Pearls of wisdom

The New Year brings new beginnings even for large cooperations. A significant number are revamping their brand identity for January 2012 from the likes of DC entertainment to Morrisons, to a mix of positive and negative fanfare.

DC ENTERTAINMENT
For starters, the company behind Batman, The Watchmen and Superman have relaunched their brand with a new, simpler, cleaner but slightly dog-eared logo.

DC entertainment better know for DC comics clearly pays homage to its comic book roots through the use of a peeled back effect on the logo, giving the illusion of a book cover being turned. DC like to also point out that this effect symbolizes “the durability of the iconic characters that are present within DC entertainment’s portfolio”.

Design is often very subjective but when making comparisons to the previous logos the company have used, the revamp fails to convey imagination, a core characteristic of the brand which past logos have reflected. It also is seems very reminiscent of the Photoshop icon rather than something exciting and entertaining.

Nonetheless, the brand does hold scope for creative possibilities allowing for manipulation to incorporate a character from a new released into the logo to cater toward a particular franchise. The fresh new look will be rolled out in March onto its comics and website, with television, films following suit in the near future.

WATERSTONES

Waterstones is another well known high street retailer who have rebranded or debranded for 2012. They have ditched their 2010 identity and reinstated Baskerville serif type, reverting back to a more classic Waterstones image.

The 2010 identity was created in an effort to reflect its modernisation and presence in the online world through the use of a san serif W icon. Elements of the 2010 update are still maintained in the 2012 branding, but the change that has sparked the most attention is their decision to drop the apostrophe – apparently to highlight the businesses presence in the “digital world of urls and emails addresses” instead.

Waterstones MD, James Daunt claims that the new brand speaks authority and confidence through the use of the capital serif W, reflecting its position as one of the last book retailers remaining on the high street. The new logo blends the best of both worlds, with a classic iconic look that incorporates touches of new.

MORRISONS

Supermarket retailer Morrison’s has undertaken a massive overhaul of its own label, rebranding the value range under the title ‘M saver’. As family budgets get squeezed and food prices go up, the value range is more important than ever, therefore important for Morrisons to communicate the brand as a value range, done through the term ‘saver’.

Morrisons have dropped the hideous green and yellow for a more subtle, clean overall branding to blend in with your weekly shopping and to become less an eyesore as say the Tesco’s value, blue red and white range.

The illustrations on the new range are fun, modern and trendy giving the brand some charm. The rebrand eliminates the cheap aesthetics value products often carry, making it more appealing to customers who are ashamed to be seen with value goods.

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