The Russians were NASA's chief rival during the space race, so it's ironic that it took a young Russian named Max Lapteff to design a smart, speculative rebranding of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration logo. Max Lapteff
The Russians were NASA's chief rival during the space race, so it's ironic that it took a young Russian named Max Lapteff to design a smart, speculative rebranding of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration logo.
This circular theme is embodied as an arc that cuts the letters off from the baseline, suggesting the curvature of a planet. Max Lapteff
This circular theme is embodied as an arc that cuts the letters off from the baseline, suggesting the curvature of a planet.
The chunky futuristic font of the "worm" logo, mercifully grounded in 1992, is replaced with a lighter typeface that preserves some of the original hallmarks, like the missing crossbars in the "A's." Max Lapteff
The chunky futuristic font of the "worm" logo, mercifully grounded in 1992, is replaced with a lighter typeface that preserves some of the original hallmarks, like the missing crossbars in the "A's."
The new logo generalizes NASA's mission in a way the current insignia doesn't. Max Lapteff
The new logo generalizes NASA's mission in a way the current insignia doesn't.
Lapteff designed a style guide that allows the floating orb to be replaced with graphics for specific missions, like a red circle for a mission to Mars or an asteroid for an Armageddon-style adventure. Max Lapteff
Lapteff designed a style guide that allows the floating orb to be replaced with graphics for specific missions, like a red circle for a mission to Mars or an asteroid for an Armageddon-style adventure.
Where you might find a registration mark on a corporate trademark, Lapteff placed a solid circle. Max Lapteff
Where you might find a registration mark on a corporate trademark, Lapteff placed a solid circle.
Paired with the negative space below, it suggests an endless cosmos to be explored. Max Lapteff
Paired with the negative space below, it suggests an endless cosmos to be explored.
Lapteff considered the practicalities of applying the new mark across NASA's myriad applications. Max Lapteff
Lapteff considered the practicalities of applying the new mark across NASA's myriad applications.
The logo's simple lines help it scale from a logo on a tote bag to the livery on NASA's "Vomit Comet," its zero-G simulation plane. Max Lapteff
The logo's simple lines help it scale from a logo on a tote bag to the livery on NASA's "Vomit Comet," its zero-G simulation plane.
Lapteff's logo concept makes NASA feel like an organization that can boldly go where no one has gone before. Max Lapteff
Lapteff's logo concept makes NASA feel like an organization that can boldly go where no one has gone before.
The logo is minimal, but is recognizable even when shrunk to relatively small sizes. Max Lapteff
The logo is minimal, but is recognizable even when shrunk to relatively small sizes.
And remains coherent when blown up and wrapped around the curved fuselage of a plane. Max Lapteff
And remains coherent when blown up and wrapped around the curved fuselage of a plane.
NASA has put men on the moon, but it couldn’t stick the landing when it came to designing a logo that is as cool as its missions. Its two attempts have been nicknamed the “meatball” and the “worm,” proving that failure is an option.
The Russians were NASA’s chief rival during the space race, so it’s ironic that it took a young Russian named Max Lapteff to design a smart, speculative rebranding of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration logo. The mark pulls off a hat trick, referencing NASA’s illustrious past, nodding to its dreams of taking us to new planets, and ditching the dated features of the old logo.
NASA’s current insignia is easily recognized, but the red, white, and blue mark is busy and complicated to render. White stars on a blue field are meant to form a constellation, but end up looking like a mess of misplaced stitches on embroidered flight badges. The red chevron is a reference to hypersonic wings that were the pinnacle of innovation when the logo was drawn in 1959, but long since have been superseded by superior tech.
Lapteff sought inspiration in simpler, more timeless places. “The idea came to mind at once when I looked in the night sky at the moon and saw a potentially beautiful circular logo,” he says. “Our universe consists of the atoms, all planets are round, space is infinite and has no beginning or end like a circle, NASA ships and satellites constantly fly on an orbit, and so on.”
NASA’s current logo, dubbed the “meatball,” and the “worm” which was grounded in 1992. Image: NASA
This circular theme is embodied as an arc that cuts the letters off from the baseline, suggesting the curvature of a planet. This generalizes NASA’s mission in a way the current insignia doesn’t. Where you might find a registration mark on a corporate trademark, Lapteff placed a solid circle. Paired with the negative space below, it suggests an endless cosmos to be explored. The chunky futuristic font of the “worm” logo, mercifully grounded in 1992, is replaced with a lighter typeface that preserves some of the original hallmarks, like the missing crossbars in the “A’s.”
Lapteff considered the practicalities of applying the new mark across NASA’s myriad applications. The logo’s simple lines help it scale from a logo on T-shirts to the livery on NASA’s “Vomit Comet,” its zero-G simulation plane. He designed a style guide that allows the floating orb to be replaced with graphics for specific missions, like a red circle for a mission to Mars or an asteroid for an Armageddon-style adventure.
Lapteff’s logo, and his new tagline “For the Benefit of All” make NASA feel less like a Cold War relic, on its way to being replaced by Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, and more like an organization that can boldly go where no one has gone before.
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