Quark
 

New:  Quark logo (a 'Q' symbol with wordmark), and a signature green

Launched:  September 9, 2005; died March, 2006 (see Update, below)

Story in brief: QuarkXPress, the flagship product of this private Denver-based company, still holds the dominant share in publication design software but is threatened by Adobe's InDesign, and handicapped by the dominator's traditional problem of perceived insensitivity to the customer.  So this logo change is the signal that "honestly, we've changed!"  

As acting president Linda Chase puts it, “Quark has undergone a major transformation to become more open and customer-focused (...)  Many people don’t realize how much we’ve evolved. Our new logo and brand will project the significance of this change to our community around the world.”
 
Quark's new ad agency got the rebranding assignment. Designer Chris Wood emphasizes the importance of "Quark Green" (Pantone 368), saying "I was looking for something that would take Quark in a completely new direction (...) and represent so many things that Quark has gone through: rejuvenation, growth and rebirth."  
 

Credits:
C.E.O. -  Principal owner Fred Ebrahimi; acting president Linda Chase
Identity design - Ad agency SicolaMartin, a Young & Rubicam division

First Impressions:
Granted, the old mark was ripe for refreshment.  As a wordmark, however, it had the advantage of capitalizing on the strength of the powerful Quark name (unique, short and appropriately appealing). So what strategic rationale explains the distraction of a symbol? (And then what does this 'Q,' if that indeed is what it is, signify?)  When you can brand with your name, you have a big head start; why waste it?

In addition, the design community has quickly noted the pronounced similarity of the Scottish Arts Council's 'A' symbol (compounded by Quark's similar type treatment of its wordmark).  The similarity could be completely innocent on the designer's part. But failure to catch it can legitimately be placed at the door of Quark's intellectual property counsel.

Other comments:
I would enjoy hearing the two designers debate how the mark can be an "a" for Arts and a "q" for Quark. Not unlike the floor wax and dessert topping product in that it doesn't achieve either goal very well.   Jerry Kuyper

Quark's new logo just shows how an old company is trying to be something they're not anymore. Their logo is a copy -- just like they now copy the features in InDesign, in an attempt to regain market share. It's sad... 
Dana ODell

It's the lower-case 'a' in the typeface GIRL designed by Dirk Uhlenbrock;
see FOUNTAIN catalogue.  Eric West

 Errol Saldanha submits this  link to an excellent review of the legal and creative issues, written by Gene Gable in Creative Pro.com                            

Update, March 2006:
 Biting the bullet, a Quark representative (quoted in Macworld Daily News) announced that “Quark has made a commitment to be closely attuned to its customers, and we appreciate the feedback we received from the design community in relation to our re-branding initiative.

“We have created a new logo that is both an evolution of our visual identity and a strong representation of the new Quark. Since the visual identity of the company represents our renewed commitment and focus on our customers, changing the mark to avoid any perception of similarity enables us to further define our unique identity. We love our new logo and we are pleased by the response it has received from our customers and partners.”

Per Glen Turpin, Corporate Communications director, "our internal creative team designed the new logo and we received feedback from a variety of outside consultants throughout the design process."

Comment: While I can tolerate the button (in this button-happy category) I, for one, am viscerally uncomfortable with the mutilated Q.

Update again, October 2006:
The 3D button is gone, and we're back to flat graphics; an eyeball effect remains. (Thanks to Dragos Ristici for spotting this.)