New logo critique - Stop & Shop

Supermarket chain Stop & Shop recently unveiled a new logo. Overall, I'd have to say that I like the new one. The old logo was very recognizable and really well established in the Northeast, so one could question the wisdom of such a dramatic departure. It seems that an updated version of the old logo could have worked and could have shown that they are evolving while keeping the brand recognition.

One possible criticism of the new logo is that it makes no reference at all to the name of the store, where the previous logo had made a very obvious reference. But the old logo never made any reference to what you're actually stopping and shopping for, i.e. groceries. It's as if they've just switched the emphasis. Perhaps the name itself is recognizable enough that it makes more sense to call attention to their products rather than a literal translation of the name. The bowl/slices of fruit, etc. icons might not be recognizable enough on their own, but in conjunction with the very recognizable store name, I think it works.

Visually speaking, I feel like the new logo works in several areas. The colors are fresh and natural, and the shape of the icons is fairly organic. My guess is this is at least somewhat to compete for the organic/health food shoppers.

Overall, I like the logo, I think it works, but I do think they probably could have done a bit better. I'll give it a 7.5 out of 10. What about you?

Hearts in the Community

My aunt is involved in a non-profit in New York which provides short term assistance to people in need. Services include housing, Metro cards, food baskets...whatever is needed, and are meant to bridge the gap for people who are either waiting to receive other services or who will only need temporary help. My aunt asked me to come up with some logo ideas, and here's what I've got so far. Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas or suggestions.

Willa's dedication invitation

Here's the invitation I did for Willa's dedication at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Buffalo. Abby wanted a giraffe, and Willa wouldn't express a preference, so we did a giraffe.

Happy Birthday Abby

So it's been a long long time since my last post, but I want to get into the habit of posting a bit more frequently. I'll start with a personal project I recently did. Abby and I were planning on painting a wall in our house with magnetic paint for when our 7 month old daughter Willa is a bit older and wants to hang artwork and play with magnetic alphabet letters, etc. We weren't in a huge rush to get this done since that will be a while, but when Abby and Willa went away for a night to visit family, I decided to paint the wall on the sly. I painted the wall with 3 coats of dark black magnetic primer, and finished with 2 coats of the blue wall color that was there before. She came home and thankfully didn't notice anything, since the paint was still a bit tacky and a little smelly. Then, when Abby's birthday rolled around I designed and printed a tiled Happy Birthday mural to serve as a huge birthday card. It's made up of 35 11" x 17" prints. Pictured on the mural are Willa, me, our dog Teddy, and my teddy bear that I've had forever, Nibbles. Also pictured is a Friendly's Watermelon ice cream roll. It was the only thing Abby asked for for her birthday, so I figured I ought to include it in the mural. She got the real deal too.

Baby Shower Invites

We just had Abby's baby shower, and Abs and I were inspired to design this invite after watching the video for Beck's Girl, where everything folds in on itself to make something new, like those old Mad Magazine fold-ins. Now maybe we can figure out a Thank you card to match...

Perpetual events calendar, from Craftland '06

I recently applied to sell some wares at Craftland in Providence again this year. Last year Abby and I sold some gocco holiday cards, gift tags, hand-knit baby booties, and our biggest seller, a perpetual calendar for birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Here's an image of the calendar from last year. We tracked down some funny national month designations, like National Roller Skating Month, etc., and each month showed the birdie pictured here celebrating the month's theme. We'll definitely plan on making some more of these this year, we're just not sure if they'll be printed as is or if I'll get the chance to either switch out some of the months or improve upon some of the illustrations.

Wedding Invites

Here are some pics of a wedding invite set and program I recently designed for friends who got married at our alma mater, Alfred University. The invitation's background image is of a castle on the campus.