Comments on: logo design

logo design

crunchland — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 09:16:57 -0800

By: ringmaster

ringmaster — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 09:21:45 -0800

Nice find. Thanks.

By: biffa

biffa — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 09:34:51 -0800

Interesting. I thought the work inc logo was the most depressing thing I could have imagined - having no clue who they are I went to have a look as to who would possibly adopt that symbol. If I've got the right one, they appear to be using something much more mainstream now.

By: spilon

spilon — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 09:56:10 -0800

Does this mean the swoosh is finally dead?

By: brownpau

brownpau — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 09:59:12 -0800

I'd have to say those photo icon logos strike me as the least sophisticated of the bunch. Re: the "spiral" trend, Grant over at Splorp has a wonderful Spirals Critique.

By: me3dia

me3dia — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 10:01:58 -0800

Boy am I glad the swoop is going out of style. Brownpau-- agreed re: photo icons.

By: adnanbwp

adnanbwp — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 10:16:00 -0800

I think we killed it.

By: jpoulos

jpoulos — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 10:26:45 -0800

It's back. When do the Mefite of the Year awards come out? Crunchland's a shoe-in.

By: imh

imh — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 10:32:52 -0800

what metafilter used to be all about...

By: tiamat

tiamat — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 10:33:12 -0800

damn hippies

By: Witty

Witty — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 10:35:53 -0800

What are some "trends" that it left out? I dunno, just seemed to me to be an awfully long list of trends. Can someone point a trend of the past... something that isn't currently a trend, but used to be? I just feel like I looked at an example of every possible logo design technique, not a list of trends. Still neat though.

By: Dick Paris

Dick Paris — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 10:47:48 -0800

The swoosh is dead! Long live the droplet! How about the not-everything-needs-a-logo-logo. damn logos

By: crunchland

crunchland — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 10:53:34 -0800

Not to get into the realms of pepsi-filter too much, but I can't put my finger on exactly why it is that I like the bp logo (#10 on the site). That, with the black styling of their new gas stations, is a design coup. I'll see if I can find some examples of outdated logo design for you, witty.

By: Outlawyr

Outlawyr — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:11:35 -0800

Great post. Thanks

By: jpoulos

jpoulos — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:41:23 -0800

These really should be called "15 bad trends". The rules that many of them are breaking (no transparency, no full-color images, etc) have been in place for a reason. While these logos will work fine in electronic meida, many won't translate well into the "real world". Are those companies going to reproduce those full-color photo icons on all their stationary, for example? Or on all their trucks? That's going to be pretty expensive. Many also violate the "Keep It Simple, Stupid" principal. Those "punctuation" logos are horrendous--their unorthodox appearance really detracts from what a logo is supposed to do: make a quick and lasting impression in the audience's mind.

By: jpoulos

jpoulos — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:42:17 -0800

ugh. stationery

By: Dr_Octavius

Dr_Octavius — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:46:29 -0800

I read in Wired a month or two ago that the new trend was orange logos (ING, Cingular, etc.) that was replacing the old hat, blue (IBM of the top of my head).

By: Dr_Octavius

Dr_Octavius — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:53:22 -0800

(Here's the link)

By: riffola

riffola — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:53:49 -0800

I think the BP logo would work in greyscale too. A lot of companies now have their trucks painted with photo realistic logos and images ala Coke, Pepsi, Fresh Direct, etc. They are easier to recognise, and serve as mobile adverts. On the other hand it also works with UPS' plain brown and gold trucks.

By: DenOfSizer

DenOfSizer — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:58:53 -0800

You're absolutely right, jpoulos, about the transparency and the full-color, etc. I really do agree with you. But I kinda like the photo logo technique in spite of all the reasons they suck. Sorry. Anything just as long as hunter green stays dead.

By: me3dia

me3dia — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 12:09:01 -0800

These really should be called "15 bad trends"... There's very little cost difference these days between wrapping a truck in full color vs. one- or two-color. Most of these trends have nothing to do with multiple color use, and many transparency effects can be achieved using just two colors via overlapping, etc. Of the 45 examples shown, I counted only 12, maybe 13, designs requiring four or more colors. And honestly, if companies wasn't OK spending a little extra on printing, these logo trends wouldn't exist.

By: marvin

marvin — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 13:13:04 -0800

15 trends? 15 clichés more like... Adobe LogoShop 1.01 Good post.

By: alicesshoe

alicesshoe — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 13:18:35 -0800

I think these trends point more to the use of the electronic pencil as opposed to a real pencil and paper to develop logos. Not that it's a bad thing, just a tad noticeable. Hey look, I'll skew that sucker, lookitthat! Whoa! I hit transparency by accident. A good thing I did! A logo, now gimme my 5K. heh-heh. If you hated that work logo, check out where I've seen something similar. Maybe copycat logo's could be the next topic or companies that ripped off my ideas. That'd be fun! I still enjoyed the site, however.

By: none

none — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 13:33:17 -0800

I read in Wired a month or two ago that the new trend was orange logos (ING, Cingular, etc.) that was replacing the old hat, blue (IBM of the top of my head). There was piece by Michael Rock (of 2x4) on logo colours in the Rem Koolhaas issue of Wired. Its online but without the pictures, which kind of defeats the point.

By: hyperizer

hyperizer — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 13:53:59 -0800

Wow. With Mozilla's pop-up blocker, 2x4.org is just an empty orange page.

By: dejah420

dejah420 — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 13:58:18 -0800

[this is good]

By: alicesshoe

alicesshoe — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 14:12:14 -0800

Jeff Halmos' site also does logo critiques, scroll down to Featured Features. Damnation! Are those swirls I see in his own Featured Product? Are trends just in the ether? Maybe sometimes logos really do reflect the company they are designed for. I like a lot of these logos, actually.

By: kindall

kindall — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 14:12:45 -0800

If you hated that work logo, check out where I've seen something similar. Hmmm. Work logo. Reactor logo. Nope, don't seem very similar to me. But then I'm weird, I didn't find that first logo depressing either.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 14:29:45 -0800

The Work logo looks awfully familiar.

By: cedar

cedar — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 14:34:40 -0800

"I'll see if I can find some examples of outdated logo design for you, witty." 80,307 here (.eps too so you can fondle them). I'm sure you can find a few outdated ones.

By: grumblebee

grumblebee — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 14:44:14 -0800

The Work logo also reminds me of this.

By: alicesshoe

alicesshoe — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 14:51:54 -0800

Alright already! Little did we realize there are two work logos. See #12:Labels - image #3. [3. design firm: howalt design studio, inc. client: work, inc.] Is that better? In comparing Reactor logo.

By: dg

dg — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 15:14:48 -0800

[this is good] The rules that many of them are breaking (no transparency, no full-color images, etc) have been in place for a reason. Wasn't the reason that it was difficult or impossible to reproduce logos that broke the "rules" because of the technology available? I cannot see any logo on that site that could not be reproduced for any purpose that a company would need them, with the possible exception of embroidered logos on caps etc. It is now completely possible and not horribly expensive to create signage for vehicles that include reasonable quality photographs and you can produce almost photo-quality images on readily available office equipment.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 15:33:34 -0800

Another work inc logo

By: poopy

poopy — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 15:57:42 -0800

fantastic stuff crunchland. logo design is one of the most difficult things i've ever tried to experiment with and to be honest, i've never even come close to success. their unorthodox appearance really detracts from what a logo is supposed to do: make a quick and lasting impression in the audience's mind. jpoulos, do you know what you're saying?

By: c

Wed, 05 Nov 2003 18:42:32 -0800

dont forget the one sans serif lowercase letter in a circle convention. outiline or full circle. an at once nice, but obvious fall back.

By: tomplus2

tomplus2 — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 19:20:10 -0800

Great post! Thanks. (finally, roots) Green is the new orange. No, "green is the new pink". ah, pink, maybe it's the new green. Let's just stick with green for while longer. Wired had a GREAT graphic not long ago which had corporate logos grouped by color. It was nice (sorry, I can't find it).

By: Tlogmer

Tlogmer — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 21:04:43 -0800

Wow. With Mozilla's pop-up blocker, 2x4.org is just an empty orange page. Double-click the i in the lower left corner.

By: taz

taz — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 23:47:26 -0800

Wonderful link, crunchland! And speaking of trends, logos: hot or not?.

By: derbs

derbs — Thu, 06 Nov 2003 03:53:05 -0800

By: xiffix

xiffix — Thu, 06 Nov 2003 04:42:52 -0800

Graphic Design esn?

By: jpoulos

jpoulos — Thu, 06 Nov 2003 07:11:59 -0800

You all have a point about today's lower costs. But here's what I presume some of these companies' logos would look like on letterhead, and they're pretty crappy. Unless you think they're going to spring for full color printing for every envelope they send...

By: alicesshoe

alicesshoe — Thu, 06 Nov 2003 07:42:42 -0800

That orange e-graphic looks fine to me. Of course, it looks like a rock in grey scale, so I it no longer reflects the company name anymore. The Fashion Bytes logo looks like mud in grey scale and once again, doesn't do the company name any justice. Hell, even in colour I'd say it doesn't reprazent. There is no way they'll spring for full colour on all stationery. Final result, 0-2-0. That does it. Great exercise BTW.

By: jpoulos

jpoulos — Thu, 06 Nov 2003 07:50:36 -0800

Wow, cedar. Great link to the 80,000 logos! I'm going to be there all day.

By: ArsncHeart

ArsncHeart — Thu, 06 Nov 2003 10:07:53 -0800

I was scanning through the 80,000-logo link and stumbled across this. I had to go back and look again, because at first glance I thought the University was flipping me the bird.