Following much controversy and a bit of verbal fisticuffs, US chat show host Jay Leno is returning to his late night show slot which has been vacated by Conan O’Brien. As part of the return, the show has a new logo which was revealed yesterday on thejaylenoshow.com web site. The new logo features dark blue text on a black background with a small slither of a moon hanging like a dot over the letter “i”. The words “with Jay Leno” are slotted in between in white.
(Image from B Carvahlo on Twitpic)
Here’s the old logo from Jay Leno’s previous Tonight Show, which also used the quarter moon over the letter “i” trick.
Below you can see the logo for the The Tonight Show as hosted by Conan O’Brien. This particular logo was unveiled in April 2009 as Conan was preparing to take over the helm from Jay Leno. At the time he said:
I wanted a logo that acknowledged the long, rich tradition of The Tonight Show while still looking good on hats, T-shirts, mugs, lawn furniture, notebooks, stemware, urns, defibrillators, water bottles, cell phones, sports equipment, pens, vacuums, chimes and our new line of unisex cologne.
(Funny because it’s true in so many cases of branding).
The new Leno logo is not a million miles away from this, but is not as striking in terms of color or typography. Having said that I do like the simplicity of the typeface and color used in the new logo.
More importantly though, what do you think of the new Leno logo? Should they have just reverted back to the original one or is it too dated now? Or should they have just replaced Conan O’Brien’s name on the gray and yellow version?
Jennifer FarleyJennifer Farley is a designer, illustrator and design instructor based in Ireland. She writes about design and illustration on her blog at Laughing Lion Design.
