Through the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal, Greater Montréal released in late October a new identity to brand the region, as part of its economic development strategy. The result is a contemporary M monogram that is divided in five parts to represent the five sectors that compose Greater Montréal and, in greater detail: "With its solid three-point footing, the monogram echoes the population's roots and pragmatism. Its stylized and friendly curves reflect the straightforward and warm welcome offered by the region’s residents. Its modular interior can be easily adapted to display Greater Montréal's many levels of diversity (geographic, economic, cultural, community, etc.)." The concept of dividing a logo as a patchwork of colors, textures and images isn't anything new and it can apply to any city or corporation in the world, but in this case it is at least very well executed and handsome. The typography is very nice too and the whole program is cohesive and engaging, and it can all be seen at the web site linked aboved.

Thanks to Yotam Hadar for the tip. And apologies for the extra brevity or apparent hurriedness of this post; still traveling and with limited time and internet access.

I had been meaning to write about the packaging and identity that Pentagram partner Paula Scher did recently for the new player in the sweetener category, Truvia. Then, with the swirl of the Holidays and the craziness of trying to finish things before and around them, I just kind of forgot. A couple of days ago, while grocery shopping with my parents and the rest of the Vit clan in a grocery store five or forty-three times bigger than our Brooklyn Key Food, the new Truvia packaging literally stopped me in my tracks as I reached for my own preferred sweetener (Splenda).

Sweetener aisle in a Houston, TX grocery store.

At Pentagram's New section you can see the full identity, packaging and explanation in handsomely photographed images. "Truvia™ is designed," reads one of the captions on those images, "to stand out from the competition." It's the kind of thing that designers love to write as a selling point in client presentations or as bragging points in press releases. However, in this case, Truvia actually (and literally) stands out from the competition. I'm not sure if the photograph above manages to capture the stark contrast but, in person, Truvia's presence is remarkable. In a flood of swirls, gradients and glowing typography, the simplicity of Truvia is the sweetest of them all.

My favorite part of the packaging is the typography, it feels very light and fresh, and the overlapping effect is rather nice. I could do without the leafy dot over the "i". First because it's just too leafy and second because it makes it look like an accent, and for a Spanish-speaking person like myself I would want to pronounce the name as Tru-veeeee-ah, instead of Tru-vyah. Truth be told, I don't even know how I'm supposed to pronounce it, but the accent doesn't help. The choice of the strawberry is visually interesting too, as it creates a great, um, accent in the green and white box. Overall, this is a bold statement on the part of Truvia, to realize that they needed to really stand out within the crowded category in order to be able to make quick impact.

Disclaimer in case anyone needs it: I used to work for Pentagram. The mostly positive review is, in theory, objective and detached from the relationship.

As the year comes to a close and the list tradition bears on, I thought a Best & Worst selection from the 2008 archives of Brand New would be entertaining. These are my best and worst and they don't represent the comments on each of the original posts, whether positive or negative. Other than the first item in each category (my favorite and my least favorite) the selections are in no particular order. I'll take this opportunity too, to thank everyone that visits Brand New — every single month of 2008 our readership increases — and for all of you that send us tips, we would literally not have the great content we have if it weren't for your contributions. Posting will be light for the next two weeks. Enjoy your Holidays and have a happy new year.

826 Valencia / Top Honor / This project has unfair advantage against most on this site — it has a visionary and design-savvy leader in Dave Eggers — and it doesn't involve the risks that most corporations or brands face but, damn, is it awesome. And as far as I can remember, this is the only post in the history of Brand New that has come close to 100% positive remarks.

TACA / Probably the best new icon of the year, either as a representation of an eagle or a guacamaya. Heck, even if it represented a frog it would still be great.

SanDisk / Pound for pound, letter for letter, ligature for ligature, the best redesign of a wordmark that retains the essence of the original while pushing the company into the new, young century.

rtve / Neither the most original, nor the most groundbreaking, but when you are dealing with a country's radio and television station anything that surpasses the stranglehold of committees at this scale and visibility gets a nod. And, it's actually a vibrant and cohesive identity.

Camel / Because it's a project that most designers would scoff at, and it's one of the best packaging redesigns in a while that actually advances the brand.

Mouse Awards / Sure, the old logo was barely a logo and pretty much impossible to screw up on the rebrand, yet this is an adorable and clever new logo. Plus, johnson banks had everyone in a tizzy with their April Fools.

Ford / Suckers! We had you going for our own April Fools. You were all good sports though.

Breastcancer.org / In a category full of single-loop ribbons, this one offered a new alternative. Plus, it even made Optima look good.

Lifetime / A desperately needed change that managed to avoid something overly feminine or cloying and was able to introduce something with personality and emotion.

Planet Green / Best use of a circle.

Pepsi / Top Dishonor / The response (best seen in this 400-plus-comments post) was absolutlely, defeaningly negative. I guess that speaks volumes to the lack of appropriateness for this change.

Anheuser-Busch InBev / A missed opportunity to create something that didn't look like it came from istockphoto.com. And, seriously, that type?

Capital One / A swoosh in 2008? And, even by swoosh standards, a crappy one at that? Really?

Animal Planet / This logo is neither animal nor planet. Discuss.

South Dakota State University Jacks / The result wasn't so offensive, but the process that led to it was simply embarrassing.

WGN America / It's for a TV station in just one market, so the damage can be quarantined in one area but, man, that's one ridiculous concept of what a logo is.

Xerox / Taking the marble-lowercase trend to the extreme. And sucking at it. Barclaycard came in close second in this category.

Econolodge / Yikes. Even for low-cost hotels this is one hell of a bargain. Key word: hell.

The Oklahoma City Thunder / You can take the Supersonics out of Seattle but you can't take the lame out of this logo.

Euronews / Worst use of a circle.

I vividly remember the day I stopped watching baseball: It was the day I never started watching it. In part this makes me completely inappropriate to judge anything related to a team with one of the most ardent set of fans, but just as well, this objective detachment from the history of the Boston Red Sox or any nostalgia towards their iconography may be the best suited to pass graphic judgement. This week, the Red Sox unveiled new primary and alternate home and road uniforms plus a new(ish) logo. (Plenty more images and news if you search online for "New Red Sox Logo.")

Now, the old logo has been cleaned up and has become the secondary logo. You will notice from the graphic below that the "Boston" lettering has been changed from a slab serif to the nostalgic tuscan lettering that defines the Red Sox. From the "Red Sox" word, we can see that the letterforms have been redrawn, gone is that wobbly R. But, again, why so dopey? The new lettering still looks as if it came from a late nineteenth century broadside. This is a twenty-first century team. The tuscan style could have easily been maintained with a more progressive update. The stitches (is that what you even call them?) of the baseball have also been changed, and I think those do look better.

As far as hats go, the lone hanging sox logo becomes the secondary option while the single B becomes the primary hat. Sounds good, but again, streamline and modernize that B, please. Overall, I think this is an interesting evolution that builds on the tradition of the team even if it pulls too heavily on those old-timer strings. The Red Sox Insider Blog has some pictures of the new uniforms.

Thanks to all that sent in the tip.

Many changes happened across the CNN network this week, most notably the replacement of the on-screen ticker at the bottom of the TV with the "flipper." The other notable change is the redesign of the CNN Headlines News logo, which has dropped the CNN and moved away from the overarching use of lowercase sans serif and red. As far as speech bubble logos go, this is perhaps one of the nicest and most appropriate. It feels contemporary and hardcore, just like the channel itself. At first I was taken aback by the HL ligature, but it's actually quite smart as it creates a better acronym than just HN and reminds people that "headline" is one word. You can never have enough grammar and spelling lessons in the world. This is a nice move to give Headline News its own look and feel that doesn't rely so much on its parent identity.

Thanks to Geoffrey Sorensen for the tip.

Connecting the American content, from South to North and for 77 years, TACA —Transportes Aéreos del Continente Americano (Air Transport of the American Continent) — unveiled a new identity at the end of September. (Sorry for the delay on this one!). I believe the golden thingies in the old logo were super streamlined eagles, and they were in need of a major overhaul that they handsomely received from Lippincott. This is a really great update, the new icon is elegant and dynamic with an inherent motion that most airline logos strive for but rarely achieve even when they "italicize" every element of the identity. The wordmark is also rather nice, and it evolves the extended serif from the previous logo with a custom sans serif that complements the icon very well. The one thing I don't get is the purple "crest" at the top of the eagle's head, it seems a little unnecessary to add that third color. And the one thing that did disappoint was the livery, it just seems like the identity would have lent itself to a much more engaging and attractive design on the airplane. Nonetheless, one of my favorite icons of the year.

Televison ad from South America, worth putting up with the images of the impossibly pretty people to see the animated logo at the end. Thanks to Longina León for sending this.

Sysco is the largest distributor of food-service related items in the U.S., with approximately 9,000 trucks delivering all sorts of food (frozen, canned, produce) as well as tableware and kitchen equipment to restaurants, fast food chains, colleges, hospitals and hotels. Last month Sysco unveiled a new identity to replace its 38-year-old cube logo used since its inception, which was quite a work of art (not) in its attempt to make the most clever interpretation of the acronym for Systems and Services Company. The new logo does away with the acronym and turns it into a proper name by going with the friendlier "Sysco" building on the familiarity of the name and surely the lack of anyone asking what SYSCO stood for. The new logo is meant to emphasize Sysco's commitment to sustainability and delivering quality products. I very much like this new logo — I would have probably chosen another typeface (Gotham for all you haters!) and drawn the leaf differently but it doesn't really matter — as it creates a memorable logo from a very simple typographic treatment. I hate the tag-line being shoved in there so tightly and being so dependent of the logo. A great improvement overall.

Thanks to Hsu Cennatian for the tip.

Somewhere outside (maybe far, far outside) the jurisdiction of corporate and brand identity lies the realm of lottery identity — a less glamorous parallel to Las Vegas identity if you will — where design rules are not what we are used to, a bizarro world if you will. Starbursts, three-dimensional typography, glitter, swooshes, rainbows, and exclamation points the size of Texas are the standard. And the context of lottery are waterfalls of tickets at convenience stores, gas stations and newsstands where only a real connoisseur can quickly spot their preferred mode of testing their luck. So, it's under these circumstances that the new California State Lottery logo has to be critiqued. Is it kind of cheesy? Yes. Good. Is it starbursty? Yes. Good. Do the colors verge on inducing seizures? Yes. Good. Is it three-dimensional? Yes. Good. Does it have the potential to be rendered in glitter? You betcha. Great. Is the typography garish? No. Wow, okay, not good. You get the point, the logo is appropriate for its context even if we might not like it.

Thanks to Glenn Sakamoto for most recent tip and to Adam Levermore-Rich for first tip back in August when the logo was only available for viewing on the streets.

Before and proposed logo.

After The Crew brought the MLS Cup to Columbus in '08, I took a long look at how our team and city will be perceived in the months and seasons to come. We have the best team, coaches, fans, and facilities in the league… but we're running an emblem that's 12 years old and in need of some rejuvenation.

So, I propose we revamp the Columbus Crew brand to go with our revamped spirit. The logo you see on this page was created by me as a possible solution. Is it the only solution? No but I think it's a good start.

The purpose of this group is to catch the attention of Crew management to let them know the movement is out there. It's not a chastising of our current logo… I appreciate the passion and attachment people feel for the old look. This is simply a refresh. You'll notice that, in concept, this new logo is almost identical: a shield, featuring 3 "crew" members looking sternly onward. What's been changed is simply our style of expression. The fonts changed. The illustration is simplified. The appearance is revamped. But the heart is the same.

The intent of this redesign is to SIMPLIFY, STREAMLINE, and STYLIZE.

SIMPLIFY: Get rid of the fussy details in the old dudes and present a clean, iconic illustration for the new.

STREAMLINE: Where sloppiness once was is now a crisp collection of elements working together. Precise outlines and mathematical spacing present the Crew as an uncompromising bunch.

STYLIZE: The Crew should be tough and formidable. Hence the hard angles, structured lettering, and geometric layout.

Thanks to Jarrod Beglinger for the tip.

The United Football League (UFL) is a new professional league that is set to begin its first season in August of 2009 with eight teams in markets where that other professional football league isn't and if it doesn't get crushed by lack of ratings or attendance it will probably serve as sort of a minor league for the NFL. This week the UFL unveiled a new shiny logo. I really like the color choice, I think U.S. professional leagues get too enthralled with the red-white-and-blue combo that they forget other colors exist; I like that it's the green field and the open skies above, although I'm sure they'll play at night or in closed stadiums. The type is, well, whatever, it's footballish. The ball and star icon are a little awkward, and I'll leave it up to everyone else to say what it looks like. The overall shape is interesting — it reminds of the New Jersey Nets logo — as it avoids pure symmetry, which can sometimes make a logo hard to work with, but it also makes it stand out. I would have loved to see this without the shading and gradients and just the shadow of the ball and star, would have been pretty strong. While play begins for the UFL you can play Name Consultant and suggest team names.

Thanks to John Quijano for the tip.

I'm a passive fan of game shows on TV: If one of them is on and there is nothing else, I'll happily watch. But not complicated things like Deal or No Deal, I like simple things like Wheel of Fortune, The Price is Right, Family Feud and even that crazy 10,000 Pyramid show. I vividly remember when a channel, devoted solely to game shows, debuted in 1994. I couldn't believe it. And I watched it. Couldn't believe that either. But here we are, fourteen years later, and the Game Show Network is still on, even after different guises (abbreviated to GSN) and efforts to expand its programming with reality shows, it's all back to basics with good, old fashioned fun.

Thanks to Jake Hamilton for the tip.

Thanks to Juan Carlos Hernández Cámara for the tip, who has a nice rundown (in Spanish) of each finalist.

Since I travel at least once a year to Mexico and more often than not Mexicana offers the lowest price tickets I regularly find myself in their more-cramped-than-usual seats surrounded by an overall aging identity and look. The old Mexicana logo also suffered in that it resembled its biggest competitor, Aeromexico which, overall, has built a much stronger and sophisticated visual identity. Last week, Mexicana unveiled a remarkably different identity to separate it from its competitor.

New livery schemes.

The new logo features free-flowing letters that transmit the hospitality and flexibility of an airline dedicated to customer service, while the eagle has been preserved as a symbol of the brand's essence, reflecting the stability, consistency and solidity that have characterized Mexicana during the 90-odd years it has been operating on the domestic market. The graphics and fonts have been designed to complement each other visually, building on Mexicana's roots and projecting it toward the future as an airline that is proud to represent Mexico on international markets.
— Press Release

I believe the new identity was designed by Design:Success, a group I had never heard of. The logo is interesting, I don't think it's particularly great, but it really feels contemporary and airplane-y. The eagle icon may be a little too stylized, with its eye being barely visible at times… well, barely visible on-line for example, but extremely clear in the livery. I actually thought painting the tip of the plane as the face of the eagle was pretty awesome and one of the biggest challenges of airline logos is making sure it works in both directions when placed on the airplane's tail and this one succeeds nicely. The typography is both good and bad: The mixing of upper and lower case looks kind of silly but I do like the "ex" ligature and even how the "x" cuts the "i", which helps to emphasize "mex", the airport code for Mexico City's international airport. The icon and typography together also form the silhouette of an airplane, whether that's clever or corny is certainly up for discussion.

A good improvement overall with a livelier color palette, but most important was creating an individual identity that established it as a Mexican carrier (yay for eagles!) and apart from Aeromexico. I will, however, miss these old tails with some great Mexican patterns.

Thanks to Christian Ganzo for first tip.