Logo lovin'

I'm working on some logos this week, and in my search for inspiration, I came across some interesting logo redesigns I thought I'd share:

First up, WalMart's new logo:



There's a ton of buzz on the articles I've read, and none of it is good. People feel it's bland, and there was nothing wrong with the old logo. I've read about it looking too pharmaceutical, and what's up with the enormous asterisk?

My take: Eh. I felt like the old logo really embodied what WalMart was: it's big, and has great American story behind it. The new logo is kind of wimpy. I think one of the commenters said it best when they said "This is K-mart, Apple, and Sprint churned through a meat grinder."

Thanks to LogoDesignLove, for pointing me to the article.


Next, MillerCoors' new logo:



Miller and Coors were 2 separate companies, so there's really no "redesign" here; however, I thought the new Pentagram-designed logo was worth mentioning.

My take: I like it. It's very different from the traditional beer logo, but then again, according to Pentagram's blog; this logo isn't going to be made available to the beer-drinking public; it's mostly going to be used for b to b communications.

I like the mark, but when I first saw it, I didn't immediately "get it." Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful, simple design; I just didn't see the tie in to beer. After looking at it for a while (and then going to Pentagram's blog, where I saw the animation) it all made sense.

Thanks to Logolounge, for pointing me to this article.


Finally, we have the London Olympics mess (Oh no! Not this again!):



The redesign: taking the original mess, and adding Union Jack to make it more "British."

My take: Seriously?

This logo is a mess, no matter what. Taking the British flag and adding it into the logo confuses it even more. Now I don't even see the 2012, I see crumpled up Union Jacks. All of the UK is in an uproar over this logo (rightfully so--it sucks), and now there's rumblings of holding a redesign "contest" (terrible, terrible idea. Every Joe Schmoe is going to enter, and then London will have a plethora of safe, bad logos to choose from. If you're going to redesign it, hire a firm and redesign it--don't hold it open to a public of graphic-design wannabes).

Thanks to Logolounge, again, for pointing out the article.