Things we like:

1. Less is more. Faced with the daunting challenge of merging these two major brand marks, it would have been easy to overthink this — or overdesign it. Going with a simple wordmark allowed them to retain certain aspects of brand equity — name, colors — without muddling the matter. Just think — it could have ended up like this: Or this. Or this.  

(Credit: Digital Book World)

2. Color. A huge piece of what allows the simple wordmark above to work so well is a bold choice in color: choosing to go all-in on Penguin orange and black. It’s unquestionably the strongest brand asset, as far as colors go, between Penguin and Random House (and all their sub-brands).

3. Font. Nice font choice. Subtle, sophisticated, literary, just a little bit quirky.

4. This video introduction.

Penguin Random House from Pentagram on Vimeo.

Overall: Well done, Penguin Random House. It’ll only be slightly awkward to say for the next few years. (Anyone for Random Penguin House? Anyone?)