Brand New

Brand New is a spiffy website that looks at changes in brands and logos in the business world. It’s something that fascinates me — I’m very much into both iconography and design (strictly as an amateur), so I’m always intrigued by the new while pining for the old.

Current hits:

1. Old Navy goes a bit more sleek and trendy, and so loses some that classic look about it. Thumbs down.
2. Sam’s Club (pictured) tries to go all classy. Um … yeah … Thumbs down.
3. The newly-merged Alcatel-Lucent (also pictured) has a new logo reminiscent of neither the old ones. A pity — I like both the old ones. I assume I’ll eventually see the new ones go up at the complex at Lucent Dr. — unless they’re going to change the street name, too. Thumbs down.

Too many corporate logo changes are change-for-change’s-sake, and all three of these appear to be in that boat (maybe not the 3rd, since there was in fact a new corporate identity to build, but, jeez, how uninspiring can you get?).