Brand Logos

Books of a Feather Flock to Penguin

By Delphine Hirasuna | December 18, 2012September 4, 2014

It is hard to say what will happen to the penguin logo when Penguin Books and Random House complete their merger, announced in October, but I can’t imagine that the pudgy little bird won’t survive. Founded in the UK in 1935 to bring well-designed quality paperbacks to the market, Penguin Books made the flightless bird its trademark from the start. The first penguin was drawn by designer Edward Young, with Gill Sans specified for the typeface, and covers showing three bands of color used to organize titles by genre – orange for fiction, dark blue for biographies, etc. Typographer Jan Tschichold modified the logo in 1946 and redesigned some 500 Penguin books and also wrote a four-page design manifesto, “Penguin Composition Rules.” In 2003, Pentagram’s Angus Hyland tweaked the penguin logo some more.

Packaging

Sense of Place as Brand Identity

By Delphine Hirasuna | October 8, 2012September 4, 2014

When Icelandic Glacial Water rebranded itself, it shifted the focus from the generic word “glacial” and placed the emphasis on “Icelandic.” That made all the difference. Designed by Los Angeles-based Team One, the new logo, bottle and packaging establish a sense of place for the brand. The frosted label features the geographic shape of Iceland with a black logotype that looks like it was hacked out of shards of Arctic ice. Instead of a predominant mineral cobalt blue color, the new label is a translucent sapphire blue that evokes the pristine purity of Iceland’s famous natural resource. The back panel, printed in contrasting varnishes, reveals the tagline “Source of the Epic Life” as if visible through a veneer of frosty ice. The new design positions Icelandic Glacial Water as a premium brand – so much so that you wonder if it contains expensive vodka.

Design Quizzes

Quiz: Abandoned Logos

By Delphine Hirasuna | August 22, 2012September 4, 2014

There are many reasons why corporations update, revise or simply abandon their logos. The old mark may feature antiquated technology or not be politically correct by today’s standards. It may no longer reflect who they are, the size of their current business or what they sell. Or it may have been drawn by the founder or a promising art student when the firm was a cash-poor startup. Whatever. The result was a logo that looked amateurish and generic. This is a tough quiz, made harder because we had to remove the brand names on some logos so they didn’t give away the answer. When you pair the logo with the brand however, you’re likely to be surprised. Good luck!

Brand Logos

At Don Belisario Restaurant, It’s All in the Family

By Delphine Hirasuna | August 9, 2012September 4, 2014

Even though I am an unabashed carnivore who enjoys eating meat with most meals, I have no desire to be on a first name basis with my food and prefer not to know their extended family, much less admire their fashion sensibility. Still, this concept for Don Belisario, a rotisserie chicken restaurant in Lima, Peru, is playful, charming and thoughtfully executed. Conceived by Lima-based agency, Infinito, the brand revolves around Don Belisario, the patriarch of a distinguished and well-heeled poultry clan. The chicken family’s framed woodcut-style portraits grace the walls of the eatery, with each of their names shown in the brand’s unique typographic style. Every detail – from the napkins, dinnerware, restroom signs to the menu books — integrates the theme. It’s a fun concept, but I keep imagining ordering my meal by name. “I’ll have Dona Filomena oven-roasted, and my friend will have Pascual hard-boiled.”

Design Quizzes

Quiz: Olympic Logos

By Delphine Hirasuna | August 3, 2012September 4, 2014

For those of us who have been glued to the television all week watching the London 2012 Olympics, here’s a little quiz to do during commercial breaks. According to modern Olympic tradition, the host country for the Games is responsible for creating an emblem to be used on promotional materials, by sponsors of the Olympics, and on the uniforms of every Olympic competitor. Over the decades, these logos have integrated the cultural symbols and patterns, national colors and artistic styles of the host country into the design. See if you can name the year and location for each of these emblems. A bonus point if you can recite the Olympics motto. Click “Read More” for answers.

by Corporate Design Foundation

Category: Brand Logos