The New Orleans Pelicans, the name that the New Orleans Hornets will go by beginning in the 2013-2014 season, have unveiled their new logo to accompany their new team name. The logo was unveiled in a short introductory video explaining the history and significance of the Pelican to the state of Lousiana.

Microsoft has made it clear that it will go “all in” with it’s new Windows 8 operating system. The company’s future, image, and overall survivability in the computing industry ultimately depends on its flagship Windows product staying relevant with the times.It now brings a new logo to accompany its brand new operating system, which will bring a touch-based-designed user interface to Windows PCs and tablets.

A little recent background history on Microsoft’s design transition why Microsoft sees it fit to change the Windows logo now. Microsoft had been working on a redesign for its Windows Mobile OS since 2008. The design was based on a design interface it dubs “Metro,” which emphasizes solid colors, typography, minimalism, and little-to-no “interface chrome.” This interface was first used on its Zune device, and was spruced up for the Windows Phone 7 operating system. The reasoning behind Metro is that interface chrome gets in the way of content. Metro’s claim-to-fame is that it emphasizes content over interface, and it accomplishes this goal perfectly. With the Windows Phone 7.5 update, Microsoft changed the Windows Phone logo from having a circular border to having a more metro rectangle border. With that said, the Windows Phone logo should be expected to change in the future once again to follow the design principles of the new Windows 8 OS.

The Windows Phone 7 logo was updated in September, 2011 to coincide with the launch of the mango 7.5 update. The new logo was made more "metro" with its rectangular border, as opposed to the original logo's circular border. The recengular border may not have been "metro" or representative enough for Microsoft's plan, and general design direction.

Microsoft could have done the same thing with the current Windows logo, but it felt it wasn’t “risky” enough. The new Windows product looks nothing like the Windows of old. The start menu is gone. The task bar is gone. Icons have been replaced with live tiles. Interface tools called charms assist the user with searching their PC for what they are looking for. The interface doesn’t even have the same minimize/maximize/close buttons on them. User navigation in Windows 8 relies on touch gestures. Windows in Windows 8 just do not function at all like the windows people were used to using for the past two decades.

The Microsoft plan is to transfer all of its products to the Metro design language. To accomplish this, it must change everything that represented Microsoft’s past designs to its new design principles. Logos are the face of a product, and if the face of a product does not match the actual product’s design, it would not make sense, create confusion, and  have non-linearity among a product line. To avoid these problems, Microsoft chose to finally change the Windows flag to a new, metro-inspired design.

Tweetdeck unveiled a new logo recently marking its acquisition by Twitter. TweetDeck is now in line with Twitter’s other network websites and includes the iconic Twitter bird as part of its site logo. Twitter acquired the Tweetdeck service earlier this year for an estimated US $40 million. This was after it had a bidding war with Ubermedia.

The new Tweetdeck logo isnt anything groundbreaking. It now aligns itself more appropriately with the official Twitter logo by using twitter’s light blue color scheme and the same bird sillouhette. The typeface features a gradient overlay with subtle blue-gray coloring.

Belkin, a computer hardware manufacturer best known for its wireless routers and iPhone/iPod accessories, has unveiled its new logo and brand identity at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

Commenting on the new company identity, Belkin’s Chief Brand Officer Ernesto Quinteros said:

“The new Belkin logo, affectionately named PIP for ‘People Inspired Products,’ symbolizes our commitment to take inspiration from people, and acknowledges the connection between people and the experiences they value most.”

The new logo, created by Wolff Ollins, brings a less bold typeface and a more modest and modern look. It is all lowercase and sans-serif, and features a 5-point character that resembles a person. The character also resembles a star constellation as well.

Other pictures captured from the Belkin CES  booth follow:

For the first time in 60 years, State Farm Insurance will be changing its company logo. Beginning in January 2012, the familiar 3-oval design will be updated to a simpler kind, with the text within the ovals removed, and the surrounding rounded square gone. The new logo celebrates the company’s 90th anniversary.

“Today we offer a broad array of insurance and financial services that help people get to a better state,” said Pam El, Marketing Vice President at State Farm. “In today’s digital and mobile world this simple and contemporary design makes for a bolder presence in the marketplace whether it’s through a billboard, television advertising, a sign outside an agent’s office, online or through one of our mobile web applications.

The new logo was created by the brand design company Chermayeff & Geismar. State Farm plans to expand its product offering beyond insurance, and this new logo was created to reflect this change in their business model. In order to emphasize this new business model, the logo was simplified and the words ”auto, fire, life” were removed from the three red ovals. The new ovals are bolder, wordless, and much larger than the former logos ovals. Some slight changes can also be seen in the typeface of the logo, with some letters having very slight differences.

The new logo moves away from the circular and gradient-heavy old logo, and simplifies it to 4 13-degree forward-slanted lines. The new logo has a very modern and simplistic feel.

Moving Brands felt that HP had such a broad portfolio of products that a more simple and general-looking logo would fit much better. The result of the brand study was the four-line design seen above.

My favorite part from the HP branding study was this drawing pictured above. The plan is to keep the “slant” and make the 13 degree angle the absolute symbol of the company. The plan involved phasing out the letters entirely and making a simple slanted line the company’s logo.

Some of the mock-up applications of the branding study are pictured below:

HP’s “slanted letter” logo was introduced in 1941 to represents the names of its founders, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. The original Hewlett-Packard logo is pictured below. The logo has always maintained these slanted letters, and this new logo would have been an evolutionary and logical change to that design philosophy.

Paramount Pictures has updated their infamous mountain peak logo with a new logo that celebrates the movie studio’s 100th anniversary. The new logo can be seen in the new Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.

In terms of design, the new logo seems to not drastically change. the background is much brighter and less cloudy. The bright sun can actually be seen this time around, and the sky’s blue is brighter as well. The mountain has a more realistic look to it, and the “100 years” commemorative wording is centered above the much smaller “a viocom company” title under it.

The studios original logo, a symbol of a rugged, snow-covered peak from the Wasatch mountain range, was first created in 1916. The logo has since been recreated several times while maintaining the mountain range in the background of the logo.

The plan for the new logo is to use the new one throughout 2012, with the “100 Years” wording being dropped at the beginning in 2013. The studio is dating the birth of the studio from the time its founders, Cecil B. DeMille, Samuel Goldwyn, and Jesse L. Lasky came together to form the studio. It was originally called Famous Players/Lasky Corporation.

The New Jersey Nets have updated their logo to closeout their final year in New Jersey before the team relocates to Brooklyn next year. The new logo represents the team’s 35 year presence in New Jersey. The Nets had used the previous logo (above, left) since the 1997/1998 season.

The team’s new logo is a retro design based off of the Nets old logo from their ABA days. The logo, pictured below, was only used during the 1977/1978 season before it was redesigned again for the following season. The new logo is the shape of a badge similar to the previous logo while containing a red, white, and blue basketball. It also contains a small silhouette of the state of New Jersey near the bottom middle, with the word “nets” centered in the middle of the logo with an old-fashioned cursive typeface. The same “nets” wording is found in the new 2011 logo inside the top of the basketball using a similar script typeface.

1977/1978 Nets logo

On the team’s season opening game night this month, the logo is slated to appear on a magnetic team schedule, as well as a replica Deron Williams Nets jersey that fans will receive. The new logo will also appear on the center of the Prudential Center, the Net’s home arena.

StumbleUpon, the “social discovery” site, has redesigned its entire website, including its logo. The re-branding is the first in the company’s history. The goal of the new design is to make the site much more simpler while generating more interesting content for users.

The redesigned website will be unveiled Tuesday, along with a brand new redesigned logo and a new “channel” feature that lets users subscribe to content streams from companies, brands, or celebrities.

One of the main reasons for the website site overhaul is to reveal underlying features that users may not know exist, such as the tool to “stumble by interests.” Another main point of the redesign is to show users content that they may be more interested in, which includes content they may have not seen before.

The new site also includes a “StumbleBar,” which is basically a new and enhanced search bar that allows more specific searches by interest. The new site contains more personal recommendations, and the profile pages devote more space for photos and data.

I believe this to be a decent move. StumbleUpon, while having healthy traffic, could use a “boost” in terms of mindshare and news coverage of the site, and this redesign will get probably noticed quickly. The new site design is fresh and pulls a lot of hidden menu items over to be visible. StumbleUpon has had a moderate growth rate, increasing to over 33 million visitors per month in the past year, and this move may enhance its growth.

Tokyo unveiled its Olympic bid for 2020 this week with an accompanying logo. The logo is circular and has some of the Olympic colors in it. It is vibrantly colorful and is shaped like a wreath of flower. It includes Japan’s most celebrated flower, and was designed by a local university. it supposedly was made to symbolize “revitalization.”

Tokyo’s logo also features some of the Olympic colors like red, yellow, blue and green but mixes in with the traditional Tokyo color purple. Purple was prominent in cultural events in Japan’s Edo period (1603-1867), and is still prominent today such as on the Flag of Tokyo Metropolis.