When a logo’s used for a number of years, the brand equity that’s generated can become a valuable tool. As such, any redesigns often implement subtle changes in order to refresh the look whilst considering customer recognition.

Here are ten successful redesigns courtesy of Brand New, with a little explanation behind the change.

1. Toys R Us

“The star has been stuffed into the engorged R in order to make a tight and simple(r) wordmark which is less patriotic, more bulbous and more fun.” Joe Marianek

“The US could have been just a tad closer to the R to keep the same spacing throughout.” Armin Vit

2. MSNBC

“The revised logomark for msnbc, while not really expressing the acronym in a technically, grammatically correct fashion gets away with it just fine. And the use of the lowercase is less imposing, more legible, and just plain friendlier than the all-caps imperialist approach.” Christian Palino

“…the new logo has switched from the unbelievably clunky, non-flattering, monolithic, typographically-wrong — heinous horizontal scaling anyone? — uppercase wordmark to an überfriendly lowercase setting. The peacock’s feathers, of course, have been left unrattled. The move is instantly beneficial in that the mark becomes approachable and rhythmical, instead of cold and monotonous. And this is achieved just by switching from one sans serif — a mangled Helvetica or, worse, possibly Arial — to another — the never-wrong Gotham.” Armin Vit

3. BusinessWeek

“The blue bar was a point of equity that could have been easily ported to this news masthead / identity. Other than that, I really think this was a step in the right direction.” Kyle Hildebrant

4. Science Channel

“A very effective reference to its main purpose of screening science related shows, so the “periodic table” look is well used here. I especially like the orange / tangerine that they chose, which reproduces nicely on RGB screens, and also has that sense of being new and fresh. That being said, there does seem to be too many different points that parts of the logo are being aligned to. The “Sc” to the edge of the box, the word “Science” to the middle of it and “Channel” to the edge of “Science”. Seems rather clunky and I am sure there are better ways of doing it.” Bjorn Yeo

5. Dolby

“The double-ds have been merged together, removing the visual separation and additional noise that was present in a logo that has to appear at extremely small sizes. This merger allows more lateral space for the Ds to have a wider form that marries well with the new typography. In addition, the “DOLBY” wordmark has been liberated from its bounding rectangle, employing a lighter-weight typeface for better legibility.” Christian Palino

6. QuickChek

“The typography is forgettable, nothing to worry about but nothing to praise either, maybe a geometric sans would have added some interest. Overall, this is a great visual upgrade for a modest chain of stores that will likely benefit from the added differentiation…” Armin Vit

“Solid, competent work.” Jerry Kuyper

7. Qantas

“The sleeker form makes sense — more power in the legs and a larger tail. Overall the new logo is a huge improvement while retaining the brand equity from the original kangaroo.” John Feldhouse

8. Delta

“The new logo is simple and to-the-point. The new colours sit much nicer than the old ones — the blue is more dominant and the typeface is much more modern.” Leanne Johnson

“The sense of depth given by the two reds isn’t forced at all — quite the opposite. It would have been so easy to use (and these days probably sell) gradients / bevels / etc. This gets the job done very nicely, while showing restraint.” Von K

9. NFL

“…this (logo) has to be embroidered on everything from knickers to headbands to shoelaces so minimizing the number of stars and opening up that space was the best thing to do. And to be able to justify it with the teams per division argument is even better.” Armin Vit

10. Hunter

“I am glad to see someone get rid of gradients and all the bubbly stuff!” Nick Irwin

“I love that their new logo does not try to be all flashy and 3D. Its great to see a company who realizes that good design does not mean throwing drop shadow and gradients on everything.” Apt Design

—

A huge thanks to Armin and Bryony for their work on Brand New, a wealth of info on major logo updates.