Archive for September, 2007
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10September
- All You Need to Know About Logos (and then some)
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The Essential Book for Brand BuildingAs an online logo design firm executive, I’m well aware of the challenges of trying to describe 1) what a logo is 2) what a good logo looks like and 3) why they are important (but not TOO important). Capsule, a high level branding and consulting company, tackles this task valiantly in their book, Design Matters// LOGOS.
Aside from the fact that the book is on fantastic paper (kind of smells nice too), and has a cool cover, it’s also an easy read and can be scanned easily and tackled in short chapters (which I had to do… as a parent of two kids under the age of 4). Design Matters starts off right where you’d expect them to, providing solid definitions of “What is a Logo” and “Why are they created”. Design Matters understands that newbies and executives alike have to be educated and reminded of the importance a logo has on a company. The descriptions are written with solid case studies (good ol’ Nike and Fed Ex) along with visual examples that help get their point across.
One concern I had before reading the book was wondering how can be written about logos without providing picture after picture, and case study after case study. Design Matters does a nice job covering the planning, strategy, development and implementation of a company’s brand. I’m not so sure if all of this would apply to the local hardware store (or any other shoestring start-up firm, for that matter) who has limited resources but wants a custom logo. A major mistake by small companies is to over think their logo and lose focus on their business. Design Matters addresses this issue stating that a logo should, “…boost consumer perception. What a logo cannot do is make the company great.” Exactly.
As Design Matters moves in to the planning phase, they cover the deeper portions of a creative brief (target audience, timing, objectives) quite well. The length of time they gave for a logo design (6 to 18 months) is WAY too long (unless you are AT&T or the US Army, which- you probably aren’t). Realistically, 1 to 6 months is probably a reasonable time to set aside for logo design. Additionally, the ‘design brief’ insight was cut a bit short and seemed to miss some obvious questions such as asking what colors and styles are liked/disliked, and adjectives that describe the business. Aside from this, Design Matters provided excellent insight on how to inspire a design, as well as tips on color usage (use 1 primary color- and my favorite- keep it simple!).
Design Matters covers other topics such as establishing brand architecture, competitive comparison, technical considerations, and budgeting and timelines. I think that the book could have gone a little deeper in some areas such as research (what’s a reasonable sample size?) and legal protection (Where should someone go? What should someone expect to pay?)- but the fact this was covered puts it ahead of most design books.The back third of the book jumps in to case studies and designs, which provides fantastic visuals. After all, a picture (or logo) speaks a thousand words. I am curious as to what the criteria was for picking the logos in their logo gallery and how many logos they went through before settling on these 192 logos.
I think this is an excellent overview for serious branders. It dedicates a significant amount of time to research, planning, preparation and testing which moves this beyond the typical logo design book with lots of nice photos. In the 2nd edition, I’d like to see some more detail in areas that can help the design professionals take their design business to the next level (a blue print for logo designing), and possibly a section that caters to small businesses and providing designs for small business.
You can purchase Design Matters for under $16 (a steal) at Amazon.
About the Reviewer: J. Witte is the Vice President of Operations at an online logo design company, www.LogoDesignGuru.com, which has designed over 7,000 logos.
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07September
- LogoBlog Poll 7- Automakers that translate speed and elegance in their logo
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The automobile production business faces a cut-throat competition every passing minute in everything they do. Whether it’s their new model or its features, or their advertising, branding and customer services, all international automotive companies strive towards attaining bigger and better heights. Hence, it must be noted that car manufacturers such as Toyota, Mercedes Benz, BMW, and Honda rank within the top 20 best global brands in the world.
These companies create powerful, luxurious, and high performance machines. Thus, in order to gain a prestigious image to showcase their dynamic new designs, car manufacturers adopt iconic logos as a brand image. And so, in our last visitor poll, we asked you to vote for the company which you feel translates speed and elegance in its logo.
The given choices were: General Motors, reputed for being the world’s largest automaker. Also included were the British giant Jaguar, high ranking brands: BMW and Mercedes Benz, along with the supreme car makers’ Ford and Cadillac.
Well, your votes are in and Jaguar came out as the winner of our poll with an astounding 70% of the total votes. It is clear that Jaguar’s success lies in their luxury cars. They also maintain a wide range of performance machines that include the compact X type. Following suit after Jaguar came General Motors and BMW, tying for second place with 10% of total votes each. And lastly we have Mercedes Benz, Ford and Cadillac together at the same position with 3% of total votes each.
Bravo! To Jaguar for winning our LogoBlog Poll.
For more on famous car companies do check out the Famous Logos section.
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07September
- The New Saks Fifth Avenue Identity
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Many companies strive towards a flexible and varying identity to avoid looking stagnant, and out of date. Brands such as Google, MTV and now VH1 have managed to make this concept come to life, by altering their logos faster than any fashionista’s wardrobe. By adopting such customized symbols and reinventing their identity from time to time, they adhere to the iconoclasts’ principle which dictates that one becomes bored with viewing the same identity over and over again. Hence, a change is more likely to attract enthusiastic attention. However, this view is heavily argued by traditionalists who remain steadfast to their belief that the more you look at a certain logo, the better it sticks in your mind. It reiterates a sense of recognition and remembrance, thus causing the identity to achieve familiarity and making the product marketable.
Saks Fifth Avenue’s latest visual identity has been praised as a ground breaking concept, especially since it is the first of its kind in the retail luxury sector. The identity design is complex, yet magically simple. The new logo is a revamped version of a previous Saks logo used in 1973. The calligraphic script is the same; however it is narrower and looks regal in white coloring within a black square.The head designer on this project Michael Bierut is a partner at a top class design firm “Pentagram”. Michael came up with a concept of slicing the new Saks logo into 64 squares, and then asked a theoretical physicist at Yale University to calculate all the possible combinations in which the squares could be arranged. And it is interesting to note that the physicist’s answer came close to a billion possibilities of groupings!
According to the designer, “Blowing up the logo and rearranging the fragments in a million different ways on a grid made the identity much more dramatic.” And kudos to him because the resultant identity is undoubtedly show stopping - a successful variation on the “lets make a pattern out of our logo” school of thought. The spliced arrangements are bold and give a very festive feel to the bags, boxes, adverts and signage.
It is important to note how this unique identity defies the traditional thought of what an identity should be. We are conditioned to perceive an identity as a singular mark fashioned in a stand alone manner and catering to various materials in a number of ways. An emphasis is always laid upon the original identity mark’s visual integrity. This new design negates this point of view entirely, as the foundation mark loses its identity when broken down and rearranged in so many different ways. However, this obscurity of the logo mark within the identity is what makes the identity original yet pertinently links it to the logo as well.
It is a bold move on Saks’ part to embrace the elemental nature of this new identity as a whole.
All in all it is a spectacular use of a classic mark, and then a modern twist applied to it. The large cutouts are elegant, sophisticated and modern looking. The concept is highly refreshing and is a perfect example of simple yet effective graphic design.Note: Headquartered in New York City, Saks Fifth Avenue is a chain of American department stores. It competes in the elite luxury department store market with Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman and Barneys New York. The products include clothing, footwear, handbags, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and housewares.
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