PART 3
PART 3: Answering the Question
In Part 1, we discussed and dissected the THQ logo. In Part 2, we discussed and dissected the Starbucks logo. This entry, Part 3, is where we will finally bring it all together and relate it with the above question - why are corporate logos becoming simpler?
Starbucks and THQ both expressed changes with their logo that were very minimalist, simple, and not complicated. From three colours they dropped down to one or two, and for detail they dropped down to little. Some agreed it was a good improvement, and some like myself agreed it was unnecessary to just outright bad. But, the changes have happened, and the changes are here to stay, as most changes do.
Enter our third star: the Gap logo.
If you haven't heard the story about the Gap logo, there's plenty of articles out there on your search engine should you search up for this. But in a nutshell, Gap changed their logo awhile back and there was so much controversy over changing the old-fashioned all-caps serifs font in a box to this 100% black Helvetica thing with a gradient square in the very corner, that this controversy could make the oceans overflow. There is even a Twitter account and a person who made a Gap logo generator because of this.
It was so bad Gap has recently announced they would keep their old logo. I am not making this up. I would discuss why but the last time I did, a Part 3 had to be made. So to make sure we don't go off-topic again, allow me to link you to this video from CNN that showcases a few good examples of important and interesting logo changes. Watch that first if you haven't already, I promise you it will be worth it. Also, read these lists from Under Consideration of The Best and the Worst Logos of 2010.
Now, let's list off a few trends spotted in a majority of these as well as in general. Here's the major few I have spotted from the recent trend of recent logos:
- less is more, like a lot less
- add a pun, preferably to the type
- incorporate your logo into the type
- do the above but make it smaller
- use lowercases, a lot
- use sans serifs, a lot
- use lowercases and san serifs together, a lot
- ditch capitals and just use lowercases period
- if it ain't broke, fix it anyway
But how could this go possibly wrong? Surely, Gap has followed all the steps to making a logo that will fit in with today's standards, especially when most of these logos are headed in such a Web 2.0 direction! They used a sans-serif font, they used lowercases instead of all-caps...how did this happen?
Quite frankly, it's because the new Gap logo looks like garbage. I'm not going to go into technical detail about it because I just look at the new Gap logo and I don't like it at all. Everyone else has spoken for me.
Now, there's a few other logos I don't like that have followed the latest minimalist trend. On the Best list of Under Consideration's website, MySpace and Comedy Central are on there. I completely disagree with this. I hate Comedy Central's because I find it boring and dull regardless of the pun, yet I don't spend as much time being angrily confused by it as THQ's since have no idea if it would fit the mood of any of their programming since I don't watch it. It looks more like a parody logo than anything. I dislike MySpace's for the same reason - although when I went on its site awhile ago with a friend and he placed his cursor over the logo, the space started turning into an animated bag filling up and it was sort of cool for an Easter Egg, but that's it.
As I look at more logo changes happening recently, the majority of them seem to be shooting for at least one or more of the trends listed above. I used to think this was simply for internet and the lingering, spreading trend that Web 2.0 has brought upon us. But clearly this has expanded to the outside of the web as social media and technology becomes more prevalent in society and things are becoming more simplistic for the future. This has been happening since the concept of modern furniture was created and the first iMac and iPod were spawned from Steve Jobs' genius. Heck, even before then, this concept - that everything is developed with the goals of being simple and intuitive so everyone can use them or relate to them - has been what has revolutionized technology and business today.
I believe the primary reason this is happening is bandwagon riding. All these logos are attempting to follow the trend bullet points that exist today, just like teenagers who want to fit in in their high school days and be popular. Heck, if Wingdings became something used often for logos, I'm pretty sure that would become a trend too. The difference being is that if you don't ride this bandwagon, that means you are not up-to-standard. Nobody cares if you're up-to-standard in high school, but in the real world, it's kind of a big deal to be in tune with what's hip and happening. This does not have to be a bad thing in the business world - it is to make sure not to get lost behind and not meet the standards, in this case with the design channel.
But is this really a good trend to follow?
These are, respectively, the Walmart and Best Buy logos. On the left are the old ones, and on the right are the new ones. The new ones follow the lowercases, the friendly-looking sans-serifs, and the minimalist approaches. Noted by quite a few, however, is that the old ones stood out more and look far more dynamic to the arguably generic and too simple revisions.
And in the end, what works, and what doesn't? In a world, mainly North America, where it is important to please the majority to make good money, and where being creative and being generic have become fine lines to easily stumble over, what do you do, and will lowercase sans-serif fonts save the day?
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