Tiny Florida Beach Town Wisely Invests in New Branding

  Margaret Wilesmith's team did a wonderful job of branding Dunedin, Florida, "We did not have to create a brand. We just uncovered your brand and gave it expression... the logo is just the expression of your brand." "Dunedin promises that you will be surprised and charmed... by our superb natural attractions, our artful approach to life, our vibrant personality and our commitment of ensuring that your visit to our City exceeds your expectations."

before

DC Comics has a brave new logo design.  As the company has grown from comic book publisher to multimedia empire, they wanted a logo that said more than just DC. Rood & Desai, consulting with Landor Associates, arrived at the new, more versatile logo. 

Depending on the subject matter of the product it is publishing (dark, humorous, adventurous, electric, nuclear, whatever...) the logo is adjusted to suit the subject.

 

Before

A great benefit to the new design is the potential for darkness.  Something that has always plagued DC in its' competition with Marvel, is this unchangeable squeaky clean image of it's most popular character -- Superman. Meanwhile, Marvel embraces the dark side of all of it's characters, even the heros.  This decision for DC to break away from the bright blue and white swoosh with stars, they are embracing that elusive bad-boy dark side that Marvel has been so successful with. 

Loyola's New Logo

Loyola University Chicago  is renovating everything. They built a new athletic center, a new basketball arena, and now they are unveiling a new logo design.  It is definitely an improvement, but misses the mark in terms of world class logos. The most recognizable feature of the logo is the wolf.  Unfortunately, the new wolf image is lacking the threatening appearance of the previous version.  

Gone is the menacing downward gaze of a hungry wolf; replaced by a blank stare from a short-nosed, small-fanged, heavyset wolf with Abe Vigoda eyebrows. I get the distinct impression this artwork was farmed out overseas. It lacks the all-American swagger of a great sports logo.

BPP Logo Fail

What would you do if you spent $120,000 on a new logo design, and everyone hated it? That's exactly what happened to BPP Law School in the UK.  

Students are fuming over the new logo on BPP's Facebook Page. They are bewildered at the new direction, and unsatisfied with the results. Without warning, their school changed its image overnight.  Not only is it a new look, but it's a new mascot.  No one knew a lion was the school mascot. 

The heart of the matter has nothing to do with the design. The same people who vocally hate the new logo, would likely support it if BPP had employed savvy public relations techniques in adopting the new logo.  The heart of the matter is helplessness. The students feel like they are powerless, they have no say in the matter, their opinion means nothing -- they are right.  But BPP's priority should have been to make students feel empowered.  If BPP had organized a blue-ribbon panel, consisting of students, faculty, and administration that publicly reported progress and sought input throughout the logo design process, the results would have been much more amicable.  

No matter how much their new logo is maligned, let the record show, it is a vast improvement over the previous logo, which was obviously an amateur effort.