Aricent's Quiet Swoosh

Established in 2006 with the combination of the former Hughes Software Systems/Flextronics Software Division and frog design (which had been acquired by Flextronics in 2004), Aricent is a 'global innovation and technology services company that helps clients to imagine, commercialize, and evolve products and services for the connected world' with more than 10,000 consultants, designers, and engineers at 36 offices around the world. This past May Aricent announced a new brand positioning — "a provider of innovation services for the connected world" — changed its name to Aricent Group to serve as the parent company for Aricent (delivering the 'communications technology expertise') and frog design (delivering the 'creative vision and user experience prowess'). The new identity has been designed by New York-based Siegel+Gale.





In 2011, the company was renamed the Aricent Group and positioned itself as a provider of innovation services for the connected world. The change in brand reflects the current landscape of client demand for a strategic focus on innovation. The Aricent Group comprises of three major offerings: Product Engineering Services, Carrier Services and Solutions, and frog. The Aricent Group name serves as the corporate brand for the company, with product innovation and design offerings marketed under the frog brand, and R&D engineering and carrier services marketed under the Aricent brand. The brands will each maintain their own client base and continue collaborate in situations where clients can benefit from the Aricent Group's full breadth of capabilities.
— Aricent History Page








Every time that a logo with a swoosh gets redesigned a butterfly grows wings. The previous logo wasn't as offensive as other swoosh-based logos but it definitely had a slightly generic sheen to it and the rocket-ship 'A' was just too tacky. The new wordmark is a very nice evolution keeping the idea of a swoosh in the 'A' but it is actually creating a very distinct detail, and the 'R' has also kept a quirky connection that is one of the trademark characters of Futura. What I like most about this wordmark is that it's a serif. A serif, people! One that manages to look contemporary and deadly serious but with enough of an edge. I like the all-caps approach of the parent company more than the capitalized version for the Aricent brand, but it holds well together. In the applications (brochure shown and website visited) the logo doesn't play much of a role and, although very properly done, the whole scheme is a different visual language that loses some of the uniqueness of the wordmarks. Overall, this is a solid update.