Talking about logo design #6
Creative Review have a rebranded with a beautiful 3D marque called the MaRble. For some thought-provoking rationale — including the following pearl of wisdom — read the full explanation on CR Blog.
The word ‘infonauts’ is an invented one, stumbled upon in our brainstorming sessions through the expression of our core values of being an “information” provider for the creative industries boldly going to the outer limits of the new frontiers of media distribution networks in a web 2.0 world.
Yes. Just what I was thinking.
This 3D paper homage to Milton Glaser’s I Love New York logo is worth a butchers. Via DesignNotes.
Dirk Leys offers a nice overview of his logo design process. Thanks for the email, Dirk.
Simon Nielsen recently brought his similarly-named portfolio website — logolove.dk — to my attention. Good luck with everything, Simon.
Have you ever heard a design client say, “I could have done that in five minutes”? Steve Douglas wrote an article on The Logo Factor that digs a little deeper:
…I suppose they’re kinda right. Some logos could be rendered (an important distinction) in a couple of minutes. If we knew exactly what the client wanted. If we were able to nail a concept down in our first attempt. If the client approved said design on first blush. And if that logo consisted of basic elements — a few shapes and some typography.
Tina Roth Eisenberg, of the excellent swissmiss blog, has updated her logo. I like it a lot. How about you?
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14 excellent comments, click here to add one
Neil Martin
“It has been crafted in bespoke font CRArial®ounded. Our branding agency conducted extensive research necessitating many days of highly specialised tyPoMetric© analysis before unearthing this rarely-seen vintage typeface”
I was absolutely ready to comment on this logo and how atrocious it was and I had to read all of the way down to this point to realise I’d been had.
Oct 6th, 2008
Neil Martin
Oh, and on a related note, you may find Jeremy Matthew’s comment over at Brand New just as amusing: http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/global_is_as_global_does.php#comments
Oct 6th, 2008
Stef
On the Creative Review rebranding: why yes, your eyes do not deceive you, it *is* just a photo of a glass marble, lowercase Arial Rounded and unintelligible press copy. (Oh, and a huge, deliberately misplaced copyright symbol in the logo when they use ‘rights reserved’ throughout the text – this unfortunately gave the joke away a little too early for me.)
I like it, it’s very acerbic and astutely done, highlighting ‘the Emperor’s New Clothes’-style inanity of several recent rebrands – Wolf Olins’s words on the London Olympics logo in particular spring to mind.
I do fear that it’ll go over many people’s heads and they’ll think it’s real, though!
Oct 6th, 2008
Kevin Burr
Tina did a great job on her SWISS MISS logo update. What a fantastic idea. Such a simple logotype now, but so strong!
Oct 6th, 2008
Finola
“I could have done that in five minutes”?
In the Caribbean this is one of the most difficult mindsets to overcome.The value of the time and experience it take to develop a good logo is not well understood, neither that of creative simplicity.
We often find companies - especially governmental agencies - holding competitions open to schools or to all and sundry and the chosen designs many times are hideously complex ‘everything and the kitchen sink’ things.
Your site is very refreshing - I’ll be recommending it as a resource for students and teachers that I’m in contact with.
Finola’s last blog post…Reducing posting for a while
Oct 8th, 2008
David Airey
Thanks for mentioning Jeremy’s comment. Love that image.
Stef,
It won’t go over the heads of the audience it’s geared towards. I enjoyed it, and the follow-up.
Kevin,
Glad you’re in agreement about the new swissmiss design. I hope you’ve been well lately.
Finola,
Thanks for the compliment on my site, and for recommending it as a student resource. That’s kind of you.
Oct 9th, 2008
Jamie
haha…infonauts & infoneering….I love it! :)
David - I just discovered your blogs a few weeks ago, and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading and catching up on all the posts.
Jamie’s last blog post…Featured CafePress best-seller
Oct 9th, 2008
Dainis Graveris
Love those logo creating series! For customers it seems - what really big is about that logo - but actually it’s one of the most important things for company. Thanks for the article!
Oct 10th, 2008
Trish
David,
I caught the marble immediately (one of my ’skills’ is to recognize what is real and what isn’t photoshop wise) so did not bother to follow the link. Wishing I had now. I really like that you dropped that line of “ball” logos in there. I don’t get time to follow every link as much as I would like. Some I had not seen. When did adding a blue ball in the background make a logo redesigned (Windows)? Still hate that Xerox beach ball most of all. Am I repeating myself too much?
Swiss Miss is now officially outstanding and if she doesn’t put that in some logo contests she is a fool.
I’ve been to LogoLove.dk before and really like the way the website is designed. One of my favorites.
Love,
Trish
Oct 10th, 2008
Jesse Vlasveld
Nice to see Dirk Leys’ work pop up here. I love hes work!
Oct 12th, 2008
Amanda Vlahakis
That is really clever (Creative Review), I was momentarily horrified and also about to launch off on one! :)
In their follow up blog, this is classic; “Why talk bollocks when you can talk sense? ” I can’t believe they said that, lol - it’s so true.
Amanda Vlahakis’s last blog post…Our Feature in Harper Collins Design Book
Oct 13th, 2008
David Airey
Very glad you’ve enjoyed browsing some of my older posts. Thanks for reading.
Trish,
You’re not repeating yourself too much at all. The list of ‘ball’ logos just goes to show how commonplace the trend has become.
Amanda,
Shame you didn’t launch off on one before reality kicked in. I’m sure I’d have enjoyed reading your thoughts. :)
Jesse, Dainis,
Thanks, as always, for stopping by.
Oct 16th, 2008
Andy Jacobson
Just last night a friend and I were discussing the future of Graphic Design.
Prior to opening my own studio I had worked with Tibor Kalman at M&Co. We wondered what, if any, of the projects we did then we would be able to do now. So many—albums, print collateral, posters, books, etc.—either don’t exist or no longer have the dollars to support the labor involved. Many of these mediums now live on the internet.
Logo work is the only thing I can think of that hasn’t changed. But I wonder if the idea of “owning a brand” via the technology will effect this too?
That said, it’s always a pleasure to see good logo work. Thanks for putting this together.
Cheers!
Oct 29th, 2008
David Airey
It’s my pleasure. You make a point I’ve thought about too, how print design has declined in comparison to logo design. It’s a slight influence on my decision to specialise in identity.
I hope you’re keeping well.
Nov 6th, 2008
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