Proving yet again that large agencies don’t always produce the best work. Badly written briefs often leads to poor work, which may be the reason for these logo flops. But for a top agency charging premium rates, that is just inexcusable. Here is a countdown of the 5 of the worst logo redesigns from last year.









No 5: Best Western

US hotel chain Best Western hired MiresBall to transform its dated but recognisable logo. The result is an uninspired, sterile logo that is highly derivative of Procter and Gamble’s latest mark.





No. 4: Lenovo

Lenovo is a fast growing Chinese tech company that had $1.1 billion in operating income in 2015. Saatchi and Saatchi were given the reigns to create a makeover worthy of a major global tech enterprise. The result is rather underwhelming and probably more fitting of a home appliance brand.

No 3: Daimler

Mercedes’ parent company Daimler AG commissioned the agency Realgestalt to evolve their logo with a clean and sleek silver. When applied to printed material the silver looks fitting of premium brand, but the digital application uses a faux-metallic gradient that looks cheap and amateurish. The agency obviously didn’t think holistically about where the new logo would “live.”

No 2: TBS

TBS commissioned a designer from the agency Webster to execute the youth oriented look they were going for. The result is a logo that is just trying too hard. It seems a mismatch to the feel of the network, which is known for sitcoms and Conan O’Brien.

No 1: Merck

German company Merck KGaA, former parent company of the American pharma giant Merck & Co., is the oldest pharmaceutical company in the world. FutureBrand were hired to create this bizarre and off-brand monstrosity. I’m sure there was a rationale behind it, but hell if I know what it was? This has to be, hands down, the worst logo redesign of last year. What makes it worse is the awkward unbalanced typography has been extended to a headline font which is used on collateral and signage.

This is an expression of a looking forwards to the 21st century by looking back to the 1990’s.









The supporting identity is where interesting shapes and colours hold the look together. It’s a bold attempt but lacks control and finesse.

Of course, there is a fine line between success and failure, but make no mistake, this is a catastrophic failure.