Acom flattens the ring of trust

Acom is a Japanese company that provides consumer loans and issues credit cards. On August 7, 2021, it launched a refreshed logo.

The previous logo was introduced in 1989 and designed by Dentsu. It was usually accompanied by an era-appropriate line shading graphic that is still a fairly common sight in Japanese cityscapes.

The angularity of the symbol (officially named "the ring of trust") was innovative for its time, but has lost some of that effect over time. The new version flattens it completely, almost turning it into a simple circle. The typographical clash between the symbol and the initial 'a' is less obvious in the Japanese version, which is probably the one that will be used the most.

Logo round-up: October 2020

The most talked about new logo in October 2020 was arguably the Gmail symbol which got recoloured as part of Google's ongoing refresh of their services. Other notable changes included a logo for Discovery's upcoming streaming service, the major airline AirAsia, the food delivery startup Hello Fresh and more refreshes for Facebook Messenger and Medium. 

The remaining round-ups for 2020 are prepared and will be released as they become ready, although I don't have a set plan for the moment. The round-ups have grown both more comprehensive and more international over time, which means they take more time complete.

Logo round-up: September 2020

The Logo round-up returns with the new logos of September 2020 (i. e., a year ago). The biggest news this month was easily the new Intel logo, finally abandoning the classic Intel Inside swoosh motif it had used since 1991. There were also new brands launched for some prominent Internet companies like Nextdoor and Fiverr. On the international front, Wolff Olins branded a merged telco in India (VI), while Landor & Fitch gave a new look to one of Russia's largest banks and Greece's public broadcaster launched a refreshed look.

Classic Prudential logo replaced in Europe, restored in Asia

These days, most businesses take care to protect their names for use worldwide, but there are many historical examples where different companies in the same business have the same name. One example is the name "Prudential" when used for insurance companies. There's the American company Prudential Insurance, long associated with its sturdy Rock of Gibraltar symbol. An there's the British Prudential plc which is represented by the image of Lady Prudence.

In 2018, Prudential plc was split into two with its asset manager M&G and Prudential UK & Europe spun off into a separate company, M&G plc. Prudential plc retained the Asian and African business, meaning the Prudential name was now split between three different entities worldwide.

On April 20, 2021 they revealed a new logo for Prudential UK & Europe to be rolled out in May 2021. M&G had adopted a square logo following its spin-off and the new Prudential logo follows that theme, but keeps its own colour and uses the shorthand 'Pru'.

Logo round-up: August 2020

There were a fair amount interesting logo changes in August, including the capital of Germany, Dave & Buster's, the largest public TV station in the U.S. and Belgium's public broadcaster.

Another change in August was Disney renaming their television studios remove their associating with Fox. This included resurrecting the name "Touchstone Television" for the Fox 21 studio. A few weeks ago, Disney announced that Touchstone Television (formerly Fox 21) was to shut down, probably making this the first time the logo round-up includes a logo that has already been retired!

This will be the last round-up published this year, the plan is to return with the September edition in January.

Logo round-up: July 2020

Australia revealed it's new country brand back in July, which is always a source of controversy. Other big stories were the Royal Academy of Music and the new look for TV production company Banijay following its mega-merger with EndemolShine.

Logo round-up: June 2020

The most discussed logo back in June was the new pinwheel symbol for Google Photos, even though it's just part of an ongoing rollout of Google's design scheme. We also got new designs for two prominent two-letter acronyms: IG and NI.