I like the Equate logo. It doesn’t fill me with the warm fuzzies, and I’m not inspired to buy Equate products exclusively as a result, but there is something confident and appropriate about the logo that I noticed and wanted to share.
Equate is the generic brand for Walmart’s home goods and pharmaceutical products. Just another generic brand competing against the name brands and undercutting the market. (I don’t care either way; as a consumer, if a product does the same thing and it’s still a quality product, I don’t need the brand name and brand price tag.)
So, what’s to like about the logo? To start with, the name. “Equate” implies equal value to the name brand, which is a nice starting point. (Target’s “Up&Up” brand offers no such insight.) The wordmark is set in an italic sans serif typeface, which I don’t particularly love, but seems right for this, as it’s approachable and serious at the same time. Underneath you have a set of toothpaste-y swooshes, which underscores the whole pharmacy vibe and adds a touch of color, which I think breaks the monotony of the dark blue just the right amount. And of course, those swooshes act as an equal sign, because, you know… Equate.
This logo works well on anything from Ibuprofen to dandruff shampoo, to
Q-tips (sorry, I mean cotton swabs), and really anything else you can think of. The branding looks generic and it’s meant to, lending itself
Overall, I think the Equate logo is a nice little gem in the generic brand logo category in that it dutifully does everything it needs to as the logo, while still managing to be somewhat clever and inviting.
Is it worthy of attention? Perhaps not. The more sensational stuff, the really bad or the really stellar logos get all the hype or hate. But every now and then I think it’s worth looking at something that is chugging along happily, being competent, confident and getting the job done.