Amidst controversies surrounding London 2012 Olympics Logo, Boris Johnson, Mayor of London is determined to rebrand London with a new logo design. In the process, an alternative identity has surfaced which is proposed to replace the previous logo identity. UK creative agency Venture Three has put forward a unified brand that is simpler and much more effective than the current one.

Problems with Current London 2012 Olympics Identity:

To recap, the current London 2012 Olympics brand identity was created by famous logo designer Wolff Olins. Right after its official launch in 2006, it has faced countless amount of censure from the UK public at large. Among the several controversies about this infamous logo, include inappropriate allusions to an objectionable pose, Zion symbol alleged by Iran and its resemblance to the Nazi Symbol.

Problems with Current London 2012 Olympics Identity:

The alternative London logo proposal was originally created as a response to a brief from Boris Johnson, Mayor of London. Following are the essential features encompassing the proposed identity:

As we are nearing end of 2011, time is running out for a logo redesign of the 2012 Olympics logo to be held next year in London. Still, VentureThree is positive that their effort will create awareness among the masses and instigate a change in the current brand identity.

It is said that behind every famous logo, there is a famous logo designer. However, the infamous London 2012 Olympic logo shows that even famous designers can be responsible of creating bad logos. London 2012 Olympic Logo, that turned out to be a laughing stock in the UK community was originally designed by a renowned brand consultancy, Wolff Olins. Although, the event is yet to be taken place, its branding and identity development efforts were completed back in 2006.

London 2012 Olympics Logo – Previous Controversies:

Since its inception it has constantly encountered numerous controversies. I also wrote a post on London 2012 Olympics Logo’s controversy involving Iran, which alleged that the logo spelt out the word ‘Zion’. Prior to that, the logo was compared to an explicit scene. The brand identity was declared a vulgar reference to an objectionable pose and was mocked at for years.

London 2012 Olympics Logo – The Nazi Symbol:

Another controversy that haunts this infamous logo is that some people allege it was derived from the Nazi symbol. The Swastika Sign was prominently used by the Nazi Dictator, Adolf Hitler, to represent his Nazi Party in Germany. Although International Olympic Committee refuted the claims as false and had this to say:

"Our response is as follows: The London 2012 logo represents the figure 2012, nothing else,"

The National Insurance Guarantee (NIG) Corporation adopted a new logo design last month in a bid to rebrand their identity. Formerly a part of the Churchill group of companies, NIG was incorporated on 8th October 1894. It offers a broad range of insurance products for businesses, automobiles, and homes. It was acquired by The Royal Bank of Scotland Group in September 2003 and became the second largest general insurer in the UK.

Key Brand Values of the New Logo:

The Managing Director of NIG, Jonathan Greenwood, said:

According to the UK insurance company, the new logo design encapsulates the regeneration and transformation of their business. The rebranded identity revolves around the following four brand values:

1. Full of Life – The logo exhibits that their employees are full of passion to work for the customers.
2. Candid – Shows that the insurance company is true to its commitments and clear about what they can and cannot do.
3. Proactive thinking – It signifies that the company has a long-term and forward thinking approach.
4. Customer Closeness – we listen to our customers and help them find better solutions

Last month, the Prime Minister of UK, David Cameron launched a website StartUp Britian. It is a website that aims to offer everything you need to know about starting up your own business venture. Although this is a great initiative to bring down the unemployment rate in UK, but the Prime Minister has certainly displeased the UK logo/web designers by recommending US based crowd-sourcing companies, like 99designs. However, after a strong reaction from UK designers, link of the US crowd sourcing company was taken down from the site.

1. History of successful US logos:

Even though I disagree to this, but maybe the longstanding history of logo designs might have tempted Mr. Cameron into promoting the US based crowd-sourcing companies. Since a majority of successful logo designs like Nike, McDonalds and Coca-Cola have originated from the US market, this may have created a favorable perception in the mind of the Prime Minister of UK. He might have overlooked the winning logos from UK designers.

2. Vast US Market :

Without doubt, the logo design market in US is far large and vast in number than the UK. The number of logo design agencies and logo designers in US are incomparable to the UK. But of course, let us be realistic. Considering the size of US itself and the population, there is no match between the two markets. But this does not mean that UK designers are uncompetitive.

3. Less talented designers in UK:

Another reason that most of the UK logo designers on twitter have also voiced is that Mr. David Cameron has undermined the talent of UK designers. By promoting US based company for logo design, he has demoralized UK logo designers. This must be due to a perception that UK designers are less talented than their US counterparts. However, I beg to differ. One must not forget famous UK logo designers Miles Newlyn and Michael Peters who have created some memorable logo designs for corporate entities.

4. Online US market gets more exposure:

Another cause that might have lead Mr. Cameron into making such a move is the dominance of US logo design market on the online sphere. Since they get more exposure and prominence on the search engine, they are the first priority of any person who searches for logo design on the net. This may have been the reason behind overlooking UK logo designers.

5. US market is cheaper:

Although it may sound like a stretch, but there is a common perception that the US logo design market is relatively cheaper than its UK counterpart. Now be it due to the difference of exchange rates or some other reason, but a logo design should never be judged on price. If this is the reason that made Mr. Cameron to favor US designers, then I suggest he check the price of famous logos.

With every New Year, a wave of creative and inspirational logos takes over the logo design world. As we know the logo design industry is expanding by day, new designers are coming up with more innovative ideas for logo design. The UK logo designers are also no short of creative talent themselves. It’s a fact that UK logo designers have been always contributing some very clever and inspiring logos to the industry. As we are already three months into the year 2011, there has been no shortage of fresh and inspiring logos in the months of January, February and March.

In this period, many aspiring logo designers have been actively creating and submitting their creative work to build their logo design portfolios. In order to appreciate their efforts, I have rounded up 30 of the best logos that have been created and submitted on various inspirational logo design galleries so far this year. But I must tell you, it was extremely difficult to choose the best among this bunch as each and every logo design was brilliant in its own way.

Here are 30 inspiring logos for the month of January, February and March which prove that it is a creative start for the logo design industry.

• January 2011:

Chiron Oracle	Handy Andy
Columbus	Simcha

Twyst

lunch with me

nomade

Fetcher

Iconik

Empire Dentistry

• February 2011:

Fresh	Logo Head
Roster Forge	Hatimeria

KINGSBURY

Juice Time Juice Bar

Star Dental

Candy

The hole

Roostar

• March 2011:

Poison	Foodmobile
Microphonic	TachoSpeed

Scrapbook Bunny

Falcon Express

Meyvis

Musician Monogram

Golf

Charles Hoffman