Robot Food tones up Bulk Powders

Bulk Powders is a sports nutrition company that sells its products online in bulk. It was recently given a visual refresh by Robot Food, who also designed the previous look in 2013.

In recent years the Bulk Powders product line has expanded from a specialty product for athletes and bodybuilders to a wider range of lifestyle products. This necessitated rationalisation to clarify the different product lines.

Of the four sub-brands, the food and snacks-oriented Active Foods was given its own distinct identity. The other three are clarified through use of colour. Overall, the packaging has been simplified with fewer and clearer colours.

Logo round-up: March 2017

March brought us more than 40 interesting logo changes from around the world. This included a some relatively significant ones, such as grocery chain Aldi and the new airline Level.

Italy's Acea pins down digital identity

Asea is a major Italian water and energy utility. Last month it launched a new corporate identity designed to work better on digital platforms.

The new logo makes heavy use of a simplified map pin symbol which models all letters in the new logos. The pin was chosen as a universal symbol that connects physical locations with the digital world. The logo blends the colours of the groups three main business area, water, energy and environment.

Comcast launches Xfinity Mobile service

America's favorite cable company Comcast is launching a mobile phone service, using a network based on Comcast's own Wifi hotspots and Verizon's 4G network. The name of the service was announced last week.

Comcast's is using the Xfinity brand for its TV, broadband and phone services and the new mobile service will be called Xfinitiy Mobile. The new service is only available to existing Xfinity costumers, but although it is a sub-brand of Xfinity it has its own logo and distinct look and feel.

FutureBrand brings Nordic light to Baltic bank

Two Nordic banks, Sweden's Nordea and Norway's DNB, are merging their Baltic subsidiaries to create a new bank called Luminor. The name and logo, designed by FutureBrand, were announced a month ago.

The name combines the latin word for "light" with -nor, representing the bank's Nordic roots. The "light" is an expression of the bank's aim to help its costumers, "a visible sign that things can change for the better".

Hulsbosch brands property group Dexus

Dexus is one of Australia's leading property group's, owning real estate in retail, office and industry. They recently launched a new visual identity, developed by Hulsbosch.

The new identity aims to raise awareness about the company so that it can highlight its various services and benefits to current and potential costumers. Visually, the identity has been designed to work for many different properties, which is reflected in the rectangle next to the word mark that can contain different colours.

Robot Food tames Honey Monster

Honey Monster is a brand of puffed wheat cereal, formerly known as Sugar Puffs but renamed in 2014 after its mascot. Last year, the brand was licensed to Brecks who relaunched it last week. The new look was designed by Robot Food, who also helped relaunch the Good Grain brand from the same manufacturer.

The cereal brand had great recognition, but had lost some relevance as parents opted for less sugary cereals. As a result, to product has been overhauled to use less sugar. The new look is a sharp break with the past that should make it appear more credible and relevant. The old brash and intimidating honey monster has been redrawn in flat colours to appear more friendly.

Carl's Jr and Hardee's loose the smile

Carl's Jr and Hardee's are two American burger restaurant chains with around 3,500 locations taken together. Although using different names, the two chains share most brand attributes, using similar logos, design and marketing. Last week, the company announced an overhauled advertising approach that will use humour and an actor playing the chain's founder. This puts an end to an absurd twelve year campaign where the chain marketed itself with women in bikinis. Simultaneously, the "happy star" in the chain's logo has lost its satisfied grin.

The new logos remove most of the effects of their predecessors, leaving only the stars and wordmarks intact.