I reported back in late July that Nickelodeon’s “splat” logo was about to undergo a transformation, and now it’s time to follow up. After much deliberation, the creative team at Nick decided go with what you see above (right). Obviously the focal point of the new logo is the stretched “i” that resembles a kid. Cyma Zarghami, president of Nick and MTV Networks’ Kids and Family Group: “We wanted to clean it [the logo] up and allow Nick to be the stamp on all of these channels. In asking ourselves if everything could live under the splat, we decided that the splat was dated. It just couldn’t be done in a streamlined way.” To celebrate Nick’s 30th anniversary, the new logo was unveiled this past fall and is now in full force. Rest in peace, splat; you will never be forgotten. Peek after the break for all the new streamlined Nick logos including those for Nick Jr., TeenNick, NickToons, and Nick@Nite.
From “AOL” to “Aol.” America Online has gone through its paces over the years. First it was everyone’s portal to the Internet during the dial-up days. Then they merged with Time Warner and became the butt of many jokes since it lost its dominance due to high speed Internet the introduction of the sole Internet browser as the main portal to the other side. On December 10, AOL detached itself from Time Warner, thus ending a short-lived and unsuccessful merger, and decided to enter the next decade with a whole new identity. Tim Armstrong, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AOL: “Our new identity is uniquely dynamic. Our business is focused on creating world-class experiences for consumers and AOL is centered on creative and talented people — employees, partners, and advertisers. We have a clear strategy that we are passionate about and we plan on standing behind the AOL brand as we take the company into the next decade.” Sure AOL lost its steam as computer users began to realize they didn’t need it any longer as a source for email and browsing; but it is still relevant today. AOL owns a bunch of content and their plan for the next decade is to push this content harder. Besides maintaining the unpopular AOL software, they also continually update AOL Instant Messenger (still used by many as a communication service) and they own popular blogs like Engadget and TMZ. As a reinvigorated content-driven organization free from the shackles of Time Warner, Aol. enters 2010 with fresh vision and slightly different logo for a new generation.