Branding the Eurovision Song Contest 2014

The 59th instalment of the Eurovision Song Contest was concluded in Copenhagen, Denmark over the weekend. For the first time in its history, the contest was won by a drag persona, the bearded Austrian Conchita Wurst. As has become a sort of tradition, this blog takes a look back at the visual identity work for this year's edition.

Unlike the custom of recent years, host broadcaster DR chose to take the creative direction in-house for this contest. It hired motion graphic designer Uffe Raupach Jenssen to come up with the contest's visual identity with DR's design director Anders Thulin. The basic brand idea for the this year's contest was Europe coming together, as expressed by the hashtag "#JoinUs". Visually, this was portrayed by lines and rays of light coming together at the centre of the screen. The logo was first conceived as a square which was tilted and had some corners cut off to form a diamond. The relatively sombre colour scheme dominated by "Nordic" blue was designed not to clash with the many colourful performers on stage.

Much of the implementation was handled by outside firms, mostly from Denmark. The musical theme was composed by a Henrik Lindstrand. There were reportedly about 40 different cuts made of the theme music.

New identity for Correios - the Brazilian postal service

Empresa Brasileira de Correios e Telégrafos is the state-owned postal service in Brazil, trading under the name Correios. Last week, on May 6, it unveiled a new visual identity, created by CDA Branding & Design. It replaces a symbol introduced over forty years ago.

The new visual identity should enforce existing brand values of trust and commitment, while also conveying proximity, flexibility and dynamism. This is done as a natural evolution of the previous symbol, bringing it into the 21st century. The double arrows pointing in different directions tell that Correios is always on the go and ready to tread all paths. The new wordmark also takes inspiration from the modular round forms of its predecessor but transforms it into a more modern and friendly lowercase.

New logos and idents for Viasat documentary and film channels

Viasat is a Swedish satellite TV company that operate a suite of thematic channels dedicated to films and documentaries, available in the Nordic countries, Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and some African countries. Last month, it introduced new logos for many of these channels.

The affected channels are movie channels TV1000, TV1000 Action and TV1000 Russian Kino as well as documentary channels Viasat Explore, Viasat History, Viasat Nature and Viasat Crime. The new logos are designed be more versatile and to work in different environments.

The new logos were unveiled on April 22, and launched on April 29. No definitive creative credit available at the moment, but the creative direction appears to have been done at least partly in-house.

Full line-up of old and new logos below, and some idents further down. The previous logos were introduced during 2009 and 2010.

New WorldPay identity trails the world

WorldPay is a British company that provides payment services, notably in the form of card payment devices for businesses around the world. It was previously owned by Royal Bank of Scotland, who were forced to divest it as a condition for receiving state aid after the financial crisis. The newly independent company continued its visual identity from the RBS era with the RBS mark removed until last month, when it introduced a new visual identity, created by London-based brand agency SomeOne.

A decision was made to raise the brand's profile by using it for all the company's operations. It was also given a new symbol, a loxodrome, inspired by data trails made by money traveling around the planet. The overall brand identity is based on "fluid connections which takes different forms depending on where you come into contact with Worldpay". Custom typography and iconography has also been developed based on the money trails idea.

New IFC logo is slightly more off

IFC is an American cable TV network dedicated to edgy "offbeat" comedy, best known as the home of hipster sketch comedy series Portlandia. It is a part of AMC Networks and was originally dedicated to independent film, but has been repositioned over time. Back in 2010, the new positioning was reinforced with the launch of a new brand identity and the slogan "Always on, Slightly Off".

This month, IFC launched a new logo that builds on its existing edgy image. The new logo is slightly more "off" and removes the punctuation from the slogan. It was created by New York-based design studio Gretel.

Straight-forward design for new German sports nutrition brand

Qi2 is a new brand of nutritional supplements from German fitness club chain McFit, including bars, drinks and shakes. It is exclusively available at McFit locations and online. The brand identity and packaging was designed by the Hamburg-based Peter Schmidt Group.

The brand has three product lines (Basic, Woman and Pro) which are clearly and consistently coded with colours and other visual markers. It is designed with over both beginners and experienced users through a clear and straight-forward minimalist design. A key design element is  colon, where the top circle is the Qi2 logo and the bottom circle marks the product line with colours and models.

Guiltless brand refresh for Canderel sweeteners

Canderel is originally a French brand for artificial sweeteners. Today, it is owned by the Merisant Group and sold in much of Europe and other parts of the world. Back in March this year, the brand launched a new visual identity created by French design agency Logic Design.

Logic worked to clarify the brand message as "providing everybody with sweet, without feeling guilty". The logo was cleaned up and placed at the centre of the packaging.