Last week, American Airlines released a new logo. I think it is a failure.

New Logo

Old Logo

The old logo was simple. A A and eagle. Because it was simple and the letters are thick, it could be seen and recognized from afar. I’m afraid the new logo may not be clearly visible on a plane outside to those inside an airport terminal.  Plus, the name American Airlines is extremely descriptive, and AA is more unique and protectable.  And the new logo’s “fin” in the middle is not clearly a beak or a tail or a wing. What is it? 

For example, see the airplane image from AA below, it looks red white and blue, but the branding is small, hard to find and not clear.

I think AA could use a brand refresh after all it has been through and having a logo that is decades old. But change should be for the better, not just for the sake of change. I grade this new logo a C-.

What do you think?

For more background:

Video introduction of the logo from American Airlines

The Nets of the NBA are moving to Brooklyn next year. Jay-Z owns a small percentage of team. According to reports he helped design the new logos. I love Jay-Z’s music. I think the new logos the team recently unveiled are rather lame.

Why? They are so plain. Now, retro can be cool and these look like an attempt to be “retro” with a new team/name/logo. But they are not retro in a cool way. They are just too plain to me. [The opposite of the recent Miami Marlins logo, which is too much pizzaz.]

Another reason it is lame, there is no imagery in the logo that references New York or Brooklyn, which would seem to be at the core of the brand’s image. The “B” is reminiscent of the Brooklyn Dodgers old logo. But yet it is not the same.  

Also, the nets unveiled some merchandise and apparel that included the shirt below. The image is cool – but it references a message about drug dealers and murders. Is this really an image that a professional basketball teams wishes to associate with?

One positive thing I can say about the logo designs is that the team ownership wisely filed to register the various designs with the USPTO. In one odd filing, they are attempting to register a plain black shield for apparel:

 (Application Serial No. 85605708)

For another take on the logos from a branding blog, see The Brooklyn Nets: I Call Technical Foul

State Farm recently announced a re-branding campaign including a new logo design. State Farm has been in business for 90 years and and had been using the last version of its logo for more than 50 years.

As you can see below, the new logo is not a radical departure. But it does drop the square with rounded corners and the wording within the square.

The new logo:

The old logo:

I’m not a fan of the change. The logo was iconic and well recognized. Why change it? Especially why change it if the change is so subtle?

I imagine the motivation behind the change is to move State Farm from being more than just an insurance company. This is similar to the Starbucks logo change from 2011.

But dropping the square with rounded corners is a mistake in my opinion – the three ovals look out of place without the square. As a result, I’m not a fan of the change.

At least State Farm filed to protect the new design: http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=85496345

Related Materials:

State Farm press release

State Farm changing logo for first time since 1953 (Pantagraph)

The Miami Marlins recently unveiled a new logo design. The design accompanies their move to a new stadium at the start of the 2012 season and a transition from the Florida Marlins.

In a word: hideous. It certainly is bright and vibrant. And maybe that is the right mood for a South Florida team with Latin flavor. But the logo is unappealing to me.  There is of course some suggestion of the “marlin” fish in the upper left design. But at first glimpse I wasn’t even sure of that.

On the positive side, the Marlins were wise enough to file to protect the variations of new logo design in over 30 applications for trademark registration with the USPTO. For example (click image for USPTO records):

• - Entertainment services, namely, baseball exhibitions, organizing and conducting an array of athletic events rendered live or recorded for distribution through broadcast media; Educational services in the nature of baseball camps, seminars and clinics; Organizing and conducting fantasy sports contests, sweepstakes, and on-line competitions; Production and provision of on-going television, internet and radio programs in the field of sports; Providing news, information, podcasts, web casts, online newsletters, and online journals, namely blogs, all of the foregoing in the field of sports; Organizing community sporting and cultural events; Entertainment in the nature of live performances by costumed mascots, cheerleaders, and dance groups; Fan clubs; Festivals featuring a variety of sports and entertainment activities; Providing sports facilities; Rental of stadium facilities; Providing facilities for sports tournaments
• - Entertainment services, namely, baseball exhibitions, organizing and conducting an array of athletic events rendered live or recorded for distribution through broadcast media; Educational services in the nature of baseball camps, seminars and clinics; Organizing and conducting fantasy sports contests, sweepstakes, and on-line competitions; Production and provision of on-going television, internet and radio programs in the field of sports; Providing news, information, podcasts, web casts, online newsletters, and online journals, namely blogs, all of the foregoing in the field of sports; Organizing community sporting and cultural events; Entertainment in the nature of live performances by costumed mascots, cheerleaders, and dance groups; Fan clubs; Festivals featuring a variety of sports and entertainment activities; Providing sports facilities; Rental of stadium facilities; Providing facilities for sports tournaments

One thing clearly more hideous than the logo is the new “Billy the Marlin” mascot and outfit:

What do you think of the new logo?