Coca-Cola redesigned their packaging a little while ago. I thought it was great, they got rid of all the Photoshopped moisture beads etc and just went back to something classic, simple and clean. Less is more and all that. Well, now Pepsi has fired a return shot in the new Cola design war, but they’ve gone the whole hog, they’ve redone their logo too.

What can I say? The general design opinion online seems to be almost totally negative. While I do think they’ve missed a trick by contrarily not doing a Coke and just stripping it back to a beautiful essential mark from their history, I have to be honest and say I like it. It’s easy to criticise it on a blog when you’ve just got your graphic design degree, notice it looks like Korean Air, say it’s just like everything else these days, HOW much? etc etc… (yawn) It’s not perfect, but it’s clean and simple, it’s new and fresh and it’s got some honest to goodness shapes and form. Relax everyone, it doesn’t have to win a D&AD you know.

It won’t last forever by any means, but what does these days? It’s brave and time will tell how it works. Adding dynamism to the logo is great, varying the thickness of the white stroke is a good idea, I just wish it looked a little less like a builder’s bum crack. (Is that just me…?) Apparently it’s a smile and there are varying versions of it, so in the true tradition of the 21st Century, the logo alters and flexes in use.

I love the way it is fat for the Max stuff, normal for the regular product and then thinner for the diet version. It’s also unfair to tag Pepsi with the current ’spit-shine globe’ logo epidemic that’s going round, they’ve always had one, so they’re allowed. And besides, they’ve flattened it and removed all the Photoshop wizardry which has blighted their cans for the last few years. It’s progress for them at least.

One thing that people aren’t talking about much (the bum crack is getting all the press) is the type. I think I’ve seen it before, and yes, it turns out I have.

I like it, although I wish they hadn’t shoehorned the wiggly line from the old logo into the letter e. Less is more remember?

It’s also worth having a look back at the rich logo heritage that they could have chosen to investigate. I wonder if they went down any of those roads?

Of course this is all academic anyway. As every good Back to the Future fan knows, Pepsi is ultimately destined to redesign again, and will look like this in 2015…

…around the time Pasta Hut change their name back.