matt McInerney’s academic exploration and refresh of the Scrabble logo is a slight diversion from the typical official redesigns we post. But, thought this was worthy of sharing.

mattmcinerney:

This is just one part of a larger academic project in which I’m taking the Scrabble packaging (the board, the tiles, the box) and re-imagining & redesigning it. One of my first steps in the process was redesigning the wordmark. In case you weren’t aware, Scrabble rebranded in March 2008, ditched the iconic logo that I’m sure we all remember as kids, and moved towards a slicker, more contemporary looking wordmark. There are a few elements of the wordmark that I think are good, but for the most part, I don’t like it. I think it abandons too much of the original wordmark’s character and I think dropping the ‘S’ especially is a mistake.

So I tried identifying exactly what I like about the old and the new, pointing it out, and redesigning from there. I wanted to revive some heritage and clean up some problem areas. Above you can see some of the process and the result.

I’ll post pictures of more process and final results soon. Also a quick note: this isn’t an official change, this is my own take on the logo for academic purposes. Feel free to reblog it, but I think that’s an important note to include with it.

Top Left: Old logo for Meiji Dairies Corporation; Bottom Left: Old logo for Meiji Seika Kaisha Ltd; Right: New logo for Meiji Group

Meiji wordmark designed in 1986 by Takenobu Igarashi; Redesigned by the Tokyo office of Landor Associates in 2009.

via AQ » Meiji Redesigns, Replaces Legendary Wordmark

Eyeball rebrands PBS on-air, online, and in print this Fall 2009.

“PBS, one of the most highly respected brands in media, is unveiling a new multiplatform brand package this fall. In more than 600 elements that include promo opens and closes, lower thirds, video bumps for IDs and support messaging, Web elements, print templates and more, this collection uses live-action footage, contemporary colors and original music to showcase what PBS is all about - that PBS invites people from all walks of life to broaden their horizons, or, to “Be More.”

PBS stations will debut the new package in conjunction with the September 27 premiere of Ken Burns’s most recent film series, THE NATIONAL PARKS: AMERICA’S BEST IDEA. This immersive documentary takes people not only on a journey to our nation’s most beautiful places, but also on a tour through history to meet the people who dedicated their lives to ensuring these places would forever be available for everyone […]”

via Eyeball

Breyers Ice Cream brand redesign

It was an unexpected surprise to discover a newly refreshed brand identity and ice cream packaging design for Breyers in the freezer aisle of the supermarket last week. Founded in 1866 by William Breyer in Philadelphia, the Breyers brand has gone through many iterations of the actual ice cream carton design over the years. The 1980’s marked the first large turning point for Breyers’ identity on the shelf.

As for the original Breyers logo design, we couldn’t find much information. A couple of sources credit the founder’s son, Henry Breyer, as the designer of the orignal logo and the one who conceptualized the idea of incorporating a briar leaf (an intentional pun on the family name). This is an interesting tid-bit seeing how we always thought it was a mint leaf.

The subtle modifications in the lettering style of the revised logo (right, lettering artist: Ian Brignell) may go unnoticed to the untrained eye.

Pizza Hut restaurant chain redesigns their brand by taking out the “pizza” and only leaves “The Hut”

(via idsgn - thanks to a tip from skylar challand)

On a side note: Does anyone remember “BOOK IT”, the Pizza Hut reading promotion from back in the 80s? As children we loved an educational incentive to get some junk food, but in later years these kind of promotions gained more scrutiny. The program is still around, but we’re partial to the original logo and button design for the BOOK IT program. We get nostalgic when we remember the holographic one in particular. (image above found on prettylad)

Is Mexican-style fast food chain Chipotle suffering from a branding design “identity crisis”, or are they slowly introducing a new logo type treatment?

We were a bit confused when we saw two different logo treatments used at the same location on 23rd Street in NYC (old branding still on the glass doors, but a new environmental signage). Our first guess is that they are debuting a new sans serif logo type for the restaurant chain-and haven’t updated all instances. The business cards from this location also ditches the rougher, more humanistic lettering style. Later in the week we spotted the Chipotle location in the East Village unchanged. Even on the company’s website the lettering style of their brand morphs between the two treatments in the left hand corner (when you hover over with mouse).

If you know more about this, please comment.

(photo on left is Chipotle in East Village, photo on right is Gramercy Park / 23rd St. location)

Sci fi channel rebranding and redesign “Syfy” is spotted in the urban wild with telephone booth and bus stop ads in NYC, New York. We caught these popping up in just the last couple of weeks in high-traffic areas around the city.

The Sci Fi Channel becomes Syfy with their rebranding and redesign. TVWeek has a full write up on the (supposed) move away from geekdom here. As the science fiction genre continues to expand we have to wonder if the content supercedes the brand.

New York, NY - March 16, 2009 - By changing the name to Syfy, which remains phonetically identical, the new brand broadens perceptions and embraces a wider and more diverse range of imagination-based entertainment including fantasy, paranormal, reality, mystery, action and adventure, as well as science fiction … Imagine Greater will become the new brand message and tagline, inviting both consumers and advertisers into a new era of unlimited imagination, exceptional experiences and greater entertainment.

Read the full press release here

Update: (Ad Age) “Sci-Fi Channel to Rename Itself Syfy”, (NPR)
“‘Sci Fi’ Becomes ‘Syfy’ In The Goofiest Rebranding In Quite Some Time”

The redesign is set to roll out in July.