Stockholm continues to capitalise on Scandinavia

For the last few years, Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, has boldly marketed itself as the "Capital of Scandinavia". This has probably been seen as unnecessarily arrogant and brash to those living in other Scandinavian capitals, like Copenhagen and Oslo. But Stockholm are sticking to it and last year they introduced a refreshed version of this branding, created by Essen International.

That agency was also involved in branding the city of Stockholm (Stockholms stad) last year. To clarify, the Stockholms stad project mostly concerned communication from the city of Stockholm to its inhabitants. The "Capital of Scandinavia" branding targets business and tourists from around the world and concerns all the 52 municipalities that make up Sweden's capital region.

Essen's branding unites the branding for the city and the region with a common visual expression with similar colours and typefaces. It is built around the already established crown symbol and designed to work in a digital environment.

Indulgent idents for TV6

TV6 is a new Norwegian TV channel, launched in November last year. It targets a mostly female audience with a mix of entertainment and lifestyle. Channel idents were created by London-based motion design studio WeAreSeventeen, who revealed their work a month ago.

In the idents the logo is formed from various objects that relate to the channel's programming. The decision to focus on the logo was made to establish the new brand in the minds of viewers. The initials batch contains three idents; Food, where sweet ingredients form the logo, Glamour, where the logo is made up of gold and pearls, and Home, where the logo is built and decorated like a cabin.

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.

La Effe - a magazine brand on TV

La Effe is a new Italian television channel, launched in May last year by "eclectic" publishing house Feltrinelli. The television channel has a similar profile to its owner's magazines and aims to convey a different perspective to encourage personal opinion.

The channel identity was developed by Italian design collective Nerdo who seized on its relationship to magazine publishing. The colour scheme, the typefaces - Trade Gothic Bold Condensed and Utopia Regular - and the "overprint" treatment of images are very much inspired by high-end glossy magazines. This represent the channel's origins and delivers those values to the small screen.

Carefully selected identity for tour operator Sembo

Sembo is a Scandinavian tour operator. Last month, on December 19, it launched a new visual identity.

The new logo should communicate how hotels and accommodations have been carefully selected by Sembo staff. This is emphasised by the a slogan, which translates as "Carefully selected holiday accommodations". It should also communicate Sembo core values of challenge and personality.

Dramatic triangles in new identity for Sky Movies NZ

Sky Movies is a suite of premium film channels broadcast by Sky Network Television, New Zealand's leading pay TV platform. It started out as a single channel in 1990. On November 1 last year it expanded from three to five channels and introduced a new visual identity, developed by Interbrand. A set of eighteen idents was created by Sydney-based animation studio Sixty40 with sound by Rumble Studios.

The refreshingly minimalist identity system extends on Sky NZ's existing identity which is based on triangles and the somewhat geometric Euclid typeface. In this case, triangles have been combined to form an M symbol on which all channel logos are based. In the idents, different moments or concept from different films or genres have been recreated using nothing but triangles. (They remind me somewhat of the exercises you had to do when you learned using shapes and composition in art class.)

Lippincott forms an Allegion

The American industrial conglomerate Ingersoll Rand recently spun off its security technologies division which specialises in architectural hardware. It began trading as a separate company in early December, and a few months before this it had been rebranded as Allegion, a new brand developed with Lippincott within a short timespan.

The name Allegion alludes to allegiances, conveying close, collaborative and long-term relationships. The symbol is an A made up of panels that should remind you of architectural plans and blueprints.

A&E gets original

A&E is one of the most watched cable networks in the United States. Launched in 1984 as "The Arts & Entertainment Network" it was once known for documentaries and syndicated or imported series. In the last decade it has shifted its focus to reality series and original drama, with recent hits including Duck Dynasty and Bates Motel. A&E now positions itself as a premium entertainment network and the only cable network to only air original programming in primetime. To communicate this, the network has introduced the new tagline "Be Original", replacing "Real Life. Drama.". It launched on December 11 with a new graphics package, created by Troika.

With that much original programming, A&E can safely build its identity around the characters and environments featured in them. Characters from different series are featured heavily in all communication. Graphics also make use of objects and textures that reference the shows. Finally, each show has its own icon that is used as graphical shorthand for each show. Overall this creates a long list of visual elements for each show.

A dynamic alphabetic pattern in Bologna

Bologna is the seventh largest city in Italy, located in the northern part of the country. This city has a long history stretching back 3,000 years and is well known for both its university and its cuisine. Last month, the city presented the result of a contest to find a new visual identity.

The new dynamic identity was created by Matteo Bartoli and Michele Pastore, two graphic designers from Trieste. A series of colourful abstract pattern have been designed to convey varying aspects and perceptions of the city. The duo has created a system of point-symmetric elements, each linked to a letter of the alphabet. These can be combined to create myriad of overlay pattern symbols.

DNV GL goes for stripes

DNV GL is a classification society formed last year by the combination of Det Norske Veritas of Norway and Germanischer Lloyd, which was based in Germany. It deals with classification, infrastructure and software for ships and other sea-based structures such as oil rigs. Last month, on December 16, the combined organisation unveiled its corporate identity, created with Landor Associates.

The new brand strategy should communicate DNV GL's brand promise, "a broader view". The logo is made up of three stripes, representing sea, land and sky.

New Taiwan Taoyuan Airport logo crosses the Ts

The Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is one of two airports that serve Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan. During a press release held on December 19, the airport unveiled a new corporate identity.

The new symbol is made up of four interlocking Ts, for "Taiwan, Taoyuan", "Transfer", "Transform" and "Touching".

The Brand Union adopts a simplified logo

The Brand Union is one of the largest brand identity consultancies in the world, formed in 1996 by the merger of five leading WPP-owned brand consultancies in New York, San Francisco, London, Hong Kong and Taipei. Today they have about 500 employees and 23 offices around the world. The group was known as Enterprise IG until 2007 when it adopted the current name and an unusually experimental logo that played with shapes and whitespace.

Last month, shortly before Christmas, the group introduced a new website and a renewed visual identity. Taking a reductive approach, the new symbol consists of the simplified initials B and U.

New logo: Eurovision Song Contest 2014

Europe's largest TV event, the Eurovision Song Contest, will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark next year after the kingdom won the competition in neighbouring Sweden in May. Every contest has its own theme art, the look and feel that will permeate the contest, and the host broadcaster DR unveiled theirs yesterday.

Next year's contest will be signified by a hexagonal diamond with the slogan #JoinUs on it. This will be the first contest to use a hashtag as its slogan. In a statement, the executive producer of the show explains that the diamond symbolises the contest as gathering point that is "at once sparkling and strong" and that its different sides show "the diversity and difference that will be on the Eurovision stage".

New logo: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) is Hollywood's film academy, probably best (or only) known for being the organisation behind the Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars. Yesterday, the Academy unveiled a logo for itself, developed with Los Angeles agency 180LA.

A triangular shape forms a spotlight on an Oscar statuette silhouette, which can also be interpreted as the letter A for "Academy". The previous logo had the spotlight coming from behind the statuette, and the shift is supposed top place more focus on the Academy itself, not just the Oscars. In an introduction, AMPAS president Cheryl Boone Isaacs says the new symbol represents it members, "a community of artists at the top of their game".

New logo: Encore

Encore is a suite of cable movie channels in the United States. At the beginning of this month, on December 2, the package was relaunched with new logos, new graphics and some new channels, all developed by Troika in Hollywood.

The Encore channels specialise in somewhat older, familiar and "iconic" movies rather than recent releases, as expressed by the existing positioning "Playing Favorites". The tone of voice for promotions is set by different clever messages that play on the familiarity of the films. Graphics make use of large and straightforward typography. Troika also produced a series of genre stings with haikus and graphics inspired by classic movie posters (think Saul Bass).

New logo: Golf Channel

The Golf Channel is an American television network dedicated to the sport of golf, holding the rights to many of the important tours. It is owned by Comcast, and after its merger with NBCUniversal in 2011 it has been integrated into the NBC Sports Group. This was quickly made evident with Golf Channel-branded programming airing on the NBC network and the addition of an NBC peacock to the network logo.

Yesterday, December 16, the network took this one step further and unveiled a new logo with focus on the peacock and the word "golf". When it launches in May next year, it will completely replace the G-with-golf-peg mark that has been used until now. The new logo was developed by Los Angeles agency Troika, who have been working with Golf Channel for several years.

New logo: Stöð 3

Stöð 3 is a new television channel from Iceland's leading commercial broadcaster Stöð 2. It launched earlier this autumn, on September 7, and targets a younger audience with entertainment and drama series. The bright look makes use of glowing triangles to frame the 3 numeral.

New logo: University of New Hampshire

The University of New Hampshire is the largest university in the rather small state of New Hampshire. Founded in 1866, it currently has over 15,000 students. During a college hockey game on Saturday, the school unveiled its new logo, created by Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv in New York.

The new emblem is a modern take on a shield with the initials NH in the school's colours and replaced an image of the Thompson Hall clock tower, a building located on the UNH campus. It was created with the collaboration of an "advisory panel" of students, alumni, faculty and staff. Usage guidelines will be published in February.

New logo: Lloyd's Register

Lloyd's Register is an organisation with various activities in maritime shipping, rail, energy and management systems. It was founded in 1760 in London, where it is still head-quartered. On Sunday, December 8, it unveiled a new visual identity.

The new monogram is a cleaned-up version of the LR stamp used by the organisation's surveyors since 1884.

New logo: Arby's

Arby's is a major American fast food chain, mostly known for serving sandwiches. Its logo has long been a cowboy hat. After several decades of barely changing it, last fall it was given an update when the "Wild West" typeface was replaced by something more contemporary. The result was an odd clash between old and new.

That logo proved short-lived, as last week it started using a refreshed version of the logo on its website, in advertising and on social media. This time, the logo has been given a more careful redesign with a contemporary slab serif typeface. The hat has been released from its odd extrusion and has been tweaked for the better.