Bad logos are a part of life. They exist all around us making us laugh, cringe, or sometimes just question what the designer was thinking in the first place. Emanuele Abrate, a graphic designer from Cuneo, Italy decided that enough was enough and took matters into his own hands. He chose nine logos that are famous for being confusing, overtly sexual, or just plain bad, and took it upon himself to fix them once and for all.
Probably the most famous of the logos he redesigned was the logo for The Computer Doctors. In the original logo, it seems they’re going for a computer mouse with a cable, but at first glance it looks like, well… something else. Somehow, this logo managed to be used. In fact, I’ve personally encountered a version of it in the wild.
While Emanuele tried to stay somewhat true to the original logos in some of his other redesigns, he said of this one, “Nothing could be saved of this design,” and I tend to agree. Emanuele’s use of negative space in the redesign is a modern take, and the colors work well for a technology company. All in all, this is a vast improvement on the original.
Another famous example of a logo that probably seemed innocent enough in theory, comes from the Instituto de Estudos Orientais. Home of the tall pointy building with a sun behind it, and if you see something else, then get your mind out of the gutter. Okay, fine. It’s impossible not to see it, but this redesign kept some of the key elements, specifically the basic idea of a building silhouette in front of a large red sun, and he even kept the line at the bottom. Bringing the text to the side with a bolder, sans-serif font brings the whole logo into the modern era, as does removing the yellow and going for a single color look. Emanuele explained, “I wanted to keep the concept unchanged, working on the negative space and enhancing the figure of the pagoda. The outline has been eliminated to give the logo a fresher and more modern look.“
Another one he redesigned was Kudawara Pharmacy, and honestly, at a certain point, you have to think some of these designers were just trolling us because as hard as I try, I just can’t figure out what this original logo was supposed to be. I mean, is that a way people stand when picking up prescriptions? I definitely don’t lean against my pharmacist like that.
Anyway, this redesign did a few things to improve the overall look. It simplified the logomark to something vaguely resembling a capital “K” with the healthcare sign in the negative space, similar to how he used the negative space in the Computer Doctors redesign. I also really like how he changed the colors. The lighter green color gives the whole logo a fresher feeling, and the large, bold, sans-serif font choice brings the whole thing together.
If you want to check out the rest of the redesigns, the whole project is available in a Behance gallery here.
What do you think about the project? Would you have designed these logos differently? Let us know in the comments.