Sochi 2014 picks fancy-looking URL as logo

The logo for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, was unveiled today, and it's notable both for what it doesn't include—the traditional abstract cultural image relating to the host city or country—and for what it does: a Web address. In other words, in a desperate appeal to the world's youth, even the Olympics are retreating from the real world into the virtual one. Developed by Interbrand and Sochi's own brand council, it's the first Olympic logo to feature a URL, and Sochi 2014 chief Dmitry Chernyshenko couldn't be more proud. "To prove our commitment to innovation, Sochi 2014 will have a clearly digital Games emblem," he says. "Today, we welcome tomorrow. ... Our emblem challenges people to look beyond what they expect from our country. We believe sochi2014.ru can become an international symbol of a sporting, social, economic and environmental legacy that lasts for generations." What do you think of it? Via idsgn. UPDATE: OK, yes, several of the letters in "Sochi" have been designed to mirror those in "2014," which could bring to mind a reflection in water, and thus Sochi's location on the Black Sea. I mean, obviously.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Previously on AdFreak:
London unveils logo for the 2012 Olympics
FIFA unveils the World Cup 2010 logo

Published on December 1, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Design, Logos, Nudd, Olympics

Get your daily dose of vomit-inducing logos

Sometimes a logo is so ugly, it transcends bad and becomes blogworthy. Now, there's one central place to see such moments of ill-advised artistry. Your Logo Makes Me Barf is an addictive daily digest of design work created by only the finest aficionados of MS Paint. The site's brief "About Us" section admits the goal is to convince small-business owners (and the state of Missouri) to "leave the designing to the designers." But design issues aside, I have to give credit to the artist behind the Analysis Design logo featured here—on the assumption that this monstrosity was an obscure reference to the fictional story that Greek playwright Aeschylus died when an eagle dropped a turtle on his head. Otherwise, yeah, barf.

—Posted by David Griner

Published on March 23, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Design, Griner, Logos, Your Logo Makes Me Barf

Evil fictional corporations given nicer logos

The crew over at Spacesick have set themselves the daunting task of designing friendlier logos for the evil fictional mega-corporations from Hollywood films. So far, they've whipped up lovely new identities for Omni Consumer Products from RoboCop, Rekall from Total Recall, Cyberdyne from the Terminator movies and Tyrell Corporation from Blade Runner. Although I still say Cyberdyne sounds more like a dental-spittoon manufacturer than anything overtly evil. But I'm old-school, and prefer the classy martini-glass motif Conglom-O used to any of today's glossy Photoshop stuff.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Published on March 20, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Design, Kiefaber, Logos

Best Buy tests new logo at Mall of America

Best Buy is trying out a new logo and brand image aimed at classing up the joint a bit. I know, it's hard to imagine anything classier than a two-story, canary-yellow price tag, but apparently it's possible. The new logo first appeared in August with the opening of a new Best Buy location in Minnesota's Mall of America. For now, it's just a one-store test. "Our intent is to get learning in an open way, not necessarily to 'roll out' anything in that store," Best Buy CMO Barry Judge writes on his blog. "I need to emphasize that we have not decided to iterate our logo." According to Brand New, the font is a modified Klavika, if you care about such things. If response to the new look is positive, maybe Best Buy will consider a few more ways to go upscale. A good start might be to quit badgering me about extended warranties like I'm some rube from Glengarry Glen Ross.

—Posted by David Griner

Published on October 15, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (12)
Filed under Best Buy, Griner, Logos