We review the most impactful logo designs and redesigns of the last 12 months.
On the day a new logo design is launched for a familiar brand, the first reactions are usually overwhelmingly negative. Once some time has passed and the new design has entered daily use, though, it can be a different story.
So here we take a look back at the 20 biggest brands to release a new logo in 2014. Now you've got used to them, what do you really think of them? Let us know in the comments below!
Black + Decker (formerly Black & Decker) gave its ageing logo and branding (below) a new lease of life in January with a fresh modern look (above).
Black & Decker's old logo and branding
New York-based design agency Lippincott took the reigns for the redesign, ditched the hexagonal nut, swapped out the ampersand for a plus sign, and simplified the whole thing by making the typeface and colour border the same width.
The new logo new was revealed during an Olympic-themed television commercial
This subtle logo redesign from Visa (above) took place in January, with the company changing their usual tag line 'for everyone, everywhere' and evolving it to 'It's everywhere you want to be.'
The old Visa logo with the yellow touch
The first external expression of the new platform debuted with a new Olympic-themed television commercial airing in the United States, and then expanding to reach key audiences through variety of other traditional and digital channels in the coming months.
The Absolut Vodka logo didn't changed massively in 2014, but it did change. Leaving the 'Country of Sweden' and 'Vodka' aspects of the old logo (below) behind, the new logo (above) now simply reads 'Absolut' followed by a full stop.
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The old logo came with a lot more text
Global director of design strategy at Absolut, Anna Kamjou, said: "The brand has become so iconic that we no longer needed the full three-line logo to convey ourselves."
04. Lipton
The new Lipton logo was cleaner and easier to read
March saw tea brand Lipton unveil a new logo design in a Muppets promo commercial, which saw the brand take on a cleaner, more crisp look.
Whilst the new typography enabled readability, some claimed the new design looks too much like the Lays logo.
05. Birds Eye
Bye, bye, Cap'n
In March, Birds Eye spent £60 million in a Europe-wide brand relaunch that saw a new simplified logo (above).
The old Birds Eye logo
Launched by Havas Worldwide and designed by JKR, the new design saw the Captain illustration (see above) disappear entirely and the pre-2007 red marque reintroduced.
06. Reebok
Reebook smartened up its old logo (left) in March, adding a splash of red (right)
After nearly 30 years of the same logo design, sports giant Reebok rolled out these brand new logo designs in March. Created by branding agency Les Mills, the new design aimed to 'encourage ordinary people to do sport.'
Reebok's Chief Marketing Officer Matt O'Toole stated: "It's an invitation for all of us to take part and fight against complacency for everyday people not just super stars and elite athletes."
07. Netflix
The previous Netflix logo (left) was simplified (right) for a more modern look
Debuting on a trailer for Orange is the New Black, April's redesign for Netflix was subtly simpler. Taking away the shadow aspect on the font allowed the logo design to convey a more modern, minimal feel.
08. PayPal
PayPal's new logo and monogram
In April, online payments service PayPal has unveiled a new logo and brand identity, which was created in collaboration with San Francisco design agency Fuseproject. It was very much an evolution, not a revolution from its previous designs, which are shown below:
The 1999 and 2007 logos
The refreshed branding featured four key elements:
a new wordmark in a new typeface (Futura)
a new version of the double-P monogram
a refreshed colour palette
a new 'dynamic angle graphic'
While the wordmark and the monogram locked up together for PayPal's new signature.
09. Indiegogo
The new Indiegogo logo design
As the first and original crowdfunding website, Indiegogo is still a relatively young company, having only launched back in 2008.
Released in April, this new logo (above) represented "the company’s mission to work hand-in-hand with campaigners to democratize finance and give people around the world the power to fund what matters to them," they explained.
The old Indiegogo logo design
10. Disney Channel
NEW LOGO: Lettering comes to the fore
In May the Disney Channel rolled out a new logo design (above) across all its international TV networks - and it was a radical change from the previous identity.
OLD LOGO: Multiple colours and bold graphical elements
At first glance it looked like a purely typographic logo, in which the Mickey Mouse silhouette that dominated the old logo (above) remained only as a subtle squiggle.
Next page: 10 more logo redesigns...
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Tom May is an award-winning journalist and editor specialising in design, photography and technology. Author of the Amazon #1 bestseller Great TED Talks: Creativity, published by Pavilion Books, Tom was previously editor of Professional Photography magazine, associate editor at Creative Bloq, and deputy editor at net magazine. Today, he is a regular contributor to Creative Bloq and its sister sites Digital Camera World, T3.com and Tech Radar. He also writes for Creative Boom and works on content marketing projects.
