New logo: Sporveien

Until a few years ago, the tramway system in Oslo was generally known as Sporveien (meaning "the Tramway"). That name disappeared when the tramway was reorganised a few years ago. The operational responsibility was taken over by a new company with the unwieldy name Kollektivtransportproduksjon. Last Thursday, it announced that name was history and brought back the old name, Sporveien.

A new visual identity has been developed by local design agencyh Mission. They say the symbol should symbolise intersections, transport, movement, interaction and communication. More literally, it is a two arrows or brackets that form an S.

New logo: Sosialistisk Venstreparti

The Socialist Left Party (Sosialistisk Venstreparti, SV, in Norwegian) is one of seven political parties in the Norwegian parliament, currently a part of the governing centre-left coalition. As the name suggests, it is the most leftist of the Norwegian political parties. Last Friday at its party conference, a new logo was unveiled.

Newspaper reports say the party want to perceived as "sharper at the edges", which is reflected in the new logo which abandons the brush script and places the party initials in a triangle.

New logo: Munkholm

Munkholm is Norway's leading brand for non-alcoholic beer, launched in 1991 by the Ringnes brewery. This month, a new visual identity was unveiled for the brand, extending from everything from logo to packaging, all created by Strømme Throndsen Design.

The entire range has been cleaned up and redesigned to "emphasise the craft and tradition of beer brewing in a modern way", while retaining familiarity.

New logo: Matkroken

Matkroken is Norwegian chain of convenience stores, owned by the ICA Group. The chain is about to be relaunched with a concept that allows greater freedom for independent retailers to shape their stores for local needs. A new visual identity has been developed by Norwegian design agency Grid with ICA's own team.

New logo: Jippi

NorgesGruppen is Norway's leading wholesale and retail grocery company. Last month, it launched a new brand called Jippi for a line of healthy products for children. The brand was designed by Strømme Throndsen Design who are also behind the packaging for the initial range of 34 products.

While the products have been tested to meet nutritional standards, the packaging is designed to appeal to kids, featuring a set of agile 3D characters.

New logo: Rett i koppen

Rett i koppen is a Norwegian brand for instant meals and drinks, owned by a food company called Toro. Launched to great success in the 80s, sales had declined in recent years. Last autumn it introduced an overhauled package design, created by LFH in London.

The new package features several simple icons that convey the instant "on-the-go" nature of how the product is prepared and consumed. They also feature a large new cup logo.

Redesigned packaging has been rolled out in late autumn, and some new products are to be launched early this year.

New logo: TV 2 Norway

TV 2 is Norway's leading commercial television channel, launched in 1992 after obtaining a government license. This month it has revealed a revised version of its logo.

When TV 2 was launched it had two versions of its logo, one where the numeral had a solid 3D appearance and a simplified flat print version. Both were designed by Scandinavian Design Group. Several years later, the 3D version would be dropped in favour of the print version.

The new one is a essentially a refined version of its predecessor. The integrity of the numeral hasn't changed, although thinner lines that mark its outline have been removed. The colours also remain, but have been changed to new nuances. Scandinavian Design Group were reportedly also behind this version, although Red Bee Media in London had some sort of input.

New logo: Q-Meieriene

Q-meieriene is a Norwegian dairy company, controlled by the Kavli Foundation. Earlier this year, probably in the spring, the company introduced a new corporate identity. This includes an updated version of their Q logo as well as fresh and modern packaging.

Norwegian agency Strømme Throndsen Design have designed new milk cartons for Q-meieriene; I don't know if they were also behind the overall corporate identity.

New logo: Senterpartiet

Senterpartiet, or the Centre Party, is a Norwegian political party that developed from the agrarian movement and today holds centrists views. It one of three parties in the social democratic coalition that rules Norway at the moment. This week, on November 6, Senterpartiet unveiled a new logo, created by Oslo agency Design Container.

The party symbol has long been a four leaf clover, and the new look is an evolution of that symbol. In the new logo, the clover has been redesigned to make its four petals resemble interlocking hearts. Green is the party's signature colour and is still dominant. A new graphical element made up of short lines has been created and is used in many applications.

New logo: Norsk Olje & Gass

The Norwegian Oil and Gas Association (Norsk Olje & Gass in Norwegian) is the new name for what used be called the Norwegian Oil Industry Association (Oljeindustriens Landsforening), an employers' organisation for Norway's important oil and gas industry. The namechange took place on September 17. Oslo-based Grid Design has developed both the new name and the visual identity, which communicates Norway's position as a producer of both oil and gas.

New logo: Gjensidige

Gjensidige is a major Norwegian insurance company, tracing its roots back two centuries to rural fire insurers, the first of which was founded in 1816. In addition to its home market, it now also has activities in Denmark, Sweden and the Baltic states. Yesterday, October 24, Gjensidige previewed a new corporate identity, created by Dinamo Design in Oslo.

Gjensidige has long used an image of a watchman as company symbol, first introduced in 1932 as an advertisement figure. He was last redesigned in 2005, when the company changed its name from Gjensidige NOR, having merged its banking subsidiary into DnB NOR a few years earlier.

In the new version he has been made into a silhouette, enclosed by a circle with two colours divided by his walking stick.

A new communicative style has been developed, focused on the needs of costumers rather than products. It is warm and friendly, with a set of colourful figures and icons and a "handwritten" typeface.

New logo: Skala

Landteknikk is a Norwegian company that provides equipment and technical solutions to the food industry. Currently celebrating its 75th anniversary, it changed its name to Skala at the beginning of this month, with a new visual identity and strategy developed by Grid Design in Oslo.

Skala is Norwegian for "scale", and a company brochure explains that the name should be associated with expressions derived from it, such as "scalability" and "economies of scale". The rebrand brings together a number of subsidiaries under the Skala brand that had previously been independently named.

New logo: MyCall

Lebara is a Norwegian telecommunications company that provides affordable international telephony through pay-as-you cards in many European countries. These services specifically target ex-pats and are widely advertised in immigrant neighbourhoods around Europe. Yesterday, on October 3, Lebara changed its name to MyCall.

New logo: Amedia

A-pressen is a major Norwegian media group, mostly concerned with print newspapers. It has historically had ties to the labour movement, and is still part-owned by the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions. This week, on September 10, it was announced that it would change its name to Amedia, following a merger with another newspaper concern, Edda Media.

The new name takes an A from A-pressen and the word "media" from Edda Media, continuing the legacy of both groups.

An Oslo communication agency called Itera Gazette is credited for coming up with the new visual identity. It is said to have been developed to "describe the diversity in the concern's involvements".

New logo: Conax

Conax is a Norwegian company that maintains a conditional access system of the same name that is used by television distributors around the world. Last week, at the International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam, it unveiled a new corporate identity.

At the center of the new identity is a "sculpture" that somewhat resembles an X onto which different "scrambled" images are projected.

Idents: NRK1 (2011)

Last year, Norway's largest broadcaster, NRK, introduced new idents for its flagship channel NRK1, featuring a large blue ball that appears in everyday Norwegian life.

NRK1 previous idents had developed over ten years and featured scenery from around Norway where some round object would form the "dot" in the R in the NRK logo. The blue ball was a new take on that idea, but has more focus the Norwegian people rather than the country itself.

The idents where created by UK motion agency Kemistry, who had created some idents on the previous theme and also rebranded NRK's news and NRK2 earlier on. They were shots in two batches, one in summer and one in the winter. The balls were created in different sizes and materials, and were sometimes mechanically controlled.

New logo: Evry

Norway's largest IT services company, EDB ErgoGroup, was renamed last weekend and will now be known as Evry. EDB ErgoGroup was created in 2010 from the merger of EDB and ErgoGroup, who were previously the two largest companies in the field.

The new corporate identity was launched at an event on March 17. It was designed by Scandinavian Design Group, and the rollout is assisted by its corporate sisters in the McCann network. The "human" quality of the script wordmark is supposed to reflect Evry's business approach.

Idents: TV3 Norway

Back in August, the Norwegian commercial channel TV3 launched a new look with a new logo. At the time, there were very few videos available to show the logo in action. The channel is broadcast from Viasat's playout centre in London, which also has a Youtube account where they occasionally post promos, IDs and other snippets. In December they published a selection of TV3's new idents, and they are presented below.

New logo: VOX

VOX is a new TV channel from the Norwegian broadcaster TVNorge, launched on January 23, replacing an under-performing music channel. By offering quality content like American and British drama it hopes to attract an adult audience of 30-60 year-olds. Its schedules include The Hour, The Wire, The Borgias, Mad Men, British comedy and Jon Stewart.

The name seems to be derived from the Norwegian word for grown-up, voksen. The single-syllable three-letter name fits the broadcaster's naming scheme, as its sister channels are called FEM and MAX. It also gets a similar rectangular logo.

The channel graphics have a premium feel and are based on a dark grey-orange colour scheme and modern typography.

New logo: DNB

Today, November 11 (11.11.11), the Norwegian bank DnB NOR shortened its name to DNB and launched a new corporate identity. The DNB name also replaces Postbanken, the former postal savings bank, and Vital, a life and pension insurer, creating one unified bank and insurance brand. DNB is the largest financial concern in Norway, and this is probably the country's most high profile rebrand this year.

DnB NOR announced that they were getting rid of half their name in February. The allied Norwegian agencies Snøhetta Design and Anti were later given the assignment to develop a new visual identity, including the logo and other applications. The logo was first previewed on June 9 and got a harsh reception.

Until now, we've only had a photo of the logo on an angle, with a director standing next to it. DNB have deliberately avoided releasing a "proper" image before the launch.