The Bloog

What do you know… a logo redesign from a major player: Pepsi. Have you seen it in stores yet?

From a design perspective, I like the new font. I have always been a fan of sans-serif fonts, but the new Pepsi logo takes a little step further by giving it an extra edge with a smile-E . Notice the curve in the letter “e” in Pepsi, which somewhat ressembles the curve in the old logo, but reversed. Also notice that the new logo does away with the all caps name (PEPSI) and goes instead for a small caps identity (pepsi).

Having done a number of logo designs myself for a number of clients, one challenge that emerged from time to time is the issue of entire small cap words. People and clients with limited design experience or exposure, have a hard time grasping the concept of having a title or a name without a (first) capital letter. Although in schools we are taught that names and titles should always start with a capital letter, in the design world, going for a all-small-caps look, like the new “pepsi” logo, is fairly common and good looking when properly used. So next time clients bring up that argument, hand them a can of pepsi.

Another feature that I notice in the new cans, is what I like to call the “caffeinometer”. The logos or symbols have different size curves in them, depending on, I assume, the level of caffeine in them. Actually, the logo could also be looked at as a left eye of a (evil) person or… something; the white part representing the actual eyeball, the red part the eyelid and so on. The eye is bigger for those cans with more caffeine, like the pepsi max and less so for the pepsi diet and pepsi zero. It had to be done on purpose as it cannot be a mere coincidence.

We now count two very subtle, but well crafted, references to the eye in the new logo. The first one is the smile-E which ressembles a smiling, cheerful eye and the second, somewhat evil stare of the logo. Maybe the title of this post should have been: “New Pepsi logo: Have you eyed it yet?” 

Does that remind you of a familiar figure, like the Joker in the Dark Knight? Cheerful and evil at the same time…

Read more at the Typophile site: New Pepsi Logo: What Grade Do You Give It? | Typophile.