Kristin Becker's DTC Classes at WSU

Old Budweiser Branding

The logo/branding redesign I chose to go with is for Budweiser; the red is eye-catching and easily recognizable.  The original design for their canned product I would say is more geometric because of the way the design wraps around the can.  They also employed a concave hexagon that they warped a bit for the script Budweiser.  The way the old can art was made, definitely looks more segmented into rectangular shapes, that are upright, but you have to put the can on it’s side to actually read any of the text on it.  Budweiser has long claimed that it is “King of Beers” and so on the old can you can still clearly see the crown that sits at the top concave point which is definitely representational of it being the King of Beers.  One of the problems of this design though is, that even though you know what brand it is, if for some reason you wanted to read the text, you have to turn the can sideways to do so.

“Budweiser as a beer is one of the hardest to brew,” says Hall. “It takes roughly 30 days. We wanted to apply the same effort to design principles as to brewing. So we spent twice as long, drawing every piece of type and vector art by hand, such as the medallion, leaves, grains and hops. We put effort into caring about every last detail.”

The new branding for the company I think I would classify as more organic because, back to the text, it’s easier to read since it’s all upright though it still has a geometric component.  The can is clearly done in “halves” as in the top has this spiffy new seal that was made for Anheuser-Busch company, and the bottom half is more simplistic, with the Budweiser in script paired down to a single color (no odd stroke marks), while still proclaiming it’s King of Beers.  They kept the red as it’s still a highly recognizable part of it’s branding and I think it’s a design that it’s not as “representational” as the last just because the obvious crown is gone.  However, by creating the seal, or maybe it’s a coat of arms?, still implies some type of royalty, or ostentatiousness…maybe both.

According to VP of marketing, Brian Perkins, the reason for the logo design is because they thought the old branding was not indicative of the time and care put into creating the beverage, so they wanted new branding that was more detailed and intrinsic to their product.  One thing they wanted to do was reduce the clutter of text from the old branding but still remind consumers of it’s 140-year heritage.

The purpose of the redesign was to create a design that aligned with Africa’s tribal art and traditional designs and could be used in many different mediums like a car wrap and beaded wristbands. The design was created by The Partners for Tusk Conservation Awards.

Tusk Conservation Awards logo caught my eye immediately. I really liked the bright colors as well as the redesign since it reminded me of the pattern project we just finished. The Tusk Conservation Awards gives their awards to those who done amazing conservation work in Africa.

The first logo is more organic whereas the redesign logo is geometric. Organic forms remind us more of nature; they are irregular. In the original design there is a lot of irregular curves which create the outline of the continent of Africa. When we define geometric objects, they are mathematically similar with angles or hard edges. The redesign is created out of shapes that have many more angles and are what we think of when we think “geometric”. The letters are created out of geometric shapes that our mind can interpret into letters and a readable word.

In the old logo, it is more representational. In a representational design objects are more naturalistic and realistic. Our eyes immediately recognize the continent of Africa even though it is a graphically designed shape, because the shape looks identical to the Africa we see on the map. Even the text “Tusk Conservation Awards” is more representational when we compare it to the redesign where the letters are more abstracted. In an abstract design objects are more unrealistic and don’t mirror nature. In the redesign the letters are created out of geometric shapes which our mind recognizes as letters. When we look at the redesign we can see that it resembles a man-make object rather than something that is from nature.

Tusk Conservation wanted a logo created that aligned with Africa’s tribal art and traditional designs. The geometric redesign is actually the building block for a pattern, which also alludes to African textile. With the more geometric design the company was able to create wraps for their vehicles out of the pattern as well as make traditional beaded wristbands that were identical to the new logo redesign.

Purpose of the redesign was simply to get rid of the “ermahgerd” as referred to by the designer of the new logo, Koto. He wanted to have something that would embody what the company, New Voice Media, truly was. The logo on the left is the “Before” image and the right is the “After” image.

After viewing the newly designed logo, I felt that it seemed much more geometric based on the reading because of the straight lines and shape that it had compared to the old logo. We can see in the old logo that you can’t really tell what is going on like the new logo. Immediately upon viewing the new logo I saw how the logo had the “NVM” starting letters of NewVoiceMedia. Because of this very small, but important, detail, it showed me that this logo was more representational rather than abstract like how I would categorize the old logo. After reading the designer’s comments on his new design, he stated that he wanted to create something that would resonate with what the company’s mission was. In this case, it was forming new calling waves and making communications easier and “cold calls warmer”, as stated by NewVoiceMedia. Considering aesthetics, the logo is actually supposed to be a sound wave. I felt this fit in perfectly along with utilizing the starting letters of the company while doing so because it ties together the company, it’s mission, as well as the “name-like” logo to finish everything off, almost like the perfect storm. I was most impressed by how the letters of the company were very quickly noticeable in the redesign of the logo. The old logo didn’t really seem to mean anything as it obviously was much more abstract that the new one.

DR. BRONNER’S MAGIC “ALL-ONE!” before logo.

The logo I came across seemed very interesting because it had the word ‘magic’ in the title. Upon further learning more about the company through ‘Brand New’, I learned that they sold personal care products by using all-natural ingredients. They were very popular amongst hippies because of how effective it was in cleaning the ‘groovy locks of hair’. The logo overall seems very geometric oriented; especially with the font, because of how linear directed the style is. The lines appear to be very sharp and defined, and the extra lines within the letter A also give it more of that depth in sharpness. The earth, just as Timothy Samara had discussed in the reading, can be recognized as either both geometric or organic.

DR. BRONNER’S ALL-ONE! after logo.

However, the after logo seems to appear more organic and more approachable. Organic in the sense that they took out the word ‘MAGIC’ and placed stars above the globe to give it that magical look. The overall design seems to be more refined with making the color not appear as dull, and the arms were reconstructed to appear more refined. The font style also became more approachable, the choice in making the letters more thick and and less sharp gives it a more ‘friendly’ aesthetic; the new font choice doesn’t appear to be all up in your face as much. I think the designer made these choices for one obvious reason, to attract consumer’s attention when the soap products are placed on the shelves. By having “ALL-ONE!” being larger than “Dr. Bronner’s”, it attracts the consumer’s eyes to further explore what the meaning of ‘all-one’ could possibly mean. The font style is also more simplistic, making it a lot easier to read as you pass by; compared to the last logo – where the words might’ve appeared foreign. The logo accurately represents the company’s reputation because it’s a representation of their pledge, “In all that we do, let us be generous, fair & loving to Spaceship Earth and all Its inhabitants. For we’re ALL-ONE OR NONE! ALL-ONE!”. The concluding statement of their pledge is what they emphasize mainly on their logo, the logo also visually represents the unity between ‘Spaceship Earth’ and all Its inhabitants. The visual connection between the earth and the two hands reaching out to shake one another depicts that relationship.

This photo, captured via snipping tool from the Brand New blog, shows the difference between the old (left) and new Voxbone logos. The new logo was designed by Onwards, and the redesign was done to try and give the brand a more energetic and “weird” feel.

I decided to take a look at the Voxbone logo redesign, as it does a great job of using a lot of different aspects of logo design. First, the redesign uses very geometric shapes, mostly just three triangles smushed together, to create the main part of the logo: lips. This is interesting because the designer, Onwards, used the geometric shapes to make something most would consider organic. Because the logo uses geometric shapes to create the mouth, the image is given a very abstract feel to it. You can tell that the shape is lips, and the mouth is open, but they certainly don’t look like the lips you find on the “Mona Lisa.” However, it fits perfectly with the brand they are trying to sell. The company is all about communication, so the mouth is a perfect fit because speech is one of the more common forms of communication. Then, the fact that the mouth is open makes it obvious that it is talking; again, a great fit for the communication aspect. Finally, it fits in with the “weird” vibe the company wants to go for. It’s a little goofy, a little playful, and it seems to line up with the message they want to send to customers: they are all about communication, but they know the whole thing is a little odd. I think the redesign overall is great. The old logo doesn’t say anything to me, except the name of the company. I can tell there is supposed to be something going on between the “o” and the “x,” but it doesn’t look like anything distinguishable. The redesign give the company a single, simple graphic that can be manipulated to fit many different roles – even beer.

Juventus new and old logo, the new logo is designed by the Milan office of Interbrand, with the intention to relaunched the team with a new identity and direction for a modern and fresh design. https://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_logo_and_identity_for_juventus_by_interbrand.php

Juventus F.C is a professional Italian football club team. Most old traditional soccer team logo has the egg-shaped oval, since it’s the main element shape in soccer league. It’s meant to be like a shield/crest, or badge. The Juventus design before was very traditional and formal. The old design is more geometric, with rectangle shape. The background of the logo design with the rectangle is symmetrical in the middle on the Y axis. The text “Juventus” and the horse plaque is center aligned. The proportion is even and balanced. The color is black and white which has a high contrast. There is an arch dark gold yellow line under the “Juventus” text.

Juventus launched their new logo at the “Black and White and More” event with a new brand strategy and identity. With the new design and direction, they are trying appeal the design to football fan, and to fashion enthusiasts. They are trying to keep up with the modern fashion trends, making the logo flexible enough to not just on a soccer jersey, but on a variety of different component like the stadium or street cloth. Juventus keep the defining black and white stripe but took out the gold yellow arch line. This can keep the spirt of old die-hard fans, and welcome new audiences. With a new logo design, their new identity can allow the team to be more than just a soccer team. The team can dive into digital, social, retail, entertainment, and other business industry. The new logo is simple with a centered “J” sharp line. The logo combines three elements, the shield of the outline, the black and white stripes, and the “J”. The J of the logo has a Gestalt principle effect on it. The black and white stripes create the J and the shape of a shield. It has an organic look, with a shape curve shape and straight edges.

Old F1 Logo created by Carter Wong in 1950 for Formula One Racing.

Formula one decided that after around 30 years it was about time to redesign their logo to something a little more modern and give the race series a facelift for the day and age. The old logo was made in 1950 and was made to look a lot more geometric and representational. The logo used clear-cut letters and shapes to give the appearance of F1. Even though there was white space used to create the 1 in F1 the log is much more representative of the letter and number that make it up. Although the logo has a touch of flare on the 1 that is slightly more abstract and represents what F1 is and in this case, it is car racing.

New F1 logo created by Wieden + Kennedy in 2017 for Formula One Racing. This logo was redesigned to give the company a facelift and increase commercial use.

The new log I think wants to build on the small abstract element that is present in the old logo and make the whole logo more abstract to keep up with modern design trends. The new logo uses a more abstract approach that ties in what F1 is really about, racing. The F is made out of two elbowed rectangles that represent a corner on a track with a line through the middle to give the viewer a sense that it is a road. The 1, on the other hand, is simply just an angled rectangle and is supposed to represent the finish line that is painted on the track. Although the new logo is more abstract and modern seeing as there are now actual letters or numbers present in the design, it sticks to its simplistic geometric origins. I think that the designer of the new logo wanted to stick to its geometric origins because of what geometric means to the viewer. The reading states that geometric stands out in our minds as manmade and not natural. This is very fitting for what the logo is representing. Nothing other than the grass that fills the empty areas of a race course is natural about F1 racing. The manmade cars race on a manmade track in a manmade stadium with manmade rules and regulations so the geometric style is very fitting. Overall the logo was modernized to give the company a facelift while still sticking to its origins and the new representation works very well in my opinion.

This a photo from VELD EDM festival in Toronto, Ontario. Taken by Veld Music Festival Festival.https://www.flickr.com/photos/149801000@N05/

This photo of the stage at VELD festival is a  great example of color because colors often can represent moods and music concerts often use lights to set the moods of their songs. An example of this would be if a concert had slower and sadder music they would use cool colors such as blue, but if you were to have an upbeat sing along you may use warmer colors such as red and yellow. In this case, the stage lights have majority green and purple colors, which are complementary colors. There is also a small amount of blue and red on the stage lights that act as analogous colors. Using the small amount of analogous colors intensifies the purple and green colors.

I enjoy concerts lights, especially EDM lights because they usually have them programmed to change with the beat of the music and the dark space is litten up by the bright colorful lights. Festival lights are intense because it is the only source of light and lights usually have the brightest part in the center. A good example would be a lightbulb how the source of the light comes from the center of the bulb. This photo of these green and purple lights show the intensity of the lights as they light up the crowd.