006.1: Corporate Logo Rage [THQ]

Why are corporate logos becoming simpler?
PART 1

This was supposed to be published around January, but I wasn't sure exactly how to tackle this entry on during that period of time. There was a vast variety of logos I could tackle and lump together, but I wanted to focus on a select one as well as expand on that without drawing it out too long. Now, I think I can.

PART 1: THQ's Logo

To the left is the old THQ® logo, to the right the new one.

A couple of weeks or so ago (somewhere during that period of time), the THQ logo changed. Now, the only reason I care about this is for two reasons. The first reason is as a graphic designer, I feel obligated to follow along with the trend of logos and see what works and what doesn't. The second reason is because no matter how much I open my mind I just absolutely cannot bring myself to even one bit like this thing.

I just...I cannot see the appeal in this. I've been reading blogs and forums on their opinions with this but I just can't. I understand that everyone is entitled to an opinion, but from the looks of it there's a huge majority approval for the new THQ logo. Now, bringing up a music analogy again, following the mainstream isn't the way to go but it is what popular and therefore it is what sells. Majority approval can be argued as equivalent to conformity, but that's another type of debate and topic.

I've never been part of the mainstream though or clued in with what's hip and rad* nowadays, and I'm 18. I actually liked the old THQ logo. To be honest, I didn't care about the logo at all, and to be second honest, I don't even think I played a THQ game. But it always stood out to me as something very bold and daring, cool, and - dare I say this and go under fire for breaking gender political correctness - manly. Well, maybe macho is a better word for it. I'm scrolling through a list of games this company has produced and I see a handful of these are pretty macho games - not all of them, no, but a handful. Obviously there are exceptions (particularly with Bratz and All Star Cheer Squad), but I perceive the old THQ logo as macho and cool.

May I also add on that I have seen this logo get effects slapped onto it more than the first time I learned how to use Photoshop and its filters. In my opinion, this step was for the better. In my mind, the THQ logo has a metallic gloss and emboss as well as possibly some shine. Almost never do I invision it as some flatly coloured object because when I see this logo, I always see it will metallic gloss and emboss in a really cool animation against black.

Now I look at the new THQ logo and I'm just...why? Why is there no more black? Why is the H lowercase and flipped around or cut off? That Q doesn't look like a freaking Q, at least the old logo was legible. And why does the Q pop out more than the dull grey of the T and the H? I don't see this as creative and innovative at all. Nothing pops out and shows itself off, it looks boring and dull, this won't look good on a black background, and I'm not sure how this would look animated, especially with that blasted Q. It looks like a red carpet unfurling.

Earlier I was talking with a friend, also studying graphics at an tech college and more keen on logos than I, about how this could work - not work as in good job it's better now, but work as in it gets the job done. If we go with the red carpet example and it wipes out or flies out or however it transitions, it shouldn't start from the bottom near that Registered Trademark symbol. Rather, it should start from that indicated green line starting point, so that it makes it clear that this is a Q and not some kind of strange question mark. For the record, why is the Q's tail going beyond the T and H's bottoms?

I just don't like it. I really don't. I don't think it's modern, stylish, and professional, I think it's incredibly boring, dull, and illegible. Maybe it needs a gradient. Maybe it needs a video. Probably the animated video, I'm looking forward to that. But, that isn't making it simpler. 

Which brings us to the original question: what is with the trend of simplicity with recent logos?

I'm hoping the program I'm taking at college will teach me something about this because somewhere along the line I would like to learn what makes this a good logo at all. The majority agrees, and that's all that matters when it comes down to the business, the marketing, and the positive feedback customers will give. 

Heck, Gap changed their very recently changed logo back to their old when people didn't like it. But that will be covered in Part 2 of Corporate Logo Rage, coming this Thursday when we further discuss why corporate logos are becoming simpler.

*hip and rad = not the terms I use for whatever is hip and rad today. last i heard it was dope or ill or sick or diseased or some crazy drug-related terminology.