The Olympics

I've noticed that many of the current event post done for this week revolve around color, as we have been talking about it in class. I wanted to do something a little different though mainly because I thought this was a pretty big deal. Sochi, Russia is the site for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. Above is the recently released logo for the games, designed in part by Interbrand which is a company that determines the vale of brands, and it has a very noticeable feature. Right in the logo is the ".ru" conveying the fact that this logo is also a website for the games.

Now, many companies and brands have made their logos websites as well. But this is the first time the Olympics has and it makes perfect sense for such a large international event for which they are trying to raise a lot of buzz, especially among the younger generations. Making the website a prominent feature is good for the current cyber-age and I think it will make the Olympics more popular. What do you think?

Extra Credit: Changes for MSN

MSN has recently changed both its logo and the entire layout of its website.

The new logo still plays on the idea of the butterfly, but in a more abstract form. The body of the butterfly is missing, but they expect you to make out the shape of the butterfly by the four wings. I was able to recognize that the new logo was still a butterfly because it has been the MSN logo for a long time. However, I don’t think it would have been as easily recognizable to someone not aware of the original MSN logo. They kept the original colors, although in slightly different shades, which I thought was a good call because those colors are also very representative of MSN. The typeface of “MSN” changed as well, into a thinner, more modern typeface. Although I liked the old typeface for the old logo, I think the new typeface matches the new logo well. The new logo is also very modern and abstract, similar to the feel of the new typeface. I like the old MSN logo a lot better, but I think the new one used wise combinations of typeface and design to make it work.

The new layout of the website is definitely an improvement. The old layout was cluttered and bombarded the reader with too much – and sometimes unnecessary – information. The new layout is a lot cleaner, and although the white background can look plain, there is a nice balance and play with colors with the headings. There is less information on the page, which makes it seem more inviting than the old layout. It is not completely different from the old layout, and MSN decided to keep parts of the layout the same (such as the placement of the advertisement), which tells the audience that they have not changed completely – they are still what they once were, but better and more improved.

Overall, I do not think the new MSN logo was a necessary move because there was nothing wrong with the old logo. However, the decision to change the layout of the website was definitely smart.

Logo Project

Visual Message

My logo is a green butterfly with the body of a calligraphy pen. Although I am a public relations major, I do not know what specific field I would like to work in. I can promise, however, good quality work and the ability to quickly adapt to environments. Therefore, the butterfly represents the potential I have to transform into a valued and appreciated professional, no matter what field I work in – similar to how a butterfly develops from a cocoon. In addition, I wanted to express that I like to write and consider writing to be one of my strengths. Therefore, instead of using a real butterfly body, I drew the calligraphy pen to represent that skill, which is especially valued in the public relations field.

Audience

This stationery set and business card is designed for employers at a public relations agency.

Design Strategy

I wanted to make sure that people would recognize the calligraphy pen in place of the butterfly’s body. Therefore, I tried to make it seem as though the butterfly’s wings and antennas were hand-drawn. The butterfly is generally regarded as peaceful and calm, and I wanted to depict these characteristics in my logo. I chose Palatino for most of my font choices because it was clean and simple, which I thought was a good portrayal of another set of my own characteristics. I used the font Constantia for the stationery name because, in its bold italics, it looks somewhat handwritten, which helps to tie in the calligraphy pen once again. I wanted to keep a consistent design throughout my stationery set so I tried to apply the striped and boxed patterns in most of my pieces. 

Style Sheet

Stationery Name: Constantia Bold Italic; 24/28.8; metrics kerning; tracking: 0

Stationery Contact Information: Palatino Regular; 10/12; metrics kerning; tracking: 0

Business Card Name: Palatino Bold; 10/12; metrics kerning; tracking: 0

Business Card Contact Information: Palatino Bold; 8/9.6; metrics kerning; tracking: 0

Envelope Name: Palatino Bold; 10/12; metrics kerning; tracking: 0

Envelope Contact Information: Palatino Bold; 8/9.6; metrics kerning; tracking: 0

Extras: Color

My logo is colored in two different shades of green. I did this in order to show that I care for the environment and that “going green” is important to me. This “going green” concept is very widely used these days and may now even be considered cliché, but I thought that gave me even more of a reason to emphasize it. If I happen to work at a “green” agency, it will show employers that my standards meet theirs. I also used a tinted shade of purple in the background and design of my stationery set and business card because I thought it complemented the greens well.

Google Schmoogle

I will admit, I tend to favor my search engines. I never go on Yahoo but Google is my best friend. Why? I've always wondered my subconscious motivation behind spoiling Google with my searches and leaving Yahoo and other websites empty. Well, the brains behind Google obviously valued aesthetics and their attention to detail is especially seen in the Google Logo that pops up every single day when I open my homepage.

If you haven't noticed, the logo changes everyday. Yes! Believe it or not, somebody is sitting behind a computer, punching in codes to make sure that viewers like you and me are granted the possibility of being charmed by their clever logos.

Let's take a look:

This one may be one of my favorite google logos. It reminds me of the children's book and also PBS show Madeline (I think).

Google's homage to King Arthur and Lancelot. Google's logo has the potential of being absolutely anything, and this one tells a story as well. They masterfully placed the dragon above the O, drawing my attention back to the logo.

What does this remind you of? I'm getting flashbacks to the late '80s, early '90s with the chains, plaids, Doc Martens and Scary Spice (Union Jack) during her Spice Girl reign.

I haven't seen this one in awhile, it's very healthy-friendly and my mouth waters seeing all the different fruits spell out Google.

The probability of me affecting Google's visitors' stats is probably zero to none. However, the execution of design from a company speaks volume of their dedication and meticulousness. Google's got my vote.

Little Debbie Snacks. Aunt Jemima pancakes. Nike. All the logos listed above could be identified more readily by the average American than could their state senator or the state capital of Wyoming. Cheyenne. The point is, logos claim a space of "real estate" in the consumers mind so you need to make sure that it's a good association. I'd pretty easily bet that all the above logos have a positive association not just because you like the products but also because the logo's design. Little Debbie and Aunt Jemima are warm and welcoming and there's no mistake that both logos are women. Let's face it, traditional gender roles a side, are you going to buy a home-made cookie from a man or a woman? And Nike's symbol is just so iconic. Smooth, fluid, and flashy. Just like their products and the feeling they would like people to have about their products. The swoosh has become readily associated with victory which is what they wanted. So we know all these logos, now what can we do with this information?

Logo the Board Game, info courtesy of http://www.logodesignlove.com/in-other-news. A board game based entirely on logo identification. Is this a game I would want to be good at? I'm not sure. Don't get me wrong, I want to win out of sheer competitiveness. But is it really a good thing that I know so many commercial logos when I don't know things that are actually important such as where our economy is really going? I just find it interesting the way Americans are exposed to information and commercialization.

Cadillac: A New Logo

Recently, the luxury car brand Cadillac quietly changed its logo. Unlike Pepsi, who spent millions of dollars to try and force feed their new hideous logo down your throat until you liked it, Cadillac quietly put out their new logo without a word from anyone. However, Cadillac is similar to Pepsi in that they both seemed to have misconstrued the point of change; when you change something, please make it better.Above is the comparison of the two logos. On the left is Cadillac's old logo. it is very simple and evokes a sense of class, which fits perfectly with their luxury cars. On the right is Cadiallac's new logo. Although it is a minor change, I think they got it all wrong. In the new logo, the coat of arms is much more detailed and texture. It makes it feel too busy, which in my opinion takes away from its effectiveness. The wreath in the new logo is a horrible change. To me, the old wreath looks like chrome, an expensive metal. The new wreath on the other hand looks like a cheap, fake, plastic looking metal. This is certainly not fitting for a luxury brand car. Perhaps this cheaper looking metal is just another way for GM (who owns Cadillac) to save some more money. Who knows?
You can see Cadillac's new logo on its website, with the company's new slogan, "May the Best Car Win." But sorry Cadillac, but you lost here.

source: http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/cadillac_switches_materials.php

Current Event: Hertz Logo Change

Hertz, a rental car business, recently changed their logo. If you go to www.hertz.com you can check out how they implement their new logo throughout their website. According to a post found in Brand New (http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/hertz_loses_its_shadow.php), Hertz has slowly introduced their new logo since early this year. Brand New mentions that there isn't much information regarding Hertz's change. I was unable to find much as well so I will simply compare the old with the new.

Personally, I prefer the older logo to the newer logo. I do like how the new version presents a cleaner, sharper look but I think it lacks movement. For a rental car business this is an important consideration. The new logo sort of represents movement with a slight lean to the angle of the letters. However, the old logo represents movement effectively with a drop shadow and bold, block letters.

Another consideration is that if "Hertz" was taken out would the yellow square represent something else? I looked into this and was unable to find any other logo that Hertz is in danger of being compared to. In that sense their design can be considered unique.

Overall, I think the new logo for Hertz represents a simple, clear, and modern image.

Punctuation Marks in Logos

Spyrestudios recently featured several logos that used punctuation marks in a unique way. Punctuation marks can be used to express many different emotions - whether in a sentence or as an emoticon. However, these featured logos used punctuation marks as an art that cleverly helped convey the message of the logo.

One of the logos that I found to be impressive was the one pictured above, "Punch Quotes." The upside down apostrophes serve as the arms and hands of the person's body. His hands are raised and look like they are balled into fists, as if ready to throw a punch. It's clever to use the apostrophes as the arms and the hands because they remind the viewer of quotation marks. Therefore, it only seems appropriate to let the apostrophes serve these two entirely different functions, in order to covey the message, "punch quotes."

Another clever logo was the one titled "Schizophrenic," pictured above. Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder in which someone finds it difficult to distinguish reality from hallucinations and has disorganized thoughts, moods and actions. Emoticons are widely used in today's society to convey emotions. The most common are the smiling face and sad face - :) and :(. Combining these two emoticons to form one shows a confusion in this particular person's feelings and conveys a sense of disorganization. The creator of this logo only used one parenthesis and combined the two emoticons together to convey two conflicting emotions of one person. It is impossible to determine whether the smiling face or the sad face is the more dominant emotion in this logo. Therefore, it accurately depicts the confusing and conflicting thoughts and feelings of a person diagnosed with schizophrenia.

The use of punctuation marks in these logos made me realize how the design world is becoming more creative and implementing everyday ideas to change them into new ones. Punctuation marks are no longer limited to being used in the middle or ends of sentences or as conveyers of emotion. They are now being used as a form of art that helps to convey a message.

From: http://spyrestudios.com/34-excellent-punctuation-inspired-logo-designs/

The connections between brand image and logo design

 We all know about Walmart, the big corporation that has been causing a stir and instigating debates for many years about the fact that it is putting small businesses and local grocers out of business.  We've seen them pop up everywhere, attracting swarms of people looking to save a few bucks on food, clothes, toiletries, and the like.  Their logo is pretty straight-forward: big, block capital letters in a bold sans serif font.  It looks exactly like a corporate logo.  It's big and in your face, much like the Hummer logo.  The logo embodies the company–a corporate entity that has a big, recognizable name.  The star separating WAL and MART gives the logo a little character, but the uniform blue color keeps it professional and, well, corporate looking.  Recently however, with the increase of business and the advancement of international stores, Walmart has changed their logo by rounding the letters and adding a bit of color.  The blue is a little lighter and more fun, and the letters are more rounded, less harsh, and lowercase.  Replacing the star is an abstract illustration of something that reminds me of rays of light, implying a new, energy and community interested company.  The final result of the logo change is definitely softer and friendlier to the eye, and projects less of a corporate image and more of a community oriented front.  Going back to the note on a more internationally friendly image, research done at several American universities suggests that Eastern cultures, such as those in Asia, are more attracted and open to rounder, softer fonts.  For more on this, check out an article at Businessweek.com.  That means that this new logo is more internationally recognized and acceptable, something that was surely researched by Walmart's team of designers and artists.  Now, most companies have trouble changing their logos, as loyal customers that follow the brand sometimes have strong opinions about the change and how it affects their support of the brand and the brand image.  Walmart, as a comprehensive business offering food, clothes, and household items, doesn't truly have a brand following.  Nothing from the Walmart brand is especially high quality, and the food that they sell is mostly from other companies, so Walmart customers don't really have brand loyalty–they're just looking for low prices.  In this aspect, Walmart is definitely lucky.  This logo change seems pretty beneficial to the company, as they've also altered their commercials and overall mission to include community action and focus on local events, issues, and charities.  This is also reflected in their slogan, "Save money. Live better".  This has made Walmart a much more popular company and star, and overall, this logo change seems to have been the best move possible by a giant corporation looking to change its image.  

Current Event: An uplifting image from a tragic event

The events of September 11, 2001 are widely regarded as one of the greatest tragedies in U.S. history, at least in recent memory. So how does one immortalize everything surrounding that event with a logo? The National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center enlisted the help of designer Landor, in New York, to create a new identity for the museum, set to open in 2011, that would portray not only remembrance for the victims but also the strength and rebuilding that the nation has shown. The new design is as follows:

http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/memorial_period.php

The new design is very simple, some might say too simple. I think it highly effective however. Personally, I think something like this needs to be treated with as much solemnity as possible without being depressing and negative. This logo does exactly that. The simplicity of the new logo compared to the old one, below, has a rawness to it that speaks much more than a multi directional and complicated logo would. The change in color for the 11 is also a very nice touch showing remembrance in representing the towers but also a look forward as they are almost faded in comparison to the black lettering. The new logo was adopted in place of this:

http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/a_new_voice_for_the_world_trad.php

The old logo was by no means a bad one, just not the right one. Listing the full name of the museum and tilting the graphic in an artistic way gives it the feel of a company logo. In a way, I realize that it is a company logo for the museum but the museum is a memorial and not a business which is why I don't think the old logo fit as well. 

It is difficult trying to encapsulate so many ideas and emotions with a single logo, especially in the instance of a national disaster. The new logo for the "9/11 Memorial" does about as good of a job as it can considering the circumstances and I think it well thought out and effective.  

Current event and graphics were obtained from Brand New: Opinions on Corporate and Brand Identity Work. 

Current Event- New Logo for Playstation 3

Earlier this month, Sony updated their logo design for their Playstation 3 game system. The press release from Sony stated that they would "modify the PS3 brand name from 'PLAYSTATION 3' to 'PlayStation 3', and introduce a new [PS3] logo, which is engraved on the surface of the new PS3 system."

As you can see, the older version (left) used the system's full name as the logo with what came to be known as the "Spiderman font".



The new logo is similar to the PSP logos but with rounder edges.

Sony Computer Entertainment's boss, Kazuro Hirai, explained his reasoning behind the new logo to Times Online.

"I wanted to send the message internally that we are resetting the thinking, going back to our roots. What better way to do it than by resetting the logo? On a practical level, when you have PlayStation 3 spelt out, the aspect ratio was such that if you wanted it on a billboard it became tiny. It didn't work in terms of visibility."

The new logo seems more modern and trendy. I noticed that the repition of curves define the look. I think it looks great, especially engraved onto the system.

I thought Hirai's decision on changing the logo based on the visibility aspect was a smart move.

However, I feel that the old logo looked better running down the sides of the games.

Image/information source: Brand New

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Reaction to Lupton's "Thinking WIth Type"

I never really thought too much about typeface until reading Ellen Lupton's "Thinking With Type." The world of type, for me anyway, is pretty much limited to Times New Roman. However, after reading Lupton it has become clear that typeface does much more than just create words or a logotype on a piece of paper. We are bombarded on a daily basis by typeface. Often times, unbeknownst to us, we form connections and emotional value to them.

For instance the Coca-Cola logo is known all over the world. It has changed over time sometimes even depending on the holiday. The one thing that has remained since 1886 is the logotype. The typeface that Coca-Cola uses is known as Spencerian script. It was developed in the mid 19th century based on a form of formal writing that was popular in the United States at the time (see www.logoblog.org for more information). I think I can safely say that if any of us saw any other word put in the Spencerian script, we would automatically think of Coca-Cola.

I suppose that it is quite easy to take typography for granted. After reading Lupton I think it will be really hard to ignore the impact it really has. The first part of the book Letter, offers the historical background of typefaces. I found it interesting they originated from calligraphy and how it serves as a functional basis for design.

Lupton's Letters - Typefaces and Their Personalities

It seems almost too easy to ignore the importance of typeface. I, for one, never put much thought into the typeface I chose to use. It seemed so minor a detail in comparison to writing the actual body of the text itself. However, it is the typeface that decorates the page and brings it to life, ultimately attracting the reader or pushing him away. Typeface, and the way it is used, is essential to successfully delivering the intended message of the text. To discard this "minor detail" and pay little attention to the typeface, therefore, seems foolish.

A typeface has many distinct personalities that are portrayed through small details. For the most part, I thought these details were insignificant. So what if one part of the text was bolded and the other italicized? What did that really mean? These details, however, can change the entire vibe, the look and feel, of a text. For instance, the Louis Vuitton logo can be recognized almost immediately by two letters: L and V. They put their Louis Vuitton logo on nearly every bag they produce, but they change little details in the logo that gives the bags different personalities. In the picture shown above, the same Louis Vuitton logo is used to decorate the bag, but in different colors. The first bag looks sophisticated, and the usage of only two colors suggests a more mature feel. The second bag, on the other hand, looks playful, and the usage of many bright colors suggests a more energetic and younger feel. The first bag probably attracts the attention of people who are older, and the second bag is probably targeted towards a younger crowd. The mere change in the color of the typeface, therefore, has different effects on the bags.

Without a doubt, I have underestimated the importance of typefaces thus far. Fortunately, reading Lupton's "Thinking with Type" helped me realize the distinct personalities of different typefaces, and has made me more aware of their versatility.