The Tampa Bay Lightning redesigned their logo and uniforms to “return to a classic hockey experience,” says Ed O’Hara, SME Branding CEO. “They wanted it to look and feel original six-ish,” in reference to the original six teams in the NHL.
The New York Times reports that “redesigning the Lightning’s uniforms took six painstaking months.” They reduced the logo and uniforms to two colors and went with a more traditional and minimal look.
As a Tampa native and Tampa Bay Lightning fan, I found this redesign to be quite successful in achieving this goal. The crest itself is a throwback to the foundations of Hockey graphics, and I for one am looking forward to seeing the team in action.
The last major sports team in Tampa to get a redesign, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, won the Superbowl after donning their new logo and uniform designs. Perhaps the Lightning will take the Stanley cup for the 2nd time in its short history.
Post by: Matt Sung
Ouch. The idsgn design blog offers thoughts on the recent redesign of Print magazine in a feature titled: Print magazine, dead or alive?.
Back in January 2010, we shared a few of our own opinions in the post Print magazine’s 70th: “Print Lives!” (we hope so…).
Starbucks redesigns yet again with their revised, more minimal logo version for 2011. Not only did they remove the “Starbucks Coffee” text, but they also reduced the mark to one color.
MSNBC reports:
Starbucks says the changes amount to more than nips and tucks to its favorite lady. The fresh look goes with a new direction for the company as it makes its way back from its toughest times in its 40-year history.
Adfreak has some interesting insights as well:
The inspiration for the siren logo—early versions of which have been called obscene by some—goes back to a 16th century Norse woodcut found by Seattle graphic designer Terry Heckler.
(images and more history on the logo evolution via Starbucks)
Myspace logo redesign
At the Warm Gun Design conference, VP of User Experience, Mike Macadaan, presents the foundation of Myspace’s new branding approach.
“MySpace is a platform for people to be whatever they want, so we’ve decided to give them the space to do it.” —Mike Macadaan
What do you think? Our first thought is that the new logo framework has some potential to be visually fun.
Forbes takes note that Bobby Solomon (@KitsuneNoir) identified the font used in the new logo as a modified version of Akzidenz-Grotesk medium, not Helvetica as others assumed. How often does one see Forbes commenting on type selection? We all have logo redesign fever this week…
Below is a video from the presentation:
(more via “MySpace Unveils New, Artsy Logo” on TechCrunch)
update 10/10/10: In response to @KitsuneNoir and TechCrunch’s attempts at identifying the font, Erik Spiekermann writes via twitter: “AG has a curly y, as does Helvetica. It looks like Calibri.”
The Gap logo redesign
Gap Clothing stores has unveiled a new logo mark on their website this week. The new logo in sans serif Helvetica treatment is so removed from the iconic brand aesthetic of the past years. We were surprised to see such a drastic makeover. Perhaps the new design is trying to be a little reminiscent of the store’s logo from 1969? It would’ve been cool if the Gap brought back their retro roots and fully revived the old logo. Below is signage from the first Gap store which opened in the year 1969 in San Francisco.
Does anyone know the design firm behind the brand new logo? A quick Google search wasn’t too helpful this time around. If you have any additional knowledge behind the new approach or the brand’s design history we appreciate your notes.
update 10/6: We received a couple tips that Laird + Partners is the creative agency behind the Gap logo redesign, but this was not 100% clear based on the info on their company website.
update 10/7: The site IDSGN reports that as follow-up to the Gap logo redesign online saga, the Gap has released a statement on their Facebook indicating their plans to crowdsource a new logo.
“Thanks for everyone’s input on the new logo! We’ve had the same logo for 20+ years, and this is just one of the things we’re changing. We know this logo created a lot of buzz and we’re thrilled to see passionate debates unfolding! So much so we’re asking you to share your designs. We love our version, but we’d like to see other ideas. Stay tuned for details in the next few days on this crowd sourcing project.” —via The Gap on Facebook
Is this the outcome all of the haters were looking for? What implications does this scenario, along with the Tropicana fiasco last year, have for graphic design professionals?
JetBlue appropriates Milton Glaser’s iconic “I ♥ NY logo.”
This “signifies the first time that a corporation has received permission to link its brand to the symbol that is widely recognized as one of the most valuable assets in the realm of tourism marketing…” —NYTimes.com
“…Created in 1975, the I LOVE NEW YORK logo is an icon recognized around the world. While it has often been imitated, this is the first time the powerful logo has been adapted and co-branded for joint use with another entity, demonstrating the significant role JetBlue plays for travel and economic development throughout the State of New York. Use of the logo is part of a long-term marketing partnership with the Empire State to jointly promote tourism and help spur business opportunities state-wide. The co-branded trademark features a deliberate intersecting of the popular I LOVE NEW YORK phrase with the famous red heart and the JetBlue logo…” —prnewswire
To coincide with the new JetBlue marketing campaign, The New York Times is asking readers to submit their own reinterpretations of the design.
IE9 icon gets a slight redesign
The IE Blog offers insight on their logo refresh with a look at the typographic evolution of the blue “e” and 15 years of Internet Explorer logo designs dating back to 1995. There is even a reference to Bringhurst’s The Elements of Typographic Style in the detailed post from Microsoft.
The above image shows the subtle nuances in the letterform for the evolved ‘e” using House Industries’ custom Chalet New York 1960.
“…Why start a post on designing the new Windows Internet Explorer 9 logo with a quote from our post on IE9’s Developer Platform Preview 4? As logo designer Paul Rand said in his book Design, Form and Chaos, “It is only by association with a product, a service, a business, or a corporation that a logo takes on any real meaning.” The decision to evolve the logo, and the choices we made in the redesign were driven by the fundamental improvements in performance and standards support…With the Windows typography team, we studied the letter e in a number of typefaces. We looked for the attributes we had set out to achieve: balance, legibility, fast, modern and lightweight…”
via IEBlog
