Band-Aid Brand Adhesive Bandages
Johnson & Johnson
2006
CUSTOM LETTERING
ICON DESIGN
LOGOTYPE DESIGN
PACKAGING DESIGN
Dresser Johnson was commissioned to restore the typography of the Band-Aid logo and establish a new direction that represented the future of the brand. We looked back to the “pop” feel of a mid-century version of the logo and updated it for the 21st century, creating a bolder, more distinctive look that better stands out on drugstore shelves.
Band-Aid adhesive bandages were originally invented in 1920, and over the past century, the familiar red, white and blue of the brand has done much to establish the look of first aid packaging at retail. The new design seeks to create a stronger and more consistent presence that asserts Band-Aid as the leader of its product category.
Our goal for the logo restoration was to create a timeless design. Band-Aid is an iconic American brand. We wanted to honor that heritage and at the same time create something that felt contemporary and modern. The update reconditions and restyles the logo’s most successful characteristics, making the letterforms taller and more condensed and giving the identity a more prominent position on packaging.
BAND-AID LOGO, 2005
BECAUSE THE ORIGINAL LOGO WAS COMPRESSED HORIZONTALLY, THE VERTICAL STROKES ARE LIGHT AND THE HORIZONTAL STROKES ARE HEAVY CREATING AWKWARD FORMS
The previous Band-Aid logo had a distorted appearance that diluted the effect of the brand. The logo was last updated in the late 1980s and the letterforms appeared to have been compressed horizontally, causing the horizontal strokes to be much heavier than the vertical stems. The logo contained an unusual hyphen shaped like a parallelogram, a typographic idiosyncrasy left over from an Art Deco-era version of the logo. The spacing and kerning of the typography was too tight, and the counter-space of the letter A was too small and did not work well at small sizes. In total, the logo did not create a cohesive image.
BAND-AID LOGO BOLD REDESIGN
RESOLVED THE HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL STROKE THICKNESS ISSUES AND MATCHED THE ORIGINAL LOGO WEIGHT
BAND-AID LOGO CONDENSED REDESIGN
CREATED AN OVERALL TALLER LOGO BY CONDENSING THE LETTERFORMS AND LIGHTENING THE STROKE WEIGHTS
To create the new logo, we researched the almost 100-year history of Band-Aid logos, packaging and advertising, from the Art Deco era to the early 2000s. We considered designs with rounded letterforms that echoed the curved shapes of the bandages and flat-sided letterforms inspired by 1940s-era graphics.
BAND-AID LOGO ROUNDED REDESIGN
ROUNDED-EDGE DETAILS TO MIMIC THE SHAPE OF BANDAGES
BAND-AID LOGO FLAT-SIDED REDESIGN
FLAT-SIDED LETTERFORMS HINTING AT THE METAL TIN
PACKAGING OF THE 1940S
The final logo balances well-drawn typography with a modern presentation. The designers started with a weight that was similar to the existing logo, then looked at more condensed versions. The final logo has been condensed horizontally so it may be used larger to stand out on store shelves and in point-of-purchase displays. At the same time, the letterforms have the weight of the logo’s early incarnations. The hyphen has been squared off and visually suggests the pad at the center of the strips. We also designed a new “Brand Adhesive Bandages” and original Registered Mark that works with the aesthetic of the new logo and at various sizes.
Bright, bold and striking, the new logo marries the warmth of the brand’s earlier logos with the dynamic, highly visual characteristics of contemporary identity design. The strong, active typography conveys the urgency of a first-aid remedy, but has a cohesive, straightforward quality that is comforting and approachable and captures the spirit of the brand.
We wanted the logo to feel friendly, accessible and reassuring, with well-drawn lettering that communicated to the consumer that this is a trusted brand with a rich history. Band-Aid is a true red, white and blue American gem, and we created a logo that has the “pop” feel of a classic American brand.