Over the years since I've worked for ASCO, the organization has re-branded itself 3 times. The latest variation is in the process of being rolled out across all products and services.
When the new logo came out, it was described as a "refresh" of the 2008 logo. It went to simplify the brand identity and clarify the "ASCO" part of the logo, as testing revealed that even members were not reading the globe as an "O."
An outside vendor created all of the current and previous logos, but I wanted to take a crack at redesigning the logo myself. Below is my process and final logo.
Process
Attempt #1
Initial attempt to simply "refresh" the 2008 logo. I converted the text to a sans-serif that had better readability than the Giovanni and Minion used in the original logo. The gradient was removed from the globe to further simplify. The bolder typeface also made the acronym, name, and tagline to take up less space, allowing better use of space and greater legibility at smaller sizes.
However, now the globe and swoops no longer meshed, as they used finer lines and still doesn't read as an "O." With the new font, the acronym feels like it's being squished together.
Attempt #2
In this rendition, I tried other sans-serif fonts and updated the globe and swoops. The ribbon in the globe was thickened; the swoops became less chunky and more fluid. It's looking more like an "O." The readability of the tagline and name spell-out has improved with the new font selection, but it doesn't work well with the new "O."
Attempt #3
This version merges the discoveries of the earlier versions and merges them together. The relation between the typefaces and the globe/swoops is more cohesive, and the text has increased legibility, especially at smaller sizes.
This would be a good refresh of the 2008 logo, as it addresses the many of the readability issues of it's predecessor. However the "O," while more round and easier to imagine as the intended letter, still can be misinterpreted.
The Solution
In the final version, the globe/swoops were removed as the "O" and placed to the side as a graphical element. This freed up the text to become more fluid in position, allowing for increased versatility when the logo in products and campaigns where space is more confined. At the same time, there is a clear tie to the earlier versions of the ASCO logo by retaining the globe iconography. This gives the audience continued brand familiarity.
Other orientations and display options are shown below.
