pepsi decides to put the 'ugly' in 'fugly'

My new favorite blog -- which satisfies the logo/identity design geek in me -- is the Brand New section at Under Consideration. That's where I discovered the abominable travesty that is the new Pepsi logo (or should I say, pepsi, lowercase?).

Aside from the stark and self-diminishing logotype, I'm not sure what they're trying to get across with the variety of swooshes. I guess the idea is that diet has a smaller white swoosh because it has fewer calories, but Pepsi Max has a larger swoosh because it has more calories than regular Pepsi... oh wait. Well, maybe it has more flavor than Pepsi...?

The new Mountain Dew logo literally made me laugh. I saw that logo online last week, and actually thought it was an old one from the '70s. I sort of see the "M" giving the idea of mountains, and it then being flipped around for the "w," but the whole thing strikes me as clunky.

The Sierra Mist design looks like something I designed in 1996 when I first discovered the Photoshop blur filter. The word "sierra" uses a typeface which bears no personality or anything significantly different from the "generic store brand" king, Helvetica (although even Helvetica can be nice when used properly). Even the new "pepsi" type has unique letterforms -- including the bar of the e, which, ironically, mimics the swoosh on the former Pepsi logo -- and that font might have worked just as well here, too. However, the can design as a whole redeems itself with the green tree silhouette against the yellow sky.

Along with what was apparently a bid to keep graphic designers like me employed, Pepsico also gave new branding to the Tropicana line. I don't mind those as much; they look up-to-date, fresh, and -- it almost pains me to use the term -- "Web 2.0-ish."

I feel similarly about the new Holiday Inn logo, even though I agree with this person who said,

The Holiday Inn logo reminds me of any or all of the following:

• Gum
• Paper towels
• Bleach

I admit the new logo brings to my mind fabric softener or pre-packaged salad greens at first glance rather than a hotel. I enjoyed the previous "brushed metal" look that freshened up the identity while incorporating the old script that is ingrained on the public's mind.

But what's nice about the new one is that they can build a brand off of the green "H" by itself, which means eventually they will no longer need the words "Holiday Inn" at all -- much like the Nike® swoosh™ obsolesced the word "Nike" from their branding -- and it will give them more options for its use. (We toyed with a similar idea at work when we merged earlier this year, creating an "LM" logo in addition to the name fully spelled out, to use in places where we might not have room for the complete name; but so far we haven't used it or promoted it.)

Fortunately for brands like Pepsi and Holiday Inn, they are popular enough that they can roll out new identities like this without losing customers to confusion. I'm guessing that's the reason Holiday Inn previously had stuck with the familiar script letters for so long. This time, they've moved to a more contemporary and (I believe) friendly and clean lime green, after decades of pool table felt.

Meanwhile, Mountain Dew has done exactly the opposite, going from the bright nuclear green that stood out on shelves and in advertising, to some sort of stodgy forest green -- though I admit it sort of goes along with the "pine trees on a mountain" theme they've got going on in the background of the new label. And who knows, maybe Pepsico is just on some cutting edge, and every logo in the world will look like these in a couple years. We'll see.

So, who am I to be critiquing these logos? Well, I'm a graphic designer, but a pretty lowly one at that, so I won't flaunt that in this post. (And if you read the comments on Under Consideration, you'll find I'm far from the snootiest designer out there.) I'm just a consumer of these brands expressing his initial reactions. It also happens that brand identity is a particular interest of mine, so I enjoy following things like this. Don't ask me why.

And now, back to real life.