Paula Scher overhauls Weight Watchers

Pentagram partner Paula Scher has rebranded Weight Watchers with an identity designed to mirror the ‘positive transformation’ that members experience.

The new identity
The new identity

Each week 1.3 million members of the weight management programme attend 45,000 meetings around the world.

Scher worked with Weight Watchers to help position the company as a lifestyle brand and has created an identity which will inform the company’s marketing and communications strategy.

The old identity which is still being used in the UK prior to a possible roll-out
The old identity which is still being used in the UK prior to a possible roll-out

Weight Watchers has different divisions and sub-brands which means Scher looked to establish what Pentagram calls ‘a disciplined highly recognisable system’ across programmes, publications and products.

The gradient of the identity lightens from left to right on the identity to symbolise ‘transformation and losing weight’ according to the consultancy.

The marque
The marque

It can function as a monogram or icon and a logo for PointsPlus – a new programme by the company – as well as other sub-brands.

Five primary colours make up the brand’s palette which can appear graded vertically or horizontally.

The full colour palette
The full colour palette

In print and on packaging graduation is applied to a coloured bar which is used alongside food-photography set against a white background.

Application to sub brands
Application to sub brands

Application includes Weight Watchers magazine, newsletters and cookbooks, as well as weightwatchers.com, mobile apps, packaging for food, Weight Watchers stores and supermarkets in the US.

The new brand applied to print
The new brand applied to print

The new brand has launched in the US but the UK Weight Watchers press office was unable to confirm if the rebrand would reach the UK.

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Comments
  • Phil Gibson November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    I love Paula Scher, but… well… the new logo has a ‘twat’ in the middle.

    This wasn’t a problem with the capital Ws, but now it’s all lower-case it sticks out quite badly. Both Scher and her American audience will be none-the-wiser of course, but many Brits are already picking up on this little quirk.

    So what now? Will the US and UK brands exist separately (which is a bit wasteful) or will we soon be seeing ‘twat’ all over our television screens and ready-meals?

  • Tim Masters November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    I love Paula Scher’s work too, but lately I’m beginning to find it underwhelming to say the least.

    I hadn’t noticed the ‘twat’ which Phil mentions – though I can’t really see it becoming a major issue.

  • Stephen Mortimer November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    As much as Paula Scher is a renowned and respected designer, this is a massive let down.
    Identities, of late, has taken this simplistic, typographic approach (ebay, Microsoft etc) and lacking “personality”.

  • Nathan Ryder November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Normally love Pentagram’s work but hmmm!?

    Good luck with keeping consistency of your gradients across all media, without banding… in greens… and oranges.

    Gradients in logos, I ask you!

    By-the-way, is the greyscale version portraying black as fat and bad, whilst white is thin and good? Is that positive? think on…..

    Not impressed Paula, sorry.

  • Matt Booth November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    How I’d have tackled it – http://instagram.com/p/S7s9R3y67D/

  • Steve Scott November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    oh dear. The typeface is fat. Gradient blends in a logo too! – it must have been a quick turnaround…as for the 4 letter expletive – it goes on…

  • matthew higgins November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    I think they should bring back their old identity where they just used two different ‘weights’ of type for the two words.

    Still works and doesn’t look like a dodgy print run.

  • Holly Clark November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    WeighTwatScher? How unfortunate…

  • Peter Gale November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Oh dear, how boring and dull. It’s like companies are becoming supermarket “own brand” goods, with disappointingly little personality.

    Ending up with the word “twat” in the middle of a company logo should be a sign that this whole “simplicity” fad is being flogged way too hard. There wouldn’t be a problem if they hadn’t stripped out any sign of spaces or capitalisation.

    If a design manages to overlook the way the actual words appear, someone’s priorities are skewed.

  • Mat Dolphin November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Following a studio discussion about this rebrand we raised some bigger questions about who is ultimately to blame in this type of situation, and why. Feel free to take a look » http://mtdlph.in/Twatchers

  • Tim Riches November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Re Matt Booth.
    Matt, if you’re going to lay into this with your own ideas, I suggest you at least craft it to a decent standard. Your kerning’s all to cock mate. I guess the idea is stronger in principle, just poorly presented.
    Either way this refresh is soulless and not very inspirational in isolation and situation.
    I agree with Peter Gale here re the simplicity fad. Where’s the personality?

  • Kristine Putt November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Frankly, I don’t care how famous Sher is for her designs. She just sold her own soul by pumping out something that will destroy her client and damage her own credibility. Maybe the client insisted on this direction, and Sher simply delivered. Who knows? But when you are a true professional, you recognize the point at which to walk away from a project that will result in failure for your client, as well as your personal and professional association with a failed brand. If the client insists on something that is not healthy for the business, I have no hesitation to suggest they look elsewhere. There are plenty of people who can “draw” what a client requests. There aren’t that many who will give the client the design of a brand that sustains the integrity of their business for many years to come.

  • Chris Zahos November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    The old logo is so much more professional and aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The colors and typography are just so much stronger.

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