You don’t always get what you pay for. Below are before and after samples of bad logo redesigns. These corporations paid Cadillac prices and drove off in Pintos. Am I out of line in saying that these top companies don’t know how to evaluate good design? They should have considered out sourcing a third party designer just to guide them through the approval process. If any of the companies listed below happen to come across this, please feel free to give me a call. I can help.

Dairy Queen logo redesign

All that this redesign is accomplishing is ruining a perfectly good logo. Actually, I don’t think adding a bunch of crap to your logo qualifies as a redesign. The new swishes are 100% gratuitous. The new font is less proprietary. Over all, none of the elements compliment one another.

Master Card logo redesign

When you shrink, fax, or even print it this logo in black and white it literally looks like a turd. Like the Dairy Queen logo redesign, Master Card added a medley of gradients and odd overlapping shapes. The new logo is what you would see if you drank a hundred beers and looked at the old logo. I don’t like that they pulled the name off the mark and chose a more traditional lock up. I hope they didn’t pay for this redesign with bail out money.

Kraft logo redesign

This logo redesign leaves nothing to smile about. The “smile” and color burst are not poorly designed elements. They are simply inappropriate to everyone except third graders. I can’t believe the tag line is set in Tekon. They should have gone for broke and used Comic Sans.

Animal Planet logo redesign

There is nothing purposeful about the redesigned logo. Why is the letter M on it’s side? Why is the letter M light in color? Why would they make the letter M stand out at all? Why is the word animal set in different weights? Why is no hint of an animal or a planet in sight?

Bank of New York Mellon logo redesign

Every time I look at the logo redesign for Bank of New York Mellon, I think of Star Trek. Banks. The final frontier. These are the voyages of a financial enterprise. The old logo mark was a beautiful Guilloche pattern that screamed currency. The square shape was very solid and stable, attributes that I like in a bank. The new logo is boring at best. Are these people out of their vulcan minds?

Blimpie Subs logo redesign

Hey I have an idea! Lets take a perfectly good logo and suck all the life, uniqueness, fun, and character out if. And when we are done with that, lets set the text to Futura. That way the logo will blend well with all the street signs.

Is there any logos that I failed to mention?  Am I being a jerk here? Feel free to chime in.

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