Retail giant JCPenney rolls out a new logo in an attempt to rebrand themselves as a “modern retailer.”
Prior to the official roll-out during Oscar commercials, giant retailer JCPenney announced yesterday that the company was rebranding themselves with a new logo (above right). Following GAP’s new logo debacle from a few months ago, internet critics were quick to pounce on the new design (as has become the trend), bemoaning the new design’s lack of oomph. Personally, I don’t find the new logo terribly disagreeable – the ‘jcp’ portion of the logo is a natural avatar for social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, though I could be convinced that the logo reads J.C.P. enney. due to the placement of the red box.
In any case, the logo is interesting for a couple of reasons – apparently the company is going to rebrand as jcpenney (ever-so-trendy lower case only) and it represents the first time in 40 years that they’ve decided to shake things up a little. I also find it interesting that this is yet another retail chain that seems to think they can shake off sluggish sales – the result of a protracted economic slowdown – by changing their logo.
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The re-brand is definitely more “modern” from a technical standpoint, but is neither particularly interesting or engaging. I don’t think it “offends my design sense” but it’s pretty “me too.” Imitating rather than innovating.
I would have kerned the “enney” a bit more to the left to compensate for the missing outer curl of the “p” but other than that, it’s no better or worse than a lot of logos out there. At least they didn’t make it a reflective embossed surface.
I also fall solidly in the “meh” camp as far as this logo’s concerned. I agree with you Steve that the red box does lend itself naturally as an avatar and icon.
Personally, and considering they (JCP) were trying to spin this as a new, bold direction, I would have dropped the “enney” altogether and just re-branded as “jcp”. Neater, quicker (in this 140 character world), and definitely a lot bolder (IMO) than just making everything lowercase.
My bigger issue with this logo endeavor (and not the logo per se) is that they decided to go the spec route and have people (reportedly including their employees, design agencies and design students) submit stuff in the hopes of creating the winning logo.
Decent review with two MAJOR mistakes. You are reviewing the logo yet fail 2X to spell jcpenney correctly. The company was started in 1902. That makes it 109 years old – not 40.
I like the new one. It is simple yet catchy! It would also look better if “jcp” is capitalized. The highlighted box should only include the two letters “JC” so that the word “penny” is more readable. With the help of logo designers, having a professional logo is not difficult to achieve. In fact, they offer services like logo package wherein multiple logos are designed for you, so that you can have several options and choose which suits best to your business. With the help of logo designers, having a professional logo is not difficult to achieve. Logo Design is another yet an important element of your website’s overall appearance!
[...] New JCPenney logo – Steve Douglas likes it! [...]
new logo is fresh simple and eye catching than older.
Today people get tired after looking one logo again. so the time is about change if u wanna stay in connection with your clients so do different but perfect.
I love the new logo — I was a bit unsure of it but at least it looks a lot cleaner than the last one. They’ve been around for hundreds of years; I think you need an update every now and again!
Everything’s modern already.
i Love the new JCP logo, its simple and more mordern in its own sense looking at the age of the company.