Winter is coming.
Don’t worry; there aren’t White Walkers aiming to create an eternal winter, but it does mean it’s time to look back at some of the most noteworthy redesigns we saw this fall.
While the leaves changed color and fell to the ground, several firms refreshed their brands with new visual identities. This season’s noteworthy refreshes include prebiotic soda, plant-based yogurt, snacks, soup, and another salvo in the latest war against cursive type.
Below are some of the best redesigns of this autumn.
Alpro
Creative studio Elmwood was recently tasked to update the plant-based yogurt brand Alpro. With plant-based foods growing in popularity, the Elmwood-helmed refresh eschews the “alternative” attitude prevalent in plant-based dairy, treating the Alpro brand as aspirational and high quality in its own right.
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Mayawell
Similar to plant-based dairy, prebiotic RTD sodas have proven popular in recent years.
Texas-based Mayawell felt it was time to refresh its branding and packaging to focus on who they are rather than what they are. While the update, by Guadalajara-based Heavy, still educates consumers on the importance of gut health, the refresh communicates Mayawell’s Austin-Oaxacan roots through glyphs and Aztec and Maya visuals.
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Pacific Foods
While some can’t wait until autumn to get their pumpkin spice latte on, others look forward to the crisp weather to pour themselves a bowl of warm, comforting soup.
It’s little surprise that Cambell’s Pacific Foods chose the fall to unveil its brand refresh by Roman Klis Design. The new look includes a refined logo and emphasis on the organic, sustainable, and accessible nature of its product line.
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Graze
People like to snack throughout the day. Many say that more frequent, small meals are healthier too.
Snack brand Graze’s refresh, by Otherway, builds on this concept of frequent snacking—or grazing—while highlighting nutritional features like the calories per serving and how their foods come jam-packed with vegetables.
Otherway’s approach is fun and casual, including the new wordmark and packaging. Snacking shouldn’t just be about sustenance; it can bring joy, which Graze’s refresh does a superb job demonstrating visually.
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Johnson & Johnson
As one of the oldest running brands still in operation, Johnson & Johnson has used some form of a script logo, based on co-founder James Wood Johnson’s signature, since 1886.
J&J recently made a pretty drastic change to its logo, dumping the cursive font for a wordmark that the company says creates contrast and “a sense of unexpectedness and humanity.” The change also comes as Johnson & Johnson pivots away from consumer-facing products like Benadryl, Band-Aid, and Listerine (spun off into a new company called Kenvue) and focuses on pharmaceutical and medical technology.
Getting out of the consumer product space and rebranding comes as Johnson & Johnson continues to face thousands of lawsuits alleging its talc baby powder caused cancer due to asbestos exposure.
It’s a risky proposition to entirely wipe out so much brand heritage and equity in a single refresh. Johnson & Johnson’s script logo is familiar and recognizable, with a 137-year history. But that’s also what’s wrong with Johnson & Johnson’s logo in 2023. J&J needs to move as far away from the consumer space as quickly as possible. And given Johnson & Johnson’s shift in focus on pharma and medical technology, consumers might not see the new logo anyway.
Love it or hate it, the brand needed the new logo to be very different and liquidate its now toxic brand perception. Through that lens, the design is functional and a move in the right direction.
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