Les Who?

(Est. 2015) "The Republicans (French: Les Républicains; LR) is a right political party in France, and is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with its centre-left rival the Socialist Party (PS). The Republicans was formed on 30 May 2015 as a rebranding of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) of the French centre-right founded under former President Jacques Chirac." (Wikipedia)

Design by: N/A

Opinion/Notes: I imagine this would be the equivalent of McDonald's changing its name to The Hamburgers. But more political. I'm quite sure I will miss a lot of nuances about the old and new logos since French political parties are not my area of expertise. The previous logo was fine, I guess, with some good foliage, a stately serif, and the blue-white-red palette of the flag. But it definitely looked dated and old. The new logo is more logo-ish with an abstraction of the flag giving way to an "R" marching forward. I kind of like it. It's simple, minimal, asymmetric, well balanced. Unfortunately the choice of Rotis semi-sans-almost-maybe-a-serif-but-not is not a good one. I love me some Otl Aicher but Rotis was never his crowning achievement and this shows why. It looks old and boring and just plain weird in that configuration — not even "Les Hamburgers" would look good.

Related Links: Nicolas Sarkozy appeal to Republicans
BBC story

Select Quote: The move has sparked widespread debate in France, with critics arguing that all French people are Republicans.

According to one opinion poll, almost 70% of the public - and 40% of UMP supporters - said that no political party had the right to use the Republican label.

In an editorial in Le Monde (in French), a group of three writers and politicians said: "For Nicolas Sarkozy to name his party in such a way that claims to represent all Republicans, as though there is no-one else apart from him, is insulting and irresponsible."