• Fast Company, Thursday, December 10, 2009 1:19 PM

When Alissa Walker saw the new AOL logo a few weeks ago -- AoL. -- she flat out did like it. And wrote so. So did a lot of other Internet wiseacres. But then some wise marketing communicator got the idea of reaching out to her and offering her a behind-the-scenes look at why Wolff Olins, whose head of strategy is the irrepressible Paul Worthington, recommended that the new team keep AOL in the first place, and added a lower-case "o" and a period to the logo.

To make an intriguing story short, Walker kind of buys into the thinking that Wolff Olins reached into the future and came back with the new direction of brand identity. Says Worthington: "The funny thing about the future is that someone needs to make the future happen."

One thing that AOL does believe in, even if Apple doesn't (see above), is engagement. "It's more about an engagement with the brand," says creative director Jordan Crane -- engagement that it expects will include contributions from "the public and employees, artists, writers, creators to help bring the brand alive in a way that makes sense." The logo is seen as alive and capable of growth (as seen in these videos).

In the meantime, CEO Tim Armstrong rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange this morning as AOL began its first day as an independent public company following its spin-off from Time Warner.

Read the whole story at Fast Company »