006.3: Corporate Logo Rage [Final]

Why are corporate logos becoming simpler?
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?

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.

002: Comic Sans Rage

Why is Comic Sans so hated in the graphic design industry? 

I was about to do this whole entry in Comic Sans as well as a blinding default 8-colour font, but luckily for you, Blogspot knows what people don't like.

I used to use Comic Sans MS very frequently for things like my emails with backgrounds and colour fonts, for my pictures and fanart, and for school projects. This was when I was 11 years old. Now, I've since grown up, and I have seen something in a new but terrifying light, kind of when I learned what a Mary Sue was when I was still involved in fandoms. 

After much careful observation as well as research, it appears that the only appropriate time to use Comic Sans is:

1. if you want to be ridiculed by designers who have jumped on an elitist bandwagon
2. if you want to be ridiculed in general
3. never

The hate for this font is astounding. I'm quite sure it has even become a bandwagon, which I have happily hopped on to protect my budding career path as a graphic illustrator and designer myself. There has been many reasons presented as to why it is a bad font, which I will not discuss here, and there are plenty of good sites out there on Google that explains why - one of them being why it isn't even appropriate for comics. 

(Some good links will be posted up some time in the future when I make a part two to this.)

However, all of this still has not stopped people, nor in fact, cities. I just came back from a trip from Vegas for the holidays. This is a photo of a tour bus I immediately whipped my head and wide eyes at while near the Circus Circus hotel and casino which I invite you to click for full view of this amazing feat:

This bus uses Comic Sans. 

Oh my God.

That surprisingly wasn't the only example there! Las Vegas is the most prominent example of Comic Sans use and abuse that I have ever seen, and it amazes me how much they get away with it garnering from its reputation as the city of entertainment and flashy ads. You don't need Comic Sans with the things Las Vegas gets away with. Their souvenirs, their signs, their billboards...heck, I'm pretty sure even the prostitute cards they hand you in the streets at one point had Comic Sans.

(I would have grabbed one for the sake of example, but I had parents with me and I was hesitant on accepting pictures of naked women from shifty and silent strangers. But it also would have been a good example for a possible Retouch Rage entry in the future.)

I noted this to my mom, who gets annoyed when I pointed out "the most pettiest things". It essentially went something like this:

Me: Noooooooooo!
Mom: What the heck is your problem now?
Me: That bus has Comic Sans.
Mom: You always say that like it's the bane of existence. It's just what works!
Me: But that's not how it should be!
Mom: Well it works so too bad, let them do what they want to do.

This is not the only time I've raged at Comic Sans. While walking through a college with a good friend of mine - who is a budding entrepreneur with knowledge and abilities for graphic design - we walked through about God knows how many posters with Comic Sans. He made a joke about how he knew what font to use on my Christmas card.  

This reminds me of my hate for Ke$ha. Yes, I'm going to use a modern pop music analogy, please forgive me if this ends up sounding very distasteful. Now, most people talk about how haters are hating simply because they are jealous of the success of the other person. I "hate" plenty but I hope I ain't jealous of these people if the definition of jealous means I want to be them. However, I will fully 100% admit that yes, I am jealous that Ke$ha can't sing worth a dime yet she's gotten this far and somebody that is far more talented and can actually sing has not hit that level of mainstream.

This is what my hate for Comic Sans is. I am jealous and bitter that a font that people have been constantly teaching other people not to use for their marketing, branding, or on anything ever, is still being used very frequently in such a manner to the point where it is easily gotten away with. How is it that this typeface continues to be used to such a degree when it's not even that good? Is it because for many years it has been used to the point where, as my mom says, it works because either people are used to it, it has been linked with likability and friendliness, or just nobody cares anymore?

However, the important point of the rage against Comic Sans seems to not be about the font itself. Aspiring graphic designers all around the globe will know from careful research and not blindly following the wagon completely that the reason it is so loathed is because of how it represents poor typography choices, something that many amateurs such as myself struggle with when designing logos or print media. You are not going to see anything other than a serifs font for a jewelry brand - there are exceptions, yes, but it remains unusual to see a sans serif typeface on the logo of jewelry.

 

Here is a mock logo I have designed for a pet fish supplies brand about two or three months ago. There were many copies of this since it never ended up being final due to mixed responses from the public, which you can see on my website, Virtual Crisis Media. But this one was the one I liked. However, friend from earlier pointed out how the font for the subtitle of "pet fish supplies" (which is Franklin Gothic Heavy) said that it did not match the brand at all, so I changed it.

Here is the changed logo with a Lucida sans serif font in place of Franklin Gothic. I think this fits much more, but that's debatable. In the end, this wasn't a logo I continued developing since I really had no client other than myself and the public's feedback as this was a test logo.

Here's me having fun with the subject at hand with some Comic Sans. However, I'm currently sitting here staring at this wondering why it doesn't look as bad as I thought it would. Whoa.

In the end it is popular topics like this in the industry that makes for good research and learning. As somebody who is still doing that, Comic Sans has certainly taught me a lot. From what I noticed, though, it doesn't end at Comic Sans, though - Papyrus is another example to note, as well as even the staple Arial and Times New Roman, but that's another blog entry. In the end, it's how you use it.

Jester, however, which I used to frequently use as well, is just one of those fonts I don't like anymore for the same reasons as Comic Sans.