Coffee … some say it’s an addiction, for many it’s an obsession. For crying out loud, it’s just a drink! I personally think it’s a tradition! It reminds us of people we’ve shared a cup with, places we’ve visited and special moments of our life. The type of coffee we desire is an extremely personal thing, whether we prefer it dark or light decaffeinated or not, there’s a blend that’s perfect.

But ever wondered how coffee makers attract you? It’s through their aesthetically designed coffee logos. Today I’ve organized a collection of great coffee logos that are surely going to tantalize your taste buds. So come on and take a sip  

Coffee Fruit

Caffe Cottage

Cafe

Cupoccino

Cofree Shopaholic

Just Coffee

Sembari Minim Kopi

Streamers

Cofee cafee

LavaJava

Joe Joe’s

Studio Coffee

Handmade

Firenze Coffee

Langano

Coffee

The Coffee House

Blink Chocolate

Zvon Cafe

Get wired

With the arrival of big festivals, world famous logos appear with new features to mark celebrations. Lately, while winding up my research work before leaving for Thanksgiving holidays, I noticed refurbished logo designs of famous brands on their sites/blogs.This is an old practice of brands updating their online place of business for the holidays. But the growing adaption of this trend makes me wonder if doing so is a wise decision or a confusing stunt.

1) Advantages:

• Your customers will consider you as an up-to-date organization
• The new look will transmit a fresh and welcoming feel to the customers.
• It will help you stand out prominently among your competitors with more customers approaching you.
• It will let your customers know about your special discount offers/ services for the occasion.
• It adds a global feel to your services and strengthens your position internationally.
• Shows your respect and care for your clients.

2) Disadvantages:

• Your logo can lose its familiarity
• Your regular customers start missing the original logo
• The amended logo can confuse your customers
• If the changes you add to the logo are not appealing, it will leave a bad impression on your customers.
• Unpleasant changes in your logo will make you sound insensitive and unprofessional.

Today was Cookie Monster and yesterday was Big Bird. What other characters will Google feature? Most likely the very popular Elmo will make an appearance.

It’s hard to keep a child’s attention span for very long, but Sesame Street has done a great job keeping kids both entertained and educated. Since the show has been around for so long, even adults have fond memories and favorite characters. The adults have passed on the tradition and perhaps Sesame Street will have another 40 yrs to go! Happy Birthday Sesame Street!

-Nora Reed

Of course the pumpkin is a great, classic symbol for Halloween, Thanksgiving and the Fall season in general. It’s one of the first things anyone thinks of when this time of year rolls around. They symbol is used in many logos to show their festive side and it is a great image for artistic creations. Here, YouTube replaces their known TV symbol with a square shaped pumpkin for that perfect Fall season feel.

Apple’s logo transforms from an apple to a pumpkin pretty easily, although I only think the stem should have been green or brown. Apple does traditionally use one color for their logo, so I guess they were staying consistent to their theme and brand identity.

How can there be a Halloween without the constant replaying of one of the many Halloween movies? The buildup to Halloween is one of the best parts of the holiday. It’s fun to look forward to a month or week of scary movies, decorated houses and stores overstocked with candy. The movies have always been my favorite part. When it comes to great horror films, new titles are always fun and refreshing, but on that particular night, tradition is always the better way to go.

I personally enjoy when candy companies create Halloween themes for their candy wrappers. This is the biggest day of the year for them so it would make sense for them to go all out.

Every year, it seems like new Halloween stores pop up, but since costumes are expensive, some competition is a good thing.

Google, being known for its constantly changing logo, also participates every year in showing off a great Halloween design. These are a few nice ones from the past, but I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with for this year.

Have a fun and safe Halloween!

-Nora Reed

Abduzeedo

Abduzeedo has a great neon sign approach, which adds a lot of character. Other than the header, the design is simply a black background but nicely done and elegant.

Creative Nerds

The red background brings out the warm colors of the fire design. I think the fire is a great indicator of creative thinking.

Logo Design Love

I love how the blog name is set up as one word, but separated by a color difference rather than spaces. The logo covers the entire top of the page like a newspaper headline. The additional heart is the perfect way to tie it all together and add a bright color to the black and gray.

Noupe

Noupe has a great color scheme, in which the accents of pink really bring out the design, although they recently changed their look, to a pale blue background with navy lettering. The pink is still present and still ties the logo together nicely. Without the pink, it would be much more lifeless. I do think that all of the lettering should have a background shadow, it would help it jump off the page.

Outlaw Design Blog

This look is perfect for the name. Outlaw Design Blog has the great stencil look of the old west. It reminds me of lettering that would be painted on the wall of an old saloon. I like the new design a lot better now. It is much more creative and works great with the letting, although it would look nice if there was an added lasso or horse somewhere within the lettering or alongside it. It’s just such a great theme that there are so many interesting ways to take it and run with it.

Web Design Ledger

I love the wrinkled background with the subtle stripes, but I think that the lettering would benefit from some color or shadow. It just seems too plain for the interesting start going on in the background. The actual site does have a lot going on, so something plain is more beneficial to the design.

Blog. Spoon Graphics

This is such a busy logo but it works well. It demonstrates what it promises: good graphics!

Pro Blogger

Pro Blogger has a very bold design, in which the letters stand out and seem to shout at you. The “P” symbol on the side is an innovative and modern concept.

Techguy Tales

I’m not sure how they can get away with this one. Are they ignoring copyright laws? I’m surprised that the representation for Family Guy has not shut this down for stealing their angry monkey image, but it makes sense nonetheless and works for the theme.

Celebrity Gossip

This design works perfect for its purpose. The large pink star in the logo is reminiscent of the celebrity walk of fame and the fashionists in front of the star represent typical gossiping girls. Good gossip is always fun!

Little Box of Ideas

The thought bubble emerging from the “i” in “ideas” is a fantastic little touch to this logo design, however I don’t fully know what the face represents. Is this the author in cartoon form? The design concept is very clever and demonstrates exactly what it is, a release of thoughts and ideas!

Crazy Leaf Design Blog

I would be disappointed if there were not a leaf somewhere in this logo, although it somewhat resembles a feather. I love how the background and lettering have a shaded effect and don’t just look like solid colors.

Design O’ Blog

I like how the mouse is interpreted within the logo, considering it seems to be Niki Brown’s mascot. It’s cute and inviting and follows a fun, freehand text.

Cats Who Code

Simple and creative. Cats who code has a fun cartoon cat figure typing on a mac. I’m surprised Apple hasn’t forced them to change it with their paranoia over logo theft, although it seems there are many blog headers that include macs in their design.

The Design Mag

The coloring of the word “design” is what sets this concept apart from others. It looks to me like the sunset on a flat horizon and delivers a comforting feeling, yet appears professional. 

Smashing Magazine

Smashing magazine is anther great example of an interesting logo. You can’t miss that giant “S” as soon as you see it.

When I search other blogs, I generally search by article and go after what is most compelling, no matter what blogger wrote it. Others often check specific sites everyday in search of more content. I don’t know which method is more common. With so many great logo and header designs, it’s hard to tell if those are the sole attraction to blog sites or if there is much more to it and the logo or header are just part of the entire package.  What do you think?

-Nora Reed

Do you agree that these are the best?

-Nora Reed

A recent case of a possible stolen logo identity is between the well known Australian super store Woolworth’s redesign and the ever so popular, Apple logo. The recent redesign of the Woolworth’s logo, which is a peeled apple in the shape of a “W,” has created a stir since it slightly resembles Apple’s famous icon. Apple has pleaded with the government agency in charge of Australian trademarks to deny Woolworth’s application for the logo change. The decision has not yet been made, but if Woolworths wins,  they will have the right to put the logo on all their products, even their electronics.

Is this really a case of theft or does Apple just want to trademark anything that has the do with the popular fruit? What do you think?

-Nora Reed

Higher education is a business, like any other. Both colleges and universities have to do their part in selling themselves to students to stir interest in their facilities. Of course, this means branding themselves, and displaying a great logo is a huge part of that branding. The logos for colleges and universities all vary in different ways, but are all very formal. Some have slogans and some display a coat of arms representing the history of the school. You can tell a lot by the logo such as an idea of the age of the school, it’s history and you can gain a feel for their branding efforts. The variety of logo designs is extremely interesting, but they all share a very professional look along with a bold font.

Penn State in State College, Pennsylvania, has multiple logos to represent their very large, well known school. It’s easy to see that the school’s logo designers have put forth a successful effort in their development. All four examples involve some form of their famous Nittany Lion and their navy blue and white school colors.

A coat of arms for a college or university is used as a common symbol to represent the school. A coat of arms is a traditional design that represents a group of people or a family. The coat of arms usually contains ancestral designs within a shield. The symbols stand for ancestry and achievement. Most colleges or universities date back over a hundred years, therefore the coat of arms contains history and meaning. The details change from school to school, but the symbols celebrate pride.

College is a great accomplishment is a graduate’s life and once all that studying and hard work is done, there exists a sense of pride in an alumnus’s heart.  A great logo for a college is important since it’s not only all over the school, but the life of the logo continues as alumni proudly display it on clothes, bumper stickers or other merchandise. School logos become traditions, therefore an effort to be the best is well worth it.

-Nora Reed

Whatever the case may be, the Swine flu is still the biggest health threat that is creeping up on us right now and it seems that we hear more and more about it every waking hour. It’s almost impossible not to think about it all the time, therefore designers express their own interpretation and create logos that represent or mock the virus.

Although we have been encouraged not to fear pigs themselves, the swine flu still got its name from a pig, therefore there are a lot of opportunities to use the pig image in a Swine flu logo creation. The bio hazard symbol along with the pig seems to be a common image. There is also a lot of creativity, in which the pig’s snout is replaced with a skull. This image is a bit morbid, especially since the media is referring to Swine flu as “deadly,” although it’s just as deadly as the regular flu, which also claims many lives every year, but we don’t get upset over that. Much like SARS, it’s nothing that can’t be cured with a little chicken soup and sprite, or maybe a dose of Tamiflu.

So it seems we are in for a long winter of encouraged fear, in which every cough or sneeze will be an excuse to stay home, but maybe a little relaxing time isn’t a bad thing. Just make sure to drink a little extra OJ in the morning and your dose of vitamin C should be covered, but I still wouldn’t recommend going around kissing any pigs.

-Nora Reed

It seems that an arched banner is used quite often in ice cream logos. The top three have this, although the Blue Bunny company tried a straight across banner style. Ben and Jerry’s always had the arched banner design. I don’t think that their logo has changed much over time, but why mess with a good thing? Turkey Hill actually sells more than just ice cream but they still use the banner look nonetheless. I love how Edy’s makes creative use of the apostrophe in their name, in which it is a leaping person with an ice cream cone. It’s a creative take on an otherwise plain logo design.

Breyers uses the leaf design to show that their products contain all natural ingredients. With our society so interested in “going green,” they are already ahead of the game. Their latest logo is very professional and adds a nice touch to their packaging.

The Baskin Robbins logo has also gone through a series of changes through the years. Their latest version dropped the “31″ and stuck with their “BR” initials in the center. It seems that the company is trying to pull off what Dairy Queen made popular by just using their initials, although I think “DQ” works better than “BR.”

Good Humor dropped their stripes and their second color too in their logo redesign.

Does this logo say ice cream to you? I think it is a bit more elegant in appearance than most of the others. To me, it looks like gourmet ice cream, not to be confused with the everyday. Haagen-Dazs is something you would enjoy for special occasions, to treat yourself to the best.

Cold Stone Creamery has a different take on ice cream with the way they make it right in front of you and pack it with toppings, cakes and candy. Their logo is classy and inviting, but you can’t buy Cold Stone in the grocery store. You have to visit them directly to experience the tastes that they offer, but the trip is worth it.

Just by the many company logos out there, it is easy to see that an ice cream company is a popular business and there’s no reason it shouldn’t be. Sounds like it’s time for a snack!

-Nora Reed