Another High Street Rebrand

lukey · Thu 13 May, 2010 22.00

Boo @ Waterstones - that subtle change to the title-case logo a few years back worked wonders, I thought

Jovis · Thu 13 May, 2010 22.01

It's probably far too small to do it justice. But then, good logos should work well at small sizes.

Nick Harvey · Thu 13 May, 2010 22.36

Interesting.

I note that Waterstones are still using the late 2000's W for the Daphne Du Maurier Festival in Fowey this week.

ashley b · Fri 14 May, 2010 02.04

TheAxG wrote:Also walking past Waterstones, they have ditched their serif logo in favour of sans-serif

That's is one of those "what were they thinking?" rebrands. It's just not very Waterstones at all. Far too complicated and just a bit garish too.

The comet one I can see as a progression of thier current look, but unneeded in my opinion.

WillPS · Fri 14 May, 2010 03.06

Bring it in line with HMV? Few know the two are part of the same company. I'm not sure what benefits there are to that though.

m-in-m · Fri 14 May, 2010 06.43

WillPS wrote:Bring it in line with HMV? Few know the two are part of the same company. I'm not sure what benefits there are to that though.

Indeed I can't see any benefit to aligning the two brands. Internally there are probably benefits bringing the two businesses closer together but externally I see no considerable benefits to customers.

WillPS · Fri 14 May, 2010 06.56

Black & White/clean version

More at creative review: http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog ... es-rebrand

'feel every word', similar to the 'get closer' tag HMV carries

Seems they're going for a logo which can be adapted as with the HMV one. I like it, but then I don't read so my opinion doesn't really matter.

Chie · Sat 15 May, 2010 09.11

WillPS wrote:

Black & White/clean version.

Ugh. What a spectacle.

I thoroughly recommend this summing up of the fashion for lowercase wordmarks by trivialmatters on TV Forum: http://www.tvforum.co.uk/forums/post650249#post650249

Invent Meridian · Sat 15 May, 2010 10.07

Chie wrote:
WillPS wrote:

Black & White/clean version.
Ugh. What a spectacle.

I thoroughly recommend this summing up of the fashion for lowercase wordmarks by trivialmatters on TV Forum: http://www.tvforum.co.uk/forums/post650249#post650249

In this case however they can get away with it as they are using a website address in their logo, as website addresses do not normally use uppercase lettering.

Of course it is still ugly and the uppercase/mixed case serif logo wins for me!

If they had to modernise they could always try the overcropped technique, perhaps with a slightly more modern typeface. See below.

Pete · Sat 15 May, 2010 20.08

dumbed down 'no capital letters' lowest common denominator

I don't think that's the thinking behind lower case logos.

Chie · Sat 15 May, 2010 21.13

I always hated 'lowercase sans serif' logos, but the Waterstones rebrand is even further off the mark than usually. Surely the remaining handful of people who still buy books in there will not appreciate the simplified, down-with-da-kids, dumbed down 'no capital letters' lowest common denominator approach?

Some brands should look regal, trustworthy and intellectual.

I suppose the new Waterstones 'w' looks a bit like a pair of droopy tits, which at least mirrors the physique of its target demographic.

Surprise surprise too that comET have rebranded themselves comet. Very pointless.

So according to the marketing gurus, who else is in desperate need of a brand makeover?

TESCO definitely.
ODEON - too upper-case.
BBC - they're half way there with their 'low brow' channels going for lower case - cbbc, BBC three.
VISA?
LIBERAL DEMOCRATS - is it any wonder they didn't win the election with their upper case logo?