Review of the year – Rebrands
A look back at the major rebrand stories Design Week has reported on in 2011.
One of this year’s biggest and best-received rebrands was Moving Brands’ work to reposition tech giant HP. However, while the consultancy’s design system is being adopted by HP, the new marque produced as part of the project is, according to HP a ‘work in progress’.
A wide-reaching major rebrand that was adopted in full was Someone’s new identity for Eurostar, based around the concept of a brand sculpture.
Causing controversy this year was the new identity for London & Partners, based on a version of the identity created by Saffron for the brand for London competition. Also receiving mixed reviews was Interbrand’s new identity for Avios, which replaces Airmiles and Brand USA, developed by The Brand Union as a consumer brand for the United States.
One of the more interesting branding stories to come up this year, for all sorts of reasons, was the Jonathan Barnbrook-designed logo for the Occupy London movement. Barnbrook described the selection of his identity, through a public poll, as ‘[meaning] more than any design award’.
Other major projects included the Coutts rebrand, by Coley Porter Bell, following initial work by John Rushworth at Pentagram, the rebrand of Morrison’s own-brand range, also by Coley Porter Bell, JKR’s Standard Life rebrand and a new identity for Imperial War Museums by Hat-Trick and Jane Wentworth.
Some of our favourite projects this year included Hat-Trick’s project to rebrand the RNID as Action on Hearing Loss, Morning and Brand Matters’ new identity for brewer Greene King Studio LR’s identity for sunken ship the Mary Rose, Music’s National Football Museum branding and the lovely hand-drawn identity by Harrison & Co for writer’s charity English PEN.
Interesting article. Would have been good to see ‘before and afters’ perhaps?