Album » Tag: brand identity

Sherman Williams Logo: Cover the Earth with Toxic Paint

nathan — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 01:40:01 +0000

Earth to Sherman Williams: It’s not 1982 anymore.

In a time when American’s concern for the environment and world conflict is greater than ever, Sherman Williams continues to display an outdated, outrageous logo that seems to say, “Sherman Williams: Covering the earth, one toxic paint can at a time.” Or for you folks who like to read between the lines, “Sherman Williams: With endless blood, we will conquer the earth”.

According to Sherman Williams, it’s “one of the most recognized logos in the world”. Even if that was true (and it’s not), being recognized is not necessarily good for your brand. It’s obvious that it’s not politically correct (or even common sense) to drip toxic paint over a globe, so I’ll skip the commentary on this part.

Perhaps a more interesting topic is the cryptic “SWP” acronym pictured on the pouring can. For the smart ones in the room, you probably knew right away that it stands for Sherman Williams Paint (I had to look it up). I was thinking more along the lines of: Super World Power or Scarlet Wicked Poison.

Ironically, they credit much of their success to former CEO, Jack Breen. Breen ran the company for 20 years from 1979-1999. In 1982 he decided to bring back the infamous logo after it had gone away for several years. Below is a funny little snippet from their very own corporate history timeline. Hey, when you’ve got a good thing going…stick with it.

UPDATE: Wait, they are environmentally friendly after all. They recently posted their first Corporate Social Responsibility or “CSR” report (because you have to give it an acronym in business). In the title shown below, you gotta love the juxtaposition of the fresh green grass and soft pastel title, with a blood-red dripping earth. Now I’m really confused.

It Hertz So Good

nathan — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:31:44 +0000

Hertz cast their shadow away and recently revealed a new brand identity. While the old blocky letters were bold and unequivocal, thankfully, the sunshine yellow is still shining strong. The new letters are a nice modern variation, with a rounder, friendlier feel. I think it’s a good move to bring them out of the 80′s, but not radical enough to lose all the brand equity they have racked up over the years. We’ll see if the public responds positively. They definitely have room for improvement. According to goodlogo.com, they rank 5.5 out of 10 based on 8000+ votes. From a branding standpoint, they’ve done a stellar job of retaining the yellow and black color palette. 50+ years to be precise…

1949 Hertz ad

Hertz ad from the 60's

New 9/11 Memorial Logo Revealed

nathan — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:57:01 +0000

Now 8 years after that fateful day, limited progress has been made on the completion of a memorial and museum at ground zero. Courtesy of Brand New, the image above shows a recent decision to shorten the lengthy name to simply “9/11 Memorial”. From a branding standpoint, this makes it much easier for the public to “remember” its name. The new logo solution is bold and simple, leaving the simple element of the blue towers as an impactful reminder of what actually happened. Check out the official 9/11 Memorial site for tons of information on what’s coming. We salute our fallen heroes.

Logo Creation

michel — Mon, 26 May 2008 12:27:27 +0000

How do graphic designers create the most famous logos in the world. this site has a funny take on that idea.

Mass Album?

nathan — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:23:06 +0000

Take a peek at the latest post from Brand New. I can’t help but think that Mass Art borrowed Album’s infamous orange color and newly adopted typeface.

Brand New

nathan — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 19:04:56 +0000

This is a great site that showcases recently refreshed brands. There are over 10 pages of examples.

The Solution to all design problems

michel — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 18:26:36 +0000

This is it! We are all going to lose our jobs, now!… Designers are doomed with the amazing release of the “Make My Logo Bigger Cream”. This amazing product is part of a series of products designed by the people at whoneedsdesigners.com. The products are guaranteed to make your brand pop, and jump of the page, eliminating all white space and proudly displaying your logo in the biggest size possible using fluorescent lights and tapping in on the emotion side of customers. Oh No! All those years in college…wasted…. If you liked the ad – check out this song … “Make the Logo Bigger” – They really make this the big, bigger, biggest song for designers … it is an anthem! How about checking the lyrics out: Make The Logo Bigger (Lyrics) Make the logo big. Make the logo bigger. Make the logo big. Make the logo bigger. Chorus Make the logo as big as you can. And make the logo bigger. That logo isn’t big enough. So, make the logo bigger. Bigger, bigger, make it big. Make the logo bigger. Chorus Make the logo as big as you can. And make the logo bigger. Yelling Don’t try to be the brave guy! We don’t have a job for you! You know what you’ve got to do! You gotta stick to the process! Make the damn logo as big as you can! Chorus Make the logo as big as you can. And make the logo bigger. I don’t want to tell you how to do your job. But, could you make the logo bigger? Bigger, bigger, make it big. Make the logo bigger. Chorus Make the logo as big as you can. And make the logo bigger. I am starting to think that this blog post isn’t big enough… should I make it BIGGER… yeah!