Pepsi redesigned their look? What?

Has the world gone insane? Who are these designers making these new logos for these huge companies and why aren’t they being tarred and feathered? Pepsi recently redesigned their logo and their overall packages. I feel I have been somewhat harsh in my previous blogs so, fine, I will be diplomatic and focus on some positives along with the negatives.

It is noticeable. I was in the grocery store meandering up the drink aisle and amongst the highly decorated soda designs a simple dark blue design snatched my attention. It took me a brief moment to understand that it is Pepsi with a deformed logo… but I’ll get into that later.

It is new. Change is good… when it’s done correctly.

I don’t mind the idea of slightly changing the logo to convey different concepts. For example, the diet soda has a smaller ’smile’ to illustrate the idea that it is slimmer. But wait, aren’t we mixing concepts? Why would you have a smaller smile? Because it doesn’t taste as good but you choke it down anyway to feel less guilty about carbs?

The logo looks like someone took the original and melted it. I discovered through some digging that the logo is supposed to resemble a smile. Um what? Would you have seen that if I hadn’t said so? Why is it these companies with plenty of money at their disposal keep missing the mark on logo redesign? As much as I feel I am repeating my other blogs, it needs to be said again: streamlining is good and necessary when it is done right. Sometimes the smaller the change the better! Don’t force it people!

To see more packaging design, check out Under Consideration.