Designer Kristian Shepherd Reimagines AMC Brand with 1979 Logo Revival

Kristian Shepherd, a branding and packaging designer with over 10 years of experience, has created a speculative rebranding for AMC Theatres, drawing inspiration from the company's 1979 logo. The project, featured on PRINT Magazine, aims to restore a sense of cinematic magic to the movie-going experience. Shepherd found the original 1979 logo's eccentric curves and personality expressive and optimistic, contrasting with what he perceived as AMC's current generic brand identity. He developed a completely custom wordmark based on that logo, repurposed a star motif into a monogram, and selected typefaces including Mendl Serif by Dalton Maag, Dalliance by Emigre, and badly kerned Futura to evoke old poster typesetting. Deep reds and blacks were chosen to create a sense of wonder. Shepherd immersed himself in cinematic ephemera, designing every touchpoint to feel like a movie prop rooted in cinematic history. He cites prop graphic designer Annie Atkins, known for her work on Wes Anderson and Steven Spielberg films, as a major inspiration; he attended her workshop in Dublin. The project is presented as the beginning of Shepherd's prop design journey, with a future standalone collection inspired by the film Scarface.