10 Logo Fails of World Famous Companies

First of all – I’m not going to include logos based on my personal dislikes, for example “Pepsi” logo redesign for 1 million dollars, „Google” logo itself and others that I’m confident can be better for sure. Anyway many world famous companies don’t have great logos – they have huge advertising money that has made their logos well-known. But this post is going to be about actual logo and branding mistakes, which are not a question of „taste”. Before you start, take a look at my previous post: 6 Rules To Reach Effective Logo Design

1.Tommy Hilfiger – Simple Doesn’t Always Mean Versatile

I’m sure that just a few little upgrades can make it perfect, but right now - it is what it is. So simple, yet so many different versions to get it work for all the situations.

2. Garnier

I don't get it. Why they still use photography instead of professional, realistic vector illustration to get it work for any advertising situation.

 3. Discovery Channel

As you can see here: http://logos.wikia.com/wiki/Discovery_Channel from 1985-1987 and 1987-1995 they’ve included the one color versions for a preview, but there is none further once they chose the photorealistic world to be so realistic that it’s actually a real photography of an Earth. Starting from 2008 it gets a bit better, because it’s an illustration, but still it does not work in one color.

 4. FIFA

5. Rama margarine

6. Blue Print

7. London 2012 Olympic Games

8. NASA (logo that's known as "The Meatball")

NASA has also one other logo version - completely different from this, known as the "The Worm" with red typo and no symbols involved.

9. GAP

10. Companies that got famous most probably of their logo

It’s completely fine and necessary to create many versions of the logo – colored for the web and print, few color version for embroidery, one color version for engravings and other needs (for more details read "6 Rules To Reach Effective Logo Design"). But many large companies are forced to get rid of some important details of their branding and to cut off some parts of their logo to achieve the one color version for example. Mostly, they just get rid of the logo itself and leave the typo. Of course it’s a way to solve the situation, but why it went that way if they had the chance to make it perfect at the beginning? That’s a mystery for me.

 

This post is my subjective opinion based on professional logo rules. You are welcome to share your own opinion or add more examples in the comment section below!