Comedy Central New Logo

Comedy Central announced their new logo today:
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/comedy-central-getting-brand-refresh-new-logo_b22746
Unfortunately the video doesn't work outside the US (unless presumably you use 'modify headers' or similar to get round it)

I like it, it's very clean and modern, a world away from the current one. I always thought it was a bit messy and as the article says not particularly versatile or scalable.
It seems the intention is to use the double C as a 'comedy mark' like a copyright symbol, which is virtually is. I read one comment today about how apt it is considering Viacom's fondness for slightly over the top copyright enforcement!

Reminds me of Adult Swim kinda.

It reminds me of a 90's channel logo, but can't put my finger on it.. maybe one of the Carlton channels?

Shame they didn't go with the early ideas...

http://dennytu.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/comedycentral/

Although who knows what it will look like on screen.

Managed to watch the video and it looks pretty good. Difficult to grab bits from as it's very fast moving, especially what looks like the new channel pointers but here's a few stills of the logo in use

I'll have to wait to see it in action, but it looks quite serious compared to the present logo. I like the cheeky, quirky feel to the current one and how it bounces around and splats etc. I guess there is flexability in both looks but the current identity seems to suit the channel pretty well, in my opinion.

Also, just noticed that the video in the blog posted above contains some current elements of branding in use in the States. Eg, the text-on-rectangles style and dropping-in animated effects shown in this image are used in the States. I've seen it animate and appear beautifully on recent US editions of The Colbert Report. It's quite fun, fast-paced and cheeky too - just the sort of feel I thought Comedy Central was going for.

You can see what I mean at around 23 seconds in this South Park promo

EDIT - Video added because my image link broke.

At face value, the logo is very clean. Who decides what modern is and what the 21st century is supposed to look like, I'm not sure. (Actually, I am - it's the Tavistock Institute.)

However, the logo could also represent a law firm, a transport network, a museum, or a designer fashion brand.

The copyright symbol is a litigious warning sign which is ubiquitous with officialdom and therefore inappropriate for the context. Comedy's fun; copyright warning symbols and serious-looking fonts are not.

For those reasons, I think the logo is a branding calamity.


Now I've heard it all. Wish I was paid to write bullfeathers like this!

Anybody seen the original Central TV Logo? Before they went on air? Very similar, only this hasn't got a red ball.

I'd say it looks a bit more like the Carlton version of the Central logo. As for the new Comedy Central logo, I'm not to keen on it, I like the one we have now, but I guess it's a case of wait and see until it's on-screen or whether it makes it across the pond to the UK.

How long will it take for the uk to get this one? it been that long since the last rebrand

In the video released by them the logo with the upside down 'Central' doesn't really appear in full. Difficult to describe really, it has to be seen really

I think one of the clever things about it is that the (C) would make a very good bug for the corner of the screen.

But it is something which their target audience rebel against (much to Viacom's annoyance), so by subverting that I can see how it could work. Also the (c) has long been parodied and used artistically. Using it on the top right of things like the copyright symbol is actually quite a good idea, connecting the channel with the South Park characters etc.

The font is irrelevant, it's what they do with the branding that's important... Lambie Nairn's original BBC branding showed that. One ident in the video has the logo throwing up the words for example. You can have a 'serious' font on a non-serious product, I suspect that they feel they need to up their game and grow the channel up market a bit. The old logo does look quite dated.