Time for another logo update, this time it’s Pepsi, and with a logo change comes an update of package design. These two examples were found in a local supermarket, going left to right, old Pepsi can, new Pepsi can, old Pepsi Max bottle, new Pepsi Max bottle. The change is finally being rolled out in Australia after launching in the US earlier in the year and being rolled out across the world, the UK got the re-brand in August.

As you can see the red, white and blue logo has had a major update and the Pepsi wordmark changes from italicised caps to a circular lowercase font. The introduction over here is a little different to the US, take a look at the rebrand gallery and you’ll notice that the logo is slightly different between standard Pepsi, Pepsi Max and Diet Pepsi products (the white element is thinner in diet products and bigger in the max product, clever ey!).

There’s tons of info out there on the web about the rebrand exercise (though the Australian site isn’t that great or up to date!) so I won’t repeat it all here but if you’re a design geek like me then you can find out more at pepsico.com and in this document detailing how the logo evolved.

Now I’ll be the first to admit I’m a complete design geek, I notice when a company changes its logo or typeface, I notice when packages change design or when a business is rebranded. What interests me most is the thought process which goes behind such changes. Unfortunately the general public aren’t generally party to those processes. So here’s the first in what may become an occasional look at the world of package design.

Starting with Milo (above), an Australian icon first created in 1934. So what are the major changes between the old (left) and new package designs? Well surprisingly the logo is slightly smaller, cricket boy has been reduced and flipped, ‘Low GI’ appears to have dropped out of favour in packaging buzzwords, however promoting natural ingredients such as ‘Malted Barley’ with the addition of a description and image is in. ‘Vitamins and Minerals’ are still important but it seems pushing protein benefits is now up there too. The Milo now splashes into the glass of milk rather than just floating on top, the shade of green has darkened slightly and the subtle cricket game background has been dropped.

Now to Sprite Zero, conveniently I found these two bottles side-by-side on the shelf at a supermarket (old design on the left). Again logo size has been reduced and had a slight overhaul with a font change, the lemon & lime motif is now more prominent and a background splash has been added. The designers seem to have decided that no one cares whether Sprite Zero is ‘caffeine free’ as it’s been dropped, ‘No artificial colours or flavours’ is still important though. Background colour has also changed from a blue/green gradient to a blue/grey gradient.

Coca-Cola Company package design seems to differ all around the world and the Aussie version above still differs from the current US packaging. It also has a couple of other brand names, known as ‘Diet Sprite‘,  ‘Diet Sprite Zero‘ or ‘Sprite Light’ in some other countries.