Orange is by far my favorite color, but sadly I can’t use it on every project that’s placed in front of me. So instead of trying to work the color orange into my own logo design work, I’ve collected 18 logos using the color orange from across the web for your viewing pleasure. All of these logos would look great on orange themed trade show giveaways as well as creative business cards. Enjoy!

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It’s no hidden fact that paper newspapers are declining exponentially. The people who read them are now looking for their news sources online and the most innovative of news sources have taken their speaking platform to the digital. Here is a list of 7 influential newspapers with Twitter visibility. Take a look, follow, unfollow, and enjoy. Maybe you’ll find a different news source to add to your Twitter list.

**Also see: @huffbusiness  &  @huffpolitics **

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There is nothing wrong with upscaling your brand. If you have a product that does better in a more affluent demographic, perhaps upscaling your brand is what you need to do to get the sales you need. The problem comes when brands try to upscale products that are typically sold to a less affluent demographic. Payless shoes makes a large portion of its sales by selling low priced, affordable shoes to low and middle class families all across America. Yet, despite their target audience they have decided to change their very noticeable, round, and large logo to a trendy sans-serif logo that would make the designers over at Pepsi and Tropicana very, very happy.

Image from: flickr.com/photos/jonrev/2746231846/

Now, the old logo isn’t the best designed piece in the world by any means, the “red dots” are hard to interpret as actual “o’s” and the font choice is reminiscent of a time where having the biggest logo meant the most sales (at least it did in theory.) Yet, despite this logos visual shortcomings, it is highly debatable as to whether or not the new logo does the Payless shoes brand justice. See the picture below:

I have not had the change to walk into a Payless shoes store to see if the shoes have gone up in price, the new logo makes payless look like “Paymore” (Sorry for the terrible pun). The logo is a huge visual improvement. The sans-serif font is aligned perfectly so that the “shoe source” fits optically well inside of the “Payless”. The circular “P” which connects with the “L” forms a sort of yin-yang relationship between the two letters, but the actual image it forms could and will be unrecognizable to consumers are familiar with the Payless brand. I’m curious to find out how sales do for the new branding redesign. I’m sure prices are up after store makeovers around the country and it is likely that show prices will reflect it.

So let me know what you guys think of the logo.

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First up is Tropicana.  When you think of Orange Juice you’re likely to find yourself thinking about Tropicana as one of the many brands you’re used to (especially if you’re from the east coast).  What is most bothersome about Tropicana’s redesign is not that it looks bad, but it doesn’t play true to Tropicana’s “homey” feeling that resonates with the heart of America.  The new logo is based on a distinct grid layout and keeps all of the information perfectly fit within it making it a great design piece, but it doesn’t help the brand in the slightest.  Tropicana also is known for its multiple types of orange juice, yet this new logo which should in theory make understanding information easier, fails miserably and helping us identify what kind of orange juice it is.  It took me a couple of minutes in the store to figure out which orange juice was the regular, and which was the one mixed with strawberries since there are no longer large pictures on the front of the boxes to clue you in.  Incidentally, I’m hyper-allergic to strawberries and had I been in a rush in the morning to get a drink, this rebranding would’ve been the death of me.  Literally.

This is a little late to be chiming into the hating of Pepsi’s new logo, but it’s perfect in terms of this post because it personifies the start of what I will refer to as the sans-serif movement.  Design has trends, everyone understands that, but for designers of the major corporation Pepsi to play into these trends with little thought of the aftermath is negligent of their responsibilities as a designer.  I won’t call the new logo ugly, but like the Tropicana logo it does a complete disservice to functional information design by using a thin sans-serif font as the textual identifier of the brand Pepsi because it is hard to notice to almost anyone.  Many people easily mistake it for another brand completely.  OF course the counter argument to this is that the logo image of the red, white, and blue ball is placed in the center of the bottle to let people know “Hey, We’re Pepsi.”  But this also fails due to the small, but visibly monumental difference of the original Pepsi logo image and the old one.  Yet again people could easily mistake Pepsi for another brand completely.

The new Kraft Food’s Logo is the least shocking in terms of a rebrand when compared to the other two, but it features an unnecessary rebranding of an already famous product.  We all know Kraft Foods, even moreso because of their cheese, and what was great about the old logo is that even though it is a poorly designed, and slightly obnoxious logo, it stands out against the other brands on food shelves.  The whole reason behind any food product with a bold label is that it’s supposed to be easily seen up close and from a distance so that people can immediately recognize the brand and put it into their shopping cart.  If a brand is not easily recognize, like in Kraft’s case, they run the risk of losing sales.  I appreciate the designer’s attempt to take the obnoxious and old Kraft logo and turn it into something trendy and modern, but it doesn’t seem like they took into consideration why that logo looked a certain way to begin with.  I’m very interested in seeing how the sales of each of these three products do at the end of 2009 when compared with their 2008 sales figures.  I will make sure to have an end of the year compilation and analysis of sales figures and numbers.

So what do you think about these corporate redesigns?  For better or for worse and why?

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1. Make other suggestions. “Your idea sounds good, but what if you did this.” or do a mock up of something potentially better.

2. Let them down nicely. “I like your concept, but I’m not sure if it will ____”

3. Show them the facts. “I understand you want to do ___ but the impact of ___ has been shown to give better results.”

Remember that your work is a representation of your ability to perform as a designer.  If you design something poorly just because a client wanted it, you’re still designing something poorly which could cost you a job in the future.  How do you designers tell client’s that they’re wrong?  I would love to hear your responses.

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“Logo Design”

Pixel Logo

Online Logo.com 

Logo Works

Logo Design Gurus

LogoDesign.com

LogoBee

Log Technology

Logo Tree

“Company logo design”

Rewriteables

PWC Webmasters

IQ Logo

Prize Logos

Business Logos

“Professional Logo Design”

E-Logo Design

Logo Design Creation

Logo Labs

Logo Design Magic

Logo Design Pros

Logo Design Team

 

I now pose the question to you, the design community, why and how on earth to the most popular corporate logo design companies can get away with atrocious logos?

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Why  they are important:  Possibly one the the most influential designers of the century, Maeda’s personal and public works offer insight into not only what design is but what it should aspire to be.   

Biography: John Maeda is a world-renowned graphic designer, visual artist, and computer scientist at the MIT Media Lab, and is a founding voice for “simplicity” in the digital age. He was announced as the next President of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) starting June 2, 2008.  (http://plw.media.mit.edu)

Works: The Laws of Simplicity, Creative Code, ‘Design By Numbers

Edward Tufte: Information Design & Architecture

Why  they are important: This man was one of the most provacative thinkers in regards to information design and architecture, his work became the best example of how to relate data of any kind to graphics without distorting the data because of the imagrey.

Biography:Edward Tufte teaches statistics, graphic design, and political economy at Yale University. His books include The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Political Control of the Economy, Data Analysis for Politics and Policy, and Size and Democracy (with Robert A. Dahl). He has prepared evidence for several jury trials, and has worked on information design and statistical matters for IBM, The New York Times, Newsweek, Hewlett-Packard, CBS, NBC, the Bureau of the Census, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, International Paper, and New Jersey Transit. He is a fellow of the American Statistical Association and has held fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioral Sciences. He founded Graphics Press in 1983. (http://www.usatt.org/rseguine/tufte/bio.html)

Works: Napolean March Diagram, “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information”

Eric Zimmerman: Game and Interactive Design

Why  they are important: A pioneer in game design practice and theory;  Zimmerman stands as a great example that great games have nothing to do with how good they look, but rather how much fun they are.

Biography: game designer and the co-founder and CEO of Gamelab, a computer game development company, which is known for the game Diner Dash. Each year Zimmerman hosts the Game Design Challenge at the Game Developers Conference. He is also the co-author of 4 books including Rules of Play with Katie Salen, which was published in November 2004. He has taught at universities including MIT, the University of Texas at Austin, Parsons School of Design, New York University, Rhode Island School of Design and School of Visual Arts.  Zimmerman is a director of the RE:PLAY series of events and activities on gaming that included an exhibition, conference and accompanying book. The first online game he helped create was a collaboration with Word.com called SiSSYFiGHT 2000.

Works: “The Rules of Play”, Diner Dash

Arjun Appadurai: Design Ethics

Why  they are important: Ethical design is something hard to come by.  With all of fields of design becoming more and more popular it is easy for designers to lose sight of what it means to design something properly.  Appadurai has written countless essays and books tackling the topic of what it truly means to design by ethical standards.  

Biography: Arjun Appadurai serves as Senior Advisor for Global Initiatives at The New School in New York City, where he also holds a Distinguished Professorship as the John Dewey Professor in the Social Sciences. Until recently, Arjun Appadurai was the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at The New School.  Appadurai is the founder and now the President of PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research), a non-profit organization based in and oriented to the city of Mumbai (India). (www.appadurai.com)

Works: “Fear of Small Numbers: An Essay on the Geography of Anger”, PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge, Action and Research), PUBLIC CULTURE

Andy Switky: Design for Asian Markets

Why  are they important: With the rise of Asian populations, commerce, and design; many designers across the globe have adjusted their products and designs to find a place in this new booming marketplace.  Andy Switky is an expert of creating and innovating products and spaces for this market and is a great place to look for inspiration when it comes to designing for other cultures.

Biography: Andy Switky is an associate partner and the former founding manager of IDEO’s Shanghai office. For nearly 10 years, he has led IDEO’s manufacturing discipline, a group of engineers and scientists who inspire clients and designers with new ways of thinking about materials, processes, and mass production. During his tenure at IDEO, Andy has worked on and managed many types of programs, from traditional product development of consumer, industrial, and medical products, to rethinking teaching and learning in pharmaceutical manufacturing. When not recovering from intercontinental jet lag, he enjoys playing the trumpet and piano as well as long-distance road cycling. (http://www.ideo.com)

Works: 

Bill Moggridge: User Interface Design

Why  are they important: User interface design is easily one of the hardest fields to grasp for any designer, you have to juggle the task of being both functional and engaging and all the time remain human in your design efforts and results.  Bill Moggridge manages to do all three and shows his UI skills with expertise in his work.

Biography: Bill Moggridge founded his design firm in London in 1969, adding a second office in 1979 in Palo Alto, in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley. He designed the first laptop computer, the GRiD Compass, and pioneered interaction design as a discipline. In 1991, he merged his company with those of David Kelley and Mike Nuttall to form IDEO. Bill has been active in design education throughout his career, notably as visiting professor in interaction design at the Royal College of Art in London, and consulting associate professor in the Design program at Stanford University. He is most interested in what people want, who they are, and how they interact with other people, things, and places. His book, Designing Interactions, is available from The MIT Press and was named one of the 10 Best Innovation and Design Books of 2006 by BusinessWeek.

Works:

Roshi Givechi: Branded Experiences

Why  are they important: The lovely Roshi Givechi finds pleasure in designing branded experiences.  Ever wonder why you feel nostalgic walking into a McDonalds?  She’s the reason why.

Biography: Roshi Givechi is a design director and associate partner at IDEO. She leads IDEO’s storytelling discipline, a cross-functional push for deeper engagement with clients and other stakeholders through all forms of storytelling. With roots in communication, interaction, and new media design, Roshi works to explore and define how people interact with objects, space, services, and each other. She has co-taught cross-disciplinary design at the California College of the Arts, has designed websites at Microsoft and MSNBC, frequently speaks at conferences, and often coaches IDEO workshop clients on ways to innovate. (http://www.ideo.com)

Works: “Impact: Inspiring Graphic Design through Human Behaviors” , “The Saving Grace” Innovation 2007

Dana Cho: Environments Design

Why  are they important:  Designing spaces and environments is another way of thinking about user interface design.  Only envrionment design focuses on how a person interacts within a space, rather than how a user interacts with an object or graphical creation.  Dana Cho excels designing experiences, urban planning, and social interactions.

Biography: Dana Cho is an Associate Partner and leads a group of designers who are passionate about Design of Community and Branded Experiences in Palo Alto. Dana helps designers and clients think about the emotional experience between brand and consumer – as an avid consumer who cries easily, this feels quite right. She has led large-scale programs for Mayo Clinic, Nike, The Ritz-Carlton and Gap Inc., bringing together multi-disciplinary teams in a human-centered approach to healthcare, hospitality and retail customer experiences. Dana began her career in architecture and urban planning, with an undergraduate degree from MIT and a Master of Architecture from Harvard University, where her thesis work was carried out under Rem Koolhaas. She has taught classes and lectured at California College of Arts. (http://www.ideo.com)

Works: “Going Off the Beaten Path for New Design Ideas”,  “From Plague to Paradigm: Designing Sustainable Retail Environments”

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