Brazilian designer Mario Amaya is the ingenious mind behind these clever creations. Some of them are pretty convincing– almost like they belong together. Maybe these guys should consider a merger given the current economic situation, lol!

Wanna see more? Click here to see the rest of Mario’s creations.

The use of parody to reflect current and historical issues in a society, or in the world for that matter, is nothing new. This practice dates back to the ancient Greeks, namely Aristophanes, who parodied the dramatic writing styles of Aeschylus and Euripides, and the ancient Romans, who used satire to criticize the vices and problems of everyday life– much like we do today.

Current economic conditions and the increased use of steroids among professional athletes are the inspiration behind the parodies shown below. Scroll down to the bottom of this post for a link to where you can find more parodies like these. Enjoy!

Major League Baseball – This logo is actually on a t-shirt you can buy from Zazzle.com.

General Motors – Although this parody was created before the Federal Reserve ordered GM to raise $13.1 billion in new capital to ensure the firm’s stability, I thought it would work for that recent bit of news as well. Image courtesy of the great folks over at Business Pundit.

The following images were created by yours truly in light of the recent bank stress test and the “squeeze” credit card companies are putting on their cardholders.

Bank of America – The following information is an excerpt from the Forbes.com website so you’ll be able to understand where I was coming from when I created this parody: “Bank of America came out the worst, needing to raise $34 billion in new capital… They have six months. But don’t worry– they’ll be sure to send you the bill… Americans get to lose their homes now, then pay higher taxes to make up for the banks’ stock losses later.”

Click here to read more of this story.

Discover Card – I created this parody as a reflection of the credit card industry in general, not Discover. I have never had any dealings with them and do not know if they are even guilty of these unfair practices.

Click here for more parodies. These are hilarious! Enjoy!

Many countries use animals to symbolize one thing or another. In the United States, the bald eagle symbolizes freedom. In India, the cow symbolizes the Dharma. It would only seem fitting then that many of the world’s corporations would use such symbols to represent themselves as well. Oftentimes these symbols are used to represent power, strength, speed, loyalty, trustworthiness, or some other attribute of a particular company. At other times, a particular animal is used because it is part of the company’s name.

Below are some of my favorite animal-based logos. I hope you will enjoy these as much as I do .

Black Sparrow

Chillidog

Ecko Unlimited

Elephruit

Firedog

Linux

Playboy

Puma

Qantas

Thundercats

Tuatara

Twitterific

White Rhino

Negative space, also known as whitespace, is the empty space between and around design elements. Negative space helps define the subject of the design, brings balance to the composition, and often has the most impact in a design. The negative space of an image is defined by the edges of the positive space — the positive space being the subject of the design.

The idea behind this use of “blank” space is the notion that it can be used to create something as meaningful as the object(s) it surrounds. It then, in turn, becomes the “real” subject of the image. This important and often overlooked design technique guides the reader’s eye and gives it a place to “rest.” Below are 9 logos that incorporate this technique in their design.

A&E Network

Adobe

Big Ten Conference

The Brand Union

FedEx

Formula 1

Girl Scouts

GOD TV

USA Network

There’s a popular saying that goes something like this: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” And while a little change every now and then is good, if not done carefully, it can be disastrous in the design world. A redesigned logo, just like a new logo for a new company, highly affects that company’s corporate image. If care is not taken when rebranding that image, it can have a negative impact on the general public, as well as a negative impact on business performance.

Featured below are examples of how design initiatives taken in the wrong direction can be disastrous.