April 26, 2012 - 1:04 am
Longtime Chicago wagon and toy fabricator Radio Flyer is approaching its 100th birthday. This brand represents an object lesson in the value of truly understanding your brand’s heritage and respecting it. It would be difficult to not be impressed by the brand’s history as told on the company’s website. A young Italian immigrant comes to Chicago in search of a better life, works odd jobs before beginning to build wagons that would eventually become an iconic toy brand recognized worldwide.
The reverence the company has for its brand heritage is apparent wherever you see the Radio Flyer name. Its products embrace the familiar deep red color and white reversed brand mark, whether its an old style classic wagon or one of their many new toy products; which include trikes, bikes, scooters, ride-ons, and other kids accessories.
The website follows suit with the same bold red; adding measures of thoughtful whitespace and rich, saturated photography. Ample space given for featured product photography gives the site a distinctly upscale, yet approachable retail feel.
They also offer a playful microsite for kids, License To Fly, which echoes the past with image of child in old-timey aviator helmet and goggles, and reinforces the brand as an enduring classic. Kids can upload a photo of themselves and get a customized driver’s license for their toy, our contribute a picture to a large mosaic image of a wagon. Good clean fun.
Radio Flyer is one of those great Chicago brands that’s recognized that ‘new’ isn’t always the best position to take, that sometimes its best to let your past be your guide when shaping your identity and your products. Past is prologue. Then is now. Sometimes being old-fashioned doesn’t make you irrelevant, it makes you stand out.
March 27, 2012 - 12:05 am
Its a difficult design challenge to be sure. How do you make a logo with a guy wielding a knife look non-threatening? While the folks at Chicago’s Northwest Meat Company may have answered THAT challenge, they appear to have created a brand identity that doesn’t quite pass the Rorschach test.
A few questions:
- What’s going on with that butcher’s other hand? (That is a hand, right?)
- Is this guy ok? Looks like he’s about to fall over. Perhaps from sheer exhaustion.
- What’s he chopping on that block? Looks like it could be a human face.
Yes They Do Have This Logo On Their Trucks
February 26, 2012 - 10:06 pm
Gonnella Bread: A Chicago institution. Their brand has been around for like a LOT of years. They’re keepin it fresh. And they happen to have THE BEST TAGLINE a bakery could ever hope to have.
January 29, 2012 - 11:52 am
To celebrate their 100th anniversary, L.L.Bean has decided to re-imagine some of their classic catalog covers. Shown below is the first of what presumably will be a series throughout 2012.
The company has also released a short behind the scenes video which explains how they took on this effort. Viewed up close, the details are striking, with enough Photoshop image processing and tweaking to give it a super-realistic illustrated feel… like Norman Rockwell meets Chuck Close.
Its a clever idea, and seems to have been given enough attention to the details that the new catalogs may avoid the fate of being immediately tossed in the recycle bin. Who knows, these covers may become collector’s items someday, like their predecessors.
December 1, 2011 - 1:39 am
Historically speaking, private label grocery store brands don’t get a lot of love or attention from the brand design establishment. And with good reason; all too often these in-store ‘generics’ have paid little attention to the value of brand design and applied brand identity, and often provide little differentiation visually from similar chain-store store brands.
Recently, SuperValu, Inc. unveiled a new private brand for its network of supermarkets across the US, including Chicago’s Jewel-Osco stores. Essential Everyday products have begun appearing on store shelves, replacing the old store brands in select grocery categories.
The branding approach here is notably successful for a number of reasons. Firstly, the naming of the brand couldn’t be more straightforward or appropriate for a value-oriented store brand. Its a no-nonsense brand name in a sea of hyperbole on the shelf. The typography chosen to render the brand name is unpretentious and approachable.
Second, the use of a ‘stamp’ or ‘tear-off’ label visual metaphor is a natural, if literal, approach to labeling a product. When applied consistently on the top edge of packaging, it allows for a tidy, standardized application across many categories.
And lastly, the choice of white text on a black element is ultimately flexible when applied to any product-appropriate color background, as evidenced in the product samples shown here. The black label conveys an almost upscale feel to what is ultimately a value-oriented product offering.
PREDICTION: This new private-label brand will be a profitable brand for all the stores that carry it.
November 5, 2011 - 7:09 pm
Unveiled in August of 2009, the new signature for Des Moines, Iowa based Meredith Corporation falls into the category of ‘most dramatically improved corporate identity’. Particularly when viewed next to its predecessor, the new Meredith mark clearly declares itself as the symbol for a world-class publisher and broadcast corporation. The old version, by comparison, suggested a regional, industrial print shop. One can imagine the creative brief for the redesign including the directive: “For Pete’s sake, lose the black!”
The symbol itself seems to work on so many levels. Besides reinforcing the M as monogram, its a visual reference to the brands roots as a print publisher with a nod to process colors on a printing press. The interlocking color bars also suggest a textile print such as a tablecloth, or a quilt; which aligns with the brand’s midwestern, women-oriented values. Even when reproduced at a very small size, the symbol is recognizable and takes on a dimensional gradient quality.
Despite the references to the past, this brand clearly has an eye towards the future. The signature as a whole feels modern and absolutely fresh. Well done. 4X.
September 19, 2011 - 9:05 pm
Irving Park Road at Western Avenue, Chicago
ATTENTION HOMEOWNERS!
Subsidize your mortgage TODAY by selling or leasing the air rights above your home to advertisers! Enjoy the additional shade in the daytime! Relax with the soothing buzz of mercury vapor lighting at nite! And rock out to the shimmy and rattle of the steel superstructure any time the wind blows!
July 7, 2011 - 11:21 pm
With station refreshes beginning to appear throughout Chicago this summer, CITGO has begun to realize its goal of rebranding its entire network of 6,500 locally owned CITGO branded gasoline and nearly 200 CITGO Fast Lube stations across the US. According to last August’s press release, the design was intended to enhance the visual impact of branded locations, be easy to install, and withstand the elements.
By all appearances, the new branding approach seems to achieve these objectives. Compared to the new street image, the old branding seems as flat and uninspired as it could possibly be.
The CITGO trimark has always had a powerful, dimensional quality to it since its introduction in 1965. Its simplicity has made it a distinctive mark for decades; having a hard-to-explain timeless yet modern quality. This new application of the core brand elements and dimensionality look to be a success. In fact, the folks at CITGO like it so much they used the canopy to top their corporate website, presumably to keep all their web content dry and out of the rain.
June 15, 2011 - 11:58 pm
While certainly not a new brand rollout, the brand identity and design execution for Buffalo Grove based Ambius is notably successful, well done, and worth a closer look.
In March of 2007, the parent company of what would become Ambius announced a new global brand name for their in-office tropical plants division, wisely separating themselves from the previous awkward and mildly ironic brand name Rentokil. The redesign was done by London based fst.
The leaf symbol is an obvious choice for this type of business, yet somehow it doesn’t feel obvious, it just feels right-on. According to the Ambius brand standards, the five leaves represent the five senses. One could also interpret the form to represent a gestural human figure. Most likely though, the five leaves probably represent a plant, which would make perfect sense here.
The logotype is set in a face reminiscent of Futura in the now ubiquitous lowercase treatment. Its worth pointing out however that this mark predates the ‘all lowercase all the time’ trend by at least a few years. Also worth noting is the design avoids using the leaf symbol to dot the “i” in the name. Altogether, the brand signature is a winner.
Where this brand really shines is in its execution and application. The company seems to be aware of this because they apply it everywhere: stationery, web pages, livery, uniforms, even the watering cans their workers carry around the offices they service. And good on them… Ambius has obviously seen the value in creating and nurturing their new brand identity and it shows.
Examples from the Ambius Brand Guidelines
May 26, 2011 - 10:04 pm
While its unclear what’s actually so incredible about the vacant property at the former location of The Epicurian Hungarian Restaurant in Hillside, IL; what is clear is the resolve in which the banner proclaims “INCREDIBLE” in all-caps black Helvetica on white. It is compelling signage to be sure, though its not apparent what anyone is compelled to do here. Any help from the public to clarify this is appreciated.
