From Instagram to Budweiser, These Are the Years Most Notable New Logos

It was a messy year for logos. The presidential candidate with penetrative, Web-1.0-style graphics won. America’s largest art museum drew ire from critics for deviating from its iconic emblem. The Tokyo Organizing Committee scrambled to find a new symbol for the 2020 Olympics, after its original selection faced allegations of plagiarism.

But it wasnt all chaos. Trends emerged, like fold-over icons and pleasing gradient hues. Designs from the ’60s and ’70s found new life in clever brand revivals. And designers continued to strive towards visual identities that are equal parts user-friendly, attractive, and inventive. We exit 2016 with more logos than we entered with. Below, a selection of the year’s most notable work.

The Met

The Met has 1.5 million works of art that span 5,000 years and fill three different outposts. But it never had a clear graphic identity linking the institutions disparate parts until this year, when Wolff Olins led a rebranding. Most people learned about the The Mets new stacked red logo through a New York magazine article that called it a typographic bus crash. The incendiary hot take inspiredinsightful discussions about the stateof logo criticism. Its important to remember, several designers said at the time, that new logos exist within a web of other graphic elements. Their worth becomes apparent over time, not upon release.

Credit: Wolff Olins/he Met

The Met has 1.5 million works of art that span 5,000 years and fill three different outposts. But it never had a clear graphic identity linking the institutions disparate parts until this year, when Wolff Olins led a rebranding. Most people learned about the The Mets new stacked red logo through a New York magazine article that called it a typographic bus crash. The incendiary hot take inspiredinsightful discussions about the stateof logo criticism. Its important to remember, several designers said at the time, that new logos exist within a web of other graphic elements. Their worth becomes apparent over time, not upon release.

The Refugee Nation Flag

The first-ever Refugee Olympic Team marched in this summers opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro. The ten athletes, all from war-torn countries, waved a flag bearing the Olympic rings. Soon after, a non-profit called The Refugee Nation designeda logo and flag specifically for refugees. A Syrian refugee named Yara Said came up with an orange banner bearing one thin black stripe, modeled after the life jackets that refugees sometimes wear on their voyages toother, safer nations. The flag didnt debut in time for athletes to wear it during the Olympics, but it remains a potent and effective symbol for a body of people who didnt have one.

Credit: The Refugee Nation

The first-ever Refugee Olympic Team marched in this summers opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro. The ten athletes, all from war-torn countries, waved a flag bearing the Olympic rings. Soon after, a non-profit called The Refugee Nation designeda logo and flag specifically for refugees. A Syrian refugee named Yara Said came up with an orange banner bearing one thin black stripe, modeled after the life jackets that refugees sometimes wear on their voyages toother, safer nations. The flag didnt debut in time for athletes to wear it during the Olympics, but it remains a potent and effective symbol for a body of people who didnt have one.

Pandora

In the early 1980s, MTV rolled out its now-iconic I Want My MTV! campaign. The big, blocky M in the MTV icon anchored thebrand identityby framing whatever content MTV wanted to broadcast. Pandoras new rounded P logoworks the same way to showcaseimagery associated with musicians of all stripes. That flexibilitycould help the company stay competitive in an increasingly crowded market of would-be Pandora killers.

Credit: Pandora

In the early 1980s, MTV rolled out its now-iconic I Want My MTV! campaign. The big, blocky M in the MTV icon anchored thebrand identityby framing whatever content MTV wanted to broadcast. Pandoras new rounded P logoworks the same way to showcaseimagery associated with musicians of all stripes. That flexibilitycould help the company stay competitive in an increasingly crowded market of would-be Pandora killers.

Tokyo 2020 Olympics

The Tokyo Organizing Committee didnt have an easy time pulling together a logo for the upcoming 2020 Olympics. Its first choice, an ensemble of geometric shapes by Japanese graphic designer Kenjiro Sano, drew accusations of plagiarism. So Tokyo opened up the process to the people, and collectednearly 15,000 submissions. The Committee chose a navy blue-and-white ringby artist Asao Tokolo,who found inspiration in designsfrom Japan’sEdo period. Called ichimatsu moyo, the checkered pattern first appeared in the Kabuki theater. The democratic design process brought the logo saga to a happy close.

Credit: Asao Tokolo

The Tokyo Organizing Committee didnt have an easy time pulling together a logo for the upcoming 2020 Olympics. Its first choice, an ensemble of geometric shapes by Japanese graphic designer Kenjiro Sano, drew accusations of plagiarism. So Tokyo opened up the process to the people, and collectednearly 15,000 submissions. The Committee chose a navy blue-and-white ringby artist Asao Tokolo,who found inspiration in designsfrom Japan’sEdo period. Called ichimatsu moyo, the checkered pattern first appeared in the Kabuki theater. The democratic design process brought the logo saga to a happy close.

Netflix

Netflixs new app logo, a red ribbon folded into the letter N, helped confirm tech’s current fascination withfoldover icons. (Androids new N, Mediums M, and our own WIRED W sport folded letter logos.) Treating a logomark like a digital strip of paper is a neat trick. It can lend a symbola sense of dimension that’s often missing from flat designs, without resorting to skeuomorphism.

Credit: Netflix

Netflixs new app logo, a red ribbon folded into the letter N, helped confirm tech’s current fascination withfoldover icons. (Androids new N, Mediums M, and our own WIRED W sport folded letter logos.) Treating a logomark like a digital strip of paper is a neat trick. It can lend a symbola sense of dimension that’s often missing from flat designs, without resorting to skeuomorphism.

Mastercard

Mastercard didnt need a new logo. The red-and-marigold Venn diagram icon was widely recognized by Mastercard customers and non-customers alike. But it had texture, which doesnt play as well on small screens as flatter designs. So Mastercard tapped Michael Bierut, the Pentagram partner who created marks for Citibank and Verizon, to update the banks look. The new mark looks simpler than its predecessor, but it wasmeticulously crafted: Bierut and his team went through hundreds of shades of color to get itjust right.

Credit: Pentagram/Mastercard

Mastercard didnt need a new logo. The red-and-marigold Venn diagram icon was widely recognized by Mastercard customers and non-customers alike. But it had texture, which doesnt play as well on small screens as flatter designs. So Mastercard tapped Michael Bierut, the Pentagram partner who created marks for Citibank and Verizon, to update the banks look. The new mark looks simpler than its predecessor, but it wasmeticulously crafted: Bierut and his team went through hundreds of shades of color to get itjust right.

David Bowies Blackstar

It seemed like yet another star logo in a long line of star logos. Macys, the Dallas Cowboys, Wonder Woman—each uses a five-pointed star, as does David Bowies last album, Blackstar. Designer Jonathan Barnbrooks logo took on new meaning after the star who commissioned the work passed away suddenly, two days after the albums, and the symbols, release. It wasnt just because the star was black, the color of mourning, or because Bowie sang about outer space. It was the finality. A living icon departed, just as an inanimate one arrived. Suddenly, this star looked very different.

Credit: Jonathan Barnbrook

It seemed like yet another star logo in a long line of star logos. Macys, the Dallas Cowboys, Wonder Woman—each uses a five-pointed star, as does David Bowies last album, Blackstar. Designer Jonathan Barnbrooks logo took on new meaning after the star who commissioned the work passed away suddenly, two days after the albums, and the symbols, release. It wasnt just because the star was black, the color of mourning, or because Bowie sang about outer space. It was the finality. A living icon departed, just as an inanimate one arrived. Suddenly, this star looked very different.

Kodak

In 1971 graphic artist C. Peter Oestrich designed a superb logo for Kodak. The company adopted the square mark, which symbolized a camera’s optics, only to ditch it in 2006. This year, with help from New York studio Work-Order, Kodak revived Oestrichs classic mark. The new/old logo suits Kodaks current line of products, which wrap digital technology in grainy, retro industrial design. Its a modern nostalgia, said Dany Atkins, Kodaks brand director.

Credit: Work-Order/Kodak

In 1971 graphic artist C. Peter Oestrich designed a superb logo for Kodak. The company adopted the square mark, which symbolized a camera’s optics, only to ditch it in 2006. This year, with help from New York studio Work-Order, Kodak revived Oestrichs classic mark. The new/old logo suits Kodaks current line of products, which wrap digital technology in grainy, retro industrial design. Its a modern nostalgia, said Dany Atkins, Kodaks brand director.

Instagram

Instagram held out on skeuomorphism longer than most. Three full years after iOS 7 introduced flat design, Instagram still used a sepia-colored cartoon camera as its icon. Late this spring, Instagram swapped it out for a streamlined suggestion of a camera—a line drawing with only a circle for a lens and dot for a viewfinder—set against a vibrant gradient background. Symbolically, the change made sense. Instagrams users largely shoot photos with their phones, not dedicated cameras, and they adjust those photos with saturated filters and vignettes. But the redesign also cleaned up the apps interface, making it easier than ever for Instagrams 500 million users to focus on what they care about: the pictures.

Credit: Instagram

Instagram held out on skeuomorphism longer than most. Three full years after iOS 7 introduced flat design, Instagram still used a sepia-colored cartoon camera as its icon. Late this spring, Instagram swapped it out for a streamlined suggestion of a camera—a line drawing with only a circle for a lens and dot for a viewfinder—set against a vibrant gradient background. Symbolically, the change made sense. Instagrams users largely shoot photos with their phones, not dedicated cameras, and they adjust those photos with saturated filters and vignettes. But the redesign also cleaned up the apps interface, making it easier than ever for Instagrams 500 million users to focus on what they care about: the pictures.

Trump-Pence

Humans are hardwired to see sex actsjust about anywhere. Remember the London 2012 Olympics logo? That was coitus. And Airbnbs seemingly innocuous blo logo? Vagina. But when Trump announced Mike Pence as his running mate, no one even had to squint to see the logos NSFW-ness—it was a T, bluntly penetrating a P. Any credit the mark might have earned for its monogram-like succinctness was overshadowed by its glaring crudeness. Trumps camp quickly replacedthe logo, but the damage—and domination—was already done.

Credit: Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.

Humans are hardwired to see sex actsjust about anywhere. Remember the London 2012 Olympics logo? That was coitus. And Airbnbs seemingly innocuous blo logo? Vagina. But when Trump announced Mike Pence as his running mate, no one even had to squint to see the logos NSFW-ness—it was a T, bluntly penetrating a P. Any credit the mark might have earned for its monogram-like succinctness was overshadowed by its glaring crudeness. Trumps camp quickly replacedthe logo, but the damage—and domination—was already done.

Budweiser/America

Between the Olympics, the Centennial Copa America, and the election, Anheuser-Busch felt it was a distinctly American summer. So in a show of patriotic audacity, Budweiser renamed its beer America. The new label appeared in Budweisers famous script, along with snippets of text from the Pledge of Allegiance, “The Star Spangled Banner,” and “America the Beautiful.” The new logo was met with mixed reactions. It was, after all, a divisive year for Americans. Is a lager made by a corporation really the symbol we want to rally around? Whether you loved it or hated it, it was a bold move for Bud.

Credit: Anheuser-Busch

Between the Olympics, the Centennial Copa America, and the election, Anheuser-Busch felt it was a distinctly American summer. So in a show of patriotic audacity, Budweiser renamed its beer America. The new label appeared in Budweisers famous script, along with snippets of text from the Pledge of Allegiance, “The Star Spangled Banner,” and “America the Beautiful.” The new logo was met with mixed reactions. It was, after all, a divisive year for Americans. Is a lager made by a corporation really the symbol we want to rally around? Whether you loved it or hated it, it was a bold move for Bud.

Brand New Conference

Leave it to a branding conference to sport one of this years coolest visual identities. Logo criticism blog Brand New held its annual conference in Nashville, and unabashedly based its branding on the embroidered, rhinestone-bedazzled suits ofcountry musics heyday. The letters recallthe heavyset type from the eras wood type music posters. Metaphorically, each letter is like a suit—an empty canvas, to be filled with paisley print and gems.

Credit: Brand New

Leave it to a branding conference to sport one of this years coolest visual identities. Logo criticism blog Brand New held its annual conference in Nashville, and unabashedly based its branding on the embroidered, rhinestone-bedazzled suits ofcountry musics heyday. The letters recallthe heavyset type from the eras wood type music posters. Metaphorically, each letter is like a suit—an empty canvas, to be filled with paisley print and gems.

Mozilla

When Mozilla, the open-source software company behind Firefox, needed a new brand identity, it hired designconsultancy Johnson Banks. But to mix things up, the company opted to document its rebranding process online, where the public could guide and critique their progress (the rebrand is ongoing). This inclusive approach suits Mozilla, a nonprofit that believes in transparency. But it also says a lot about the state of logo design criticism. Online commenters are quick to lambast a new logo, leaving companies to play defense against valid and unfounded arguments alike. Mozilla figured it could preempt somebrouhaha by listening to its users from the start.

Credit: Mozilla

When Mozilla, the open-source software company behind Firefox, needed a new brand identity, it hired designconsultancy Johnson Banks. But to mix things up, the company opted to document its rebranding process online, where the public could guide and critique their progress (the rebrand is ongoing). This inclusive approach suits Mozilla, a nonprofit that believes in transparency. But it also says a lot about the state of logo design criticism. Online commenters are quick to lambast a new logo, leaving companies to play defense against valid and unfounded arguments alike. Mozilla figured it could preempt somebrouhaha by listening to its users from the start.

“Make America Great Again”

This years most successful symboldidnt come from a prestigious design firm. In fact, its still not clear where it came from. The Cali-Fame headwear factory in Carson, California, manufactures Trumps now-famous Make America Great Again trucker hats, and the slogan itself cribs fromRonald Reagans Lets Make America Great Again. But the hat does not appear to have beendesigned in any formal capacity. That made it a fitting symbol for a bombastic candidate who capitalized on anti-establishment sentiments. It also made it easy to laugh off—a mistake designers and armchair critics alike would do well to remember, going forward.

Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

This years most successful symboldidnt come from a prestigious design firm. In fact, its still not clear where it came from. The Cali-Fame headwear factory in Carson, California, manufactures Trumps now-famous Make America Great Again trucker hats, and the slogan itself cribs fromRonald Reagans Lets Make America Great Again. But the hat does not appear to have beendesigned in any formal capacity. That made it a fitting symbol for a bombastic candidate who capitalized on anti-establishment sentiments. It also made it easy to laugh off—a mistake designers and armchair critics alike would do well to remember, going forward.

source http://allofbeer.com/2017/07/20/from-instagram-to-budweiser-these-are-the-years-most-notable-new-logos/