Meiji Redesigns, Replaces Legendary Wordmark
September 28th, 2009
Chris Palmieri
Mmm, re-branded yogurt. . .
Sharp-eyed sugar addicts living in Japan may have noticed by now that Meiji Seika Kaisha, Ltd, one of Japan’s biggest confectionery manufacturers, and Meiji Dairies Corporation, a major dairy manufacturer, have shed their previous identities to share a single new brand mark, reflecting the establishment of Meiji Group in April of this year.
Design no Tobira reminds us that Meiji Seika’s previous logo was the work of design legend Yusaku Kamekura (1915-1997). Best known for his poster work for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and his logos for Nikon, NTT and many other Japanese brands, Kamekura was largely responsible for the establishment of graphic design, as a profession in Japan in the early 1950s.
Kamekura’s 1971 design was actually a tune up of a similar wordmark that had adorned Meiji milk bottles since 1964. Ikko Tanaka, another graphic design giant known for his powerful posters and co-development the Muji concept, provided Kamekura with color direction, perhaps taking inspiration from the orange ink on the original bottles.
Photo by Gen Kanai
Kamekura’s wordmark is most strongly associated with the beloved Meiji Milk Chocolate wrapper design, combined with a mismatched script and ornamental linework in an expression of elegance typical of Showa-era rōmaji typography.
Meiji Dairies previous wordmark was designed in 1986 by Takenobu Igarashi, a sculptor, product designer and graphic designer.
Top Left: Old logo for Meiji Dairies Corporation; Bottom Left: Old logo for Meiji Seika Kaisha Ltd; Right: New logo for Meiji Group
Designed by the Tokyo office of Landor Associates, the new wordmark continues several trends from the last few five years of corporate ID, with its switch from serif to sans, casual lowercase m, child-safe rounded edges and chubby strokes. Perhaps the most memorable element is the soft curve of the m leading towards the left-most stem, a pleasing shape that, as noted on Wikipedia, resembles a dollop of whipped cream.
From the press release:
“Through the use of a soft, voluptuous font and congenial lowercase letters, This brandmark expresses the gaiety of our “food and health” focused group, as well as the warm connection of each of our individual customers. The shape of the “iji” also recalls the shape of people snuggled together and supporting each other.
Our brand color is red. It is the first color people recognize after birth, a color which evokes dynamism and life itself. We hope this mark lives alongside and continues to be loved by every generation, from infants to the elderly.”
Mid-sixties Meiji milk bottle. Image courtesy of 漂流乳業
To twist this pretzel even further, the new letterforms bear a strong resemblance to those used on milk bottles just before the introduction of the high-contrast serifed italics which Kamekura later refined. In logo design, it is both common and often fruitful to look back to previous solutions first, before striking ahead with a completely new idea. But rarely does this require stepping over work so deeply ingrained in a national psyche by several designers of the highest pedigree. Only the yet-unnamed designer at Landor knows whether this new Meiji was a defiant attempt to correct a 45-year mistake, or a respectful close to a 45 year loop.
This writing was enthusiastically, but hastily researched over a weekend in an attempt at timeliness. Please send us any corrections and we’ll post ‘em here. Now go drink your milk.
tobira
September 30th, 2009
Thanks for mentioning about our blog.
It’s amazing how this article is well researched and written.
It will be interesting how long it’s gonna take people would not be able to remember “Meiji” old logomark.
Chris Palmieri
September 30th, 2009
Hi Tobira-san
Thanks for your kind comment, your article was a big help and inspiration in our research.
Today I saw the old Meiji Dairies logo on a refrigerator at the Iidabashi station kiosk, so I think it’ll take a few years for the old logos to disappear completely.
Looking forward to reading more about Japanese design on your site.
Ian Lynam
October 5th, 2009
Chris,
Subjectively, what do you think?
Best,
Ian
Chris Palmieri
October 6th, 2009
I think what they did is appropriate and well executed, if a little bland and safe.
The previous logos were certainly dated and could have used a reworking, but each had something of value that could have become a nice starting point. With this solution they gave up almost all their heritage, and didn’t get much in return to chew on. I feel like this logo could come have just as easily have come from Holland or France. I also worry that it won’t age well, but only time will tell.
The design changes to the chocolate bar are all for the worse. Considering the change in stroke width from the previous logo, they should have taken it down by 10%. The j in meiji is pushing down awkwardly on the “milk chocolate” below. The dots of the iji are too close to the upper border. The typeface for milk chocolate is too similar to the logo. And the simplified top and bottom borders don’t serve any purpose anymore, whereas the old ornamental ones cradled the logo nicely.
I think it works much better on the yogurt container, perhaps because it works better red on white. I’m sure it looks really nice on the milk bottles too (if they still exist!).
Ian Lynam
October 21st, 2009
Gonna weigh in here, finally.
All in all, I kind of loathe what they’ve done. They’ve utterly destabilized the heritage/traditional aspects of their brand – which while inconsistent in the past, added charm and personality, opting instead for an easy out that is poorly executed.
It is understandable that Meiji opted for a chubby, low contrast logo, as the bulk of their products are printed on paperboard at a fairly coarse resolution either via lithography or flexography- neither of which can be very very forgiving at times.
That being said, Meiji Seika Kaisha’s identity has always been most strongly expressed through its chocolate bar. Though dated, the logo is the strongest statement that they’ve put forth visually.
I’ve never been a big fan of Igarashi’s design for the logo for Meiji Dairies- too safe, too Pushpin Studios, and logo reproduction has always been off location-to-location. Seeing the logo in use on building signage throughout the country, a number of alternate sans serif letterforms have invariably been utilized in lieu of the geometrically regulated “EIJI” that Igarashi created. Meiji Dairies never seemed to really care about the follow-through of that angle of their branding, at least as far as signage was concerned.
The joint corporation’s current identity feels forced- the top left of the “m” is reminiscent of the early 90s wave of merely altering one aspect of a letterform, the bloated “e” doesn’t look like a custom letterform (just an extrapolated or stroked base letterform without contrast adjustments), and the rounded corners on the “iji” combo are hazy and without visual strength.
If I were asked to reexplore Meiji’s identity, I would have gone straight to Akira Kobayashi and asked for an interpretation of Kamekura’s logo, though filtered through some of Kobayashi’s sensibilty for creating display type, most particularly Magnifico:
http://www.fontshop.com/fonts/singles/itc/itc_magnifico_nighttime_regular/
As far as the new executions go, the new Meiji chocolate bar is questionable at best- there is no contrast whatsoever. While the old bar packaging was a nightmare of “fancy”-ness, the base letterforms of the old logo are very strong.
I don’t understand why you’d want your corporation to look like a rave flyer designed by Buro Destruct, I guess, but maybe that’s more fun…
alex
October 21st, 2009
yes ian // had the same feeling about the new type // could now be a company doing anything selling anything //
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