Brand Awareness
- Animal Planet
I was very into Animal Planet when I was a kid– I was up at 7 a.m. watching The Crocodile Hunter every day (may he rest in peace). Between growing up and moving around (and going through periods of no cable), I haven’t watched it as much as an adult. So I didn’t realize the logo had changed. It used to be an elephant with the planet earth (animal and a planet, right?) with a simple font–straight forward and illustrative.
Then they introduced a new simpler logo that would be more all encompassing of the different shows with a broader range of content. It’s a sans serif font, and they toyed with the layout and flipped the “M” on the side. Apparently it’s supposed to mean something new and “bold,” but it mostly just feels cleaner, to me. This design is probably infinitely easier to put on their website and various products than the previous one–I bet this even prints better.
In terms of the content, I feel like they are reaching a bit. The sharp distinctive lines in the “M” look slightly like jagged teeth, but other than that.. I can’t see much else that would elude to it’s other content. I’ve included an image of the different progressions for you to see and compare.
2. Wyoming’s Bucking Bronc
I don’t know how many states have their own logo, but Wyoming does. I use the term logo here because it is. It’s not on our flag, but it is on every license plate, all of the college sports team paraphernalia, on every welcome sign on the state lines.. everything. I have literally been staring at this cowboy and bucking bronc for 25 years.
That being said, it doesn’t necessarily make it a GREAT logo, but it has been associated since 1918, and has been at least copyrighted since 1935. So while this silhouette has it’s faults– like it’s surprisingly static for a bucking bronc, the different color schemes (other than black) have been terrible, and it hasn’t changed in almost 100 years– it is an icon, and that is what makes it impressive. So here’s to you, Wyoming.
3. Instagram
So this was a relatively recent change. In May of this year, the company went for something simpler, opting to embrace a “flat” design. Ultimately, I think it was smart, just because this (while a little more interpretive) is going to showcase easier as a little app icon than their previous version, where a lot of the detail got lost on the scale. The rainbow gradient as a background is fine, but that is something that realistically can be interchangeable.
I’ve attached the older version, for comparison. Again, if you weren’t immediately aware of the company, you might not know that this new logo was a little camera. However, in this day and age, it’s difficult to not know about Instagram and it’s social media counter parts.