New logo: Prague Philharmonia

The Prague Philharmonia (Pražská komorní filharmonie in Czech, abbreviated PKF) is a Czech philharmonic orchestra, founded in 1993. Last week, the orchestra unveiled a new logo ahead of the 2013-14 season. It is a part of an overall visual language which had been rolled out since last year. It was created by Lucie Valerová, a graduate of the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague.

The very graphic visual expression is inspired by musical notation. It is usually only printed in black and white, but there are also more colourful iterations for concerts that target children and schools.

New logo: WorldPay Zinc

Another innovative project from the London agency SomeOne launched yesterday. This time is a new product called WorldPay Zinc that should help small businesses in the UK by allowing them to supply simple and secure credit card payments through devices that are both affordable and easy to use. SomeOne developed both the name Zinc and the visual identity.

The central motif in the identity is an explosion of colour pigment, representing buyer and seller coming together and the speed of the service. The images were shot by photographer Simon Warren using high-speed photography.

More on: Drama

Back in May it was announced the United Kingdom would get a new television channel called Drama, which, as the name suggests, would be primarily dedicated to drama series. The logo was revealed at the same time. It was created by DixonBaxi, who have also devised the channel idents that were released recently.

The channel launches on July 8 with 14 idents and 10 stings featuring everyday scenes with a cinematic feeling. The series plays on the tensions between the two sides of drama, which DixonBaxi has defined as the "idyllic" (beautiful, pastoral settings) and "intrigue" (exciting plots). The idents are punctuated by the logo with its three-dimensional D mark, which also plays on the two interdependent sides of drama.

New logo: UEFA Euro 2016

The next edition of the UEFA European Football Championship will be held in France in 2016, who were selected as hosts in 2009. Yesterday, June 26, the official logo for the event was unveiled in Paris. It was created by Brandia Central, a Portuguese agency who were also behind the logo for the last European Football Championship, hosted by Poland and the Ukraine.

The theme for the logo is "Celebrating the art of football" and it borrows visual cues one may associate with modern French abstract art, bringing some sophistication to the festivity of a football tournament. At the center of the emblem is the Henri Delaunay Cup, which the winner is awarded, with stripes and shapes in colours of the French flag. Brandia Central have also created a supporting image with an eclectic stadium and a background pattern, both combining modern art with football.

New logo: Swisscom iO

Switzerland's incumbent telco Swisscom has launch a new smartphone app yesterday that, among other things, allows anyone who downloads it to make phone calls over the internet. The app is called iO and its brand identity was developed with Moving Brands in London, who also created Swisscom's corporate identity back in 2008. Moving Brands were also involved in coming up with the brand name and designing websites as well as the app itself.

New logo: Ekstraklasa

Football is the most popular sport in Poland, and the highest division in the Polish football league is called Ekstraklasa. Last week, on June 19, the Ekstraklasa unveiled a new visual identity, created by Polish design agency BNA.

The symbol is supposed to represent the elite of Polish football in the form of patches that make up a football. The distinctive letter E in middle ensures that it gets recognised even in condensed form and when reduced to smaller sizes. Ekstraklasa is sponsored by T-Mobile and the logos come in different versions with and without the T-Mobile mark.

New(-ish) logo: ABC

ABC, one of the major TV networks in the United States, started rolling out a new on-air identity in late May as it gears up for the 2013-14 television season. This includes a refreshed treatment of its logo.

The logo for the American Broadcasting Company was created in 1962 by Paul Rand. An elegant solution with letters based on circles (inspired by Bauhaus?) have made it a design classic that stands the test of time. ABC has used it with a variety of colors and chrome coatings as TV graphics developed, but the integrity of the logo itself never changed.

Last time the logo was given a new treatment was in 2007 when an on-air graphics package created by Troika Design Group in Los Angeles was introduced. It gave the logo an oblate spheroid shape (a.k.a. the shape of Smarties or M&M's) with a complex surface involving glares and reflections.

The new version is flatter, with simpler gradients on the black disc. It changes color depending of the time of day and program type. The primetime version has a hint of yellow, while the news version is blue, daytime is pink and late night is green.