Sections: JCW Jan 22nd, 2008 57 Comments 
As we reported last year, part of BMW’s purchase and re-branding of John Cooper Works would include a redesigned JCW logo. Today, we can finally show that to you. As you can see the basic shape of the logo hasn’t changed but it has become quite a bit more clean in its execution.
The logo was first seen this morning on MINI.com’s new factory JCW teaser animation. Look for the logo to to show up in several places on the new factory JCW car; on the brake calipers, door sills and front and rear badges. The John Cooper Works MCS will be released at the Geneva Motor show and we’ll release details just before the announcement.
blalor Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
It looks a little more Web 2.0, but I’d hardly call this a ground-breaking redesign. The old one looks quite childish; this one looks like it’s grown up to its early teens.
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c4 Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
It’s all right. I was expecting something a little more ground braking though.
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bluzeke Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
. . . looks like ol’ surferdude JC has decided to switch to a LONGBOARD!
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dickdavid Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
This is what I expected. It’s hard to stray too far from and already established brand. It’s a definite improvement and a step in the right direction for JCW.
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dave Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
the old looks better, more serious and professional. the new looks a bit cartoon-ish and totally computerized
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DavidB Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
Any idea if the logo will change to the new one on the JCW Stage 1 kit?
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Mac Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
Any idea if the logo will change to the new one on the JCW Stage 1 kit?
yes!
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mike Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
When I saw the title of this post I immediately thought, gosh, now that I have my JCW car, I hope I don’t LOVE the new design.
It’s safe to say I won’t be researching if I can update my badges. I’m a little underwhelmed. As always, I will reserve final judgement until I see it in person.
Hopefully the next badge I have will be a ///M (attached to the appropriate car).
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Jon Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
A cleaner design for sure, happy to see it. Will be interesting to see its actual execution on the car. I expect no drastic change in the size of it. Think the read ablilty is greatly improved with the red line not striking the entire “WORKS” and the “John Cooper” looks better to my eye in caps. Better design
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MeanMrMstrd Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
I think it’s a nice redefine and yet we are still left with the old feeling. You can actually read the mans name now and the removal of the red stripe through WORKS plays better. Maybe a tad over-corporatized but very clean.
Seems sentiment is running against it here? Maybe a tad to sterile for most but I like it, but then I like eggs!
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gokartride Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
I like it…clean, easier to read when large and small, but yet recognizable next to the old. A logical step forward.
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Jon Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
Gabe whats your view on the redesign as somebody that lives in the advertising world?
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lavardera Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
Nah, the original one is sloppy and imprecise. The small john cooper letters sort of following a curve but don’t look really graceful, with bits of the black works showing through their loops, the works letters making the bumpy uneven baseline along the bottom – yech. It looks like a graphics newbie trying to use every nifty feature of the layout software.
The new one is much better, clearer, and will scale from a tiny badge on a business card to a billboard.
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Rocketboy_X Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
Humm.. yes, easier to read usually means better branding, but it looks too.. dare I say, hugable? Like they are the nice guy tuners?
It also looks like it’s saying that John Cooper does indeed Work. Which is great if he’s running for office.
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Nathaniel Salzman Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
Gabe, do you know who did the redesign? Was it MINI/BMW internal, or did an agency do it?
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Tony UK Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
I didn’t like the old one, and I don’t care this this one much either. I wonder how much this re-branding cost?
I think “JCW” in a dominating font, with the longhand either above or below would have looked better.
4/10, Must do better!
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eager2own Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
I can’t tell on my monitor: did the badge change to orange? or is that still red? If orange, that would look great on a HO MINI. . .
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dickdavid Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
It’s definitely a better design that’s more thought out for the JCW brand. When looking at them side-by-side, I wonder how they ever got by with that old version. Yuck.
It would be cool to see the other options that weren’t picked.
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Mac Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
Gabe, do you know who did the redesign? Was it MINI/BMW internal, or did an agency do it?
done by an agency literally up the street!
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Pretzel Logic Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
Nice one, MINIAC!
I didn’t install the badge that came with my JCW Sound Kit, partly because the old design is so Macintoshy and cheesy (and partly so I wouldn’t get hazed for buying a Sound Kit). I kinda like the cleaner new design.
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Crusoe Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
Basic logo design dictates it should scale well from very small to large which the old one didn’t, the new one isn’t much better. They should have dumped spelling out John Cooper and just when with =JCW=. The brand is already establish people aren’t going to furrow their brows any more with or without JC spelled out.
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Chris Carlozzi Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
I think they could have done a little better. I messed around with it for an hour and came up with these, My JCW Logo. Let me know what you think.
I have a 2004 JCW car and it doesn’t have one reference to the logo because it’s so dated and poorly presented. I am looking forward to buying one of the the factory JCW cars but that logo just kills me.
Let’s start a petition, Chris.
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SB Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
I thought I would never say this. I like the old version better. Though I still removed my JCW logo from the boot. On the front the logo looks fine but on the boot it reminds me of badge from a used car lot.
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kevin Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
i agree with SB i like the older one better,it looks more rally inspired
but who am i to say anything im just some kid waiting to get his license …
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Jon Jan 22nd, 2008 Link
Waiting for a license or not Kevin your view is as valid as anyone else.
Think the main difference for me between the two is the new one is much more professional looking. The original wasn’t horrible to my eye just believe the new one is better personally.
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Stuart Jan 23rd, 2008 Link
I was initially underwhelmed by the new design (‘too similar’ I thought) but then when I saw it beside the old logo I can see it’s a huge improvement on the old one.
The new logo has much cleaner, more legible typography. The elements sit together as a whole more successfully. And the surfboard kinda looks like a MINI doorhandle.
American type designer, Frederic Goudy, once wisely stated that ‘Anyone who would letterspace lowercase would steal sheep’. He’d be happy JCW is no longer among the rustlers.
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tonyT3 Jan 23rd, 2008 Link
Personally, I think they could have dropped the ‘John Cooper’ altogether, and just used ‘Works’.
The mans dead and gone (sadly) and he and his family no longer really have anythig to do with the car.
‘Works’ always meant ‘ex-works’ as in post factory production.
All a bit meaningless now with it being a full factory car.
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edijak Jan 23rd, 2008 Link
The Stage 1 badges that I received with the tuning kit is the old logo-much classier but so much for nostalgia.
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Nathaniel Salzman Jan 23rd, 2008 Link
They should have dumped spelling out John Cooper and just when with =JCW=.
Then they could market at fashionable set of W.W.J.C.W.D bracelets.
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eager2own Jan 23rd, 2008 Link
“47 responses to a thread about a badge?”
With this one, we tie the responses to the details on the Factory Installed JCW kit. Proving that the badge is as important, if not more, than the kit itself.
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Bill Jan 26th, 2008 Link
Seems like there are a lot of graphic designers who are Mini owners ;)
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Ron Jan 26th, 2008 Link
Looks a little more cartoonish to me, and just as amateurish as the original. And it still reminds me of a surf board. Sorry MINI.
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Eliot Jan 27th, 2008 Link
An improvement over the old design but still boring. A totaly fresh design is in order,this is not a design for the future. Multiple new design choices should be presented and perhaps have a poll for the MINI community before proceeding with a medicore substitute.
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Farfel Jun 30th, 2008 Link
I like it. I hope that they make the badges available so those of us with ‘07 MCS w/JCW can rebadge our MINIs.
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