best/worst corporate logos

[Brian SD]

Originally Posted by DarkNWorn

I think UPS is a good shift. Other than the delivery business, UPS' logistic business is one of, if not, the largest in the world of its kind. nwa sounds like a paramilitary organization. The Kodak logo is hideous and generic, just like the company in its current state. I like the Amtrak logo the most, but too bad the company is bleeding green. Maybe this will spur business for the...but probably not. I think the ADM logo is a good move, away from the 60s logo that evokes the image of a chemical company.

I dunno. I really don't like the new Amtrak logo. I don't like the old one either to be fair, but the new one just doesn't sit right with me. I don't like the space around the track and the letters.

 

[Kent Wang]

The lighting effect on the new UPS logo is really lame.

 

[designprofessor]

Originally Posted by Kent Wang

The lighting effect on the new UPS logo is really lame.

I can't decide. All I know is I wouldn't want to be the designer trying to trump Paul Rands work!

 

[faustian bargain]

Originally Posted by designprofessor

I can't decide. All I know is I wouldn't want to be the designer trying to trump Paul Rands work!

something tells me it's more like a committee, these days.

 

[Brian SD]

Originally Posted by faustian bargain

something tells me it's more like a committee, these days.

I see that as both a good and a bad thing. Committees = groupthink. Particularly bad idea for design. On the other hand, you know the phrase, "Not one person in this room is smarter than everyone in the room combined."

The new logo compared to the old is just garbage. you're right prof, attempting to trump Paul Rand's work is just blasphemy. The new shield shape and font are both extremely temporary-looking. I'm certain that this logo will last many years less than the original did. I know they wanted to get rid of the package... but they could have done so with more taste and less trendiness.

 

[Earthmover]

Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim

Amtrack, Continental, Xerox = upgrade

everyone else = downgrade

I think Xerox is a huge downgrade. Everyone knows Xerox. It's one of the few Company names to have ever become a commonly used verb. The digital X, to me, is exactly what they do.

 

[designprofessor]

Originally Posted by Brian SD

I see that as both a good and a bad thing. Committees = groupthink. Particularly bad idea for design. On the other hand, you know the phrase, "Not one person in this room is smarter than everyone in the room combined."

The new logo compared to the old is just garbage. you're right prof, attempting to trump Paul Rand's work is just blasphemy. The new shield shape and font are both extremely temporary-looking. I'm certain that this logo will last many years less than the original did. I know they wanted to get rid of the package... but they could have done so with more taste and less trendiness.

As a customer, i thought everything was fine. then one day it hits like a sucker punch. New logo! I didn't see any lines at UPS of customers complaining about their logo. Leave it alone already. If they change the color of the trucks they're doomed!

 

[Kent Wang]

Terrible. The upper part of the K should never be bigger than the lower. Perhaps it's an effective logo because it etches its hideousness into your memory.

 

[whodini]

I'm partial to it because of my heritage.

Talk about timeless:

A very classic design:

A great band:

 

[Kent Wang]

Everybody's doing the simulated lighting effect. Even venerable old AMEX:

I have read that it is especially en vogue with Web 2.0 companies.

 

[Etienne]

Originally Posted by Kent Wang

Cool. I promote secularism.
You do know that the cross in the "red cross" is not really a Christian cross, except by a very veyr distant relation, I suppose.

 

[Kent Wang]

I'm not aware of the history of it, but it is the same shape as an Eastern Christian cross. Enough people certainly identify the Red Cross as being Christian that there exists Red Crescent societies in Islamic countries -- and enough for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to want to adopt a more secular design.

 

[Parker]

How did I miss this thread? Some good ones already covered. Esp, the Mont Blanc and Chanel logos. Here are some other classics and not so classics:

As a student of the Old School, I prefer the non "dimensionalized" logos of yesteryear. 2-D is where it's at. I left the new school VW in there though.

 

[Parker]

Re: Starbucks. Here is their original logo. It showed the bi-tailed mermaid in full. I believe they received some "negative feedback" and decided to crop in.

 

[Kent Wang]

Another good one:

I like the names some of the more established logo have. The BMW is called the roundel and the Adidas the trefoil. Any others?