Norway's central bank adopts simple identity

Norges Bank is Norway's central bank, responsible for printing the Norwegian krone, maintaining financial stability in the country and taking care of the money generated from Norway's oil reserves. In late February, it published its annual report which came with a new visual identity fro the bank, created by BrandLab Oslo.

The old logo featured an ancient symbol known called Olavsrose. It has been replaced with a modernist logo and more contemporary typography. Brandlab's work included everything from initial research to implementation, including new templates, typography, animation and signage.

The Television Academy gets a proper identity

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is an American institution dedicated to advancement and acknowledgement of television, best known for organising the Emmy Awards. The organisation itself has had a somewhat muted identity, often using the Emmy statue as its symbol. That changed this month when the Academy got its own visual identity, created with Siegel+Gale.

The new logo adopts the name "Television Academy" which has long been used as shorthand name. They also created a series of light trails that support the logo.

ERA Real Estate sells new house logo

ERA Real Estate is an international residential real estate franchise. It is based in the United States where it was founded in 1971 as Electronic Realty Associates, but has since expanded to about 2,300 offices around the world with a significant amount of them located outside the US. This week it unveiled a new visual identity which it says will launch in July.

The new logo is said to be the fourth in the company's history and just like its predecessors it is inspired by the typical image of a house. The basic colours are also retained.

SFR cleans the square

SFR is one of France's leading mobile telecommunications companies. It was originally known Société Française du Radiotéléphone and is currently owned by media group Vivendi who are currently discussing selling it to another company. This week SFR introduced a refreshed logo, accompanied by the slogan Smart comme vous ("Smart as you").

The various bevels, drop shadows and flares from the old logo have been removed. What remains is a clean (dare I say "flat"?) red square with seemingly unaltered lettering. This seems to be simply a logo refresh, the overall look and feel remains essentially unchanged.

Logo round-up: February 2014

Here's the logo round-up for February. Usually a slow month for rebrands, made even less busy by the interruption from the Winter Olympics. But still, there were quite a few interesting project revealed.

Genoa's new logo hints at more

After Bologna in December and Florence last week, Genoa has become the third large Italian city to reveal a new city brand in a short time. Genoa is Italy's sixth largest city and the capital of Liguria in northern Italy. The logo was revealed yesterday, March 19, and was created by Valeria Morando and Anna Giudice who run a studio called 7vicocrema. They won a competition that attracted 373 proposals.

The new logo doesn't feature any city monuments and instead relies on typography. The letterforms are partly obscured, suggesting that there is more to Genoa than you've already seen, which is amplified by the tagline "More than this". Chopping off the tops and bottoms of the letters G and O also created brackets that can be used in other contexts.

New names and graphics for Time Warner Cable News channels

Last December, the American cable TV company Time Warner Cable rebranded the sixteen local news channels its owns in several locations where it does business. Having previously used several different names, they would now all be called "Time Warner Cable News". Controversially, this also included New York's popular local news channel NY1, which would now be called Time Warner Cable News NY1.

The stated reason for this change was to communicate to viewers that Time Warner Cable is the exclusive providers of these channels and that they will loose access to them if they cut the cord. By adding the name to the channels, the cable provider associates itself with trustworthy local news.

Whatever you may think of the wordy names, the new graphics package should be judged by its own merits. It was created by Los Angeles-based Troika. The slick package spans an immense list of delivered assets, including news graphics and specific show graphics.

OBH Nordica designs better logo

OBH Nordica is a Nordic manufacturer of household appliances and utensils, formed in 2002 from the merger of a Swedish and a Danish company. Last month, the company introduced a new visual identity and package concept. It ws created by Stockholm-based design agency Silver.

Kraków unveils 2022 Olympic logo

Today, Kraków in Poland became the third applicant city for the 2022 Winter Olympics to reveal the logo that shall represent its bid, following Oslo in Norway and Lviv in the Ukraine. The design is credited to a Swiss firm called Event Knowledge Services.

The bid will be symbolised by an ornamental symbol, inspired by patterns characteristic of the mountainous region where Kraków is located. At its centre is an orange square, representing the central market square.

Thrivent Financial not only for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans is an American faith-based financial services organisation. It is one of a handful non-profits that are also Fortune 500 companies. This month, on March 3, it introduced a new logo and an abbreviated name.

"For Lutherans" has been dropped from the name as the organisation welcomes all kinds of Christians. Instead, the Christians connection is communicated with a cross in a heart.

Multilingual logo for Florence

Florence is one of Italy many great and renowned cities, the birthplace on Renaissance, located in the equally famous Tuscany region. This week, the city unveiled a new logo to promote the city, the result of an international contest launched in July last year.

The winning suggestion was created by Fiorentini graphic designer Fabio Chiantini. Chosen for its "communicative essentialism", it consists of a square with the name of the city in different languages.

The Italian name, Firenze, is hidden in the other names and amplified with bold letters. The other languages are Latin, French/English, German and Spanish. The Latin name links back to city's history and origin, while the names in the major Western languages are a reference to Florence's increasingly international outlook.

The name is set in a geometric sans serif, often enclosed by a square. The colour red was chosen for historical reasons. The logo is occasionally flanked by the tagline "everywhere" in various languages.

New logo spotted in Saarland

Saarland is one of the sixteen states that make up Germany, located at the border with France. It has about a million inhabitants, which makes it one of the smallest states in the nation. Last month, the state and private groups launched a new marketing campaign that it hopes will attract young workers. It comes with a new state logo and a slogan, Großes entsteht immer im Kleinen, which can be loosely translated as "Great things always arise from the small".

The new logo depicts a map of Saarland made up of small dots. Saarland's minister-president says the logo was selected because it was both friendly and confident.

Olive Garden unveils new logo

The Olive Garden is an American restaurant chain that is specialised in Italian cuisine with over 800 restaurants. Yesterday, its owner Denner Restaurants unveiled a "Brand Renaissance Plan" that it hopes will turn the troubled chain around. It lays out strategic improvements for the menu and the restaurants. It also comes with a new logo, created with Lippincott.

The new logo is based on the altered brand positioning and has been made more modern, in line with the suggested restaurant refurbishing.

New look for French women's channel Téva

Téva is a French cable/satellite TV channel for a modern feminine audience. Last Sunday, it launched a new on-screen identity, created by broadcast design agency Motionfanclub.

The channel want to be "a source of inspiration for the women of today and to infuse their optimism and energy". The new look intends to be more dynamic and modern and is designed to be scalable and adaptable over time.

The new look comes with a refreshed logo. The slightly updated letters in the logo are now permanently enclosed by a square. The signature green colour is maintained and complemented with a full range of fresh and cheerful colours. Idents and jingles feature snippets of everyday life with a cheerful soundtrack.

New identity for Swedish sports retailer Team Sportia

Team Sportia is a Swedish sports equipment retailer with about 120 stores. This year it celebrates its 25th anniversary by launching a new visual identity that it hopes will allow it to regain lost market shares. The design work was done by Happy F&B in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The chain consists of independent stores with different orientations, which the new communication concept promotes by aiding the local commitment to help costumers find what they want.