MetaFilter posts tagged with logo

The All-Star NY Knicks Logo That Should Have Been

reenum — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 18:20:06 -0800

In the 1990's, Michael Doret was tasked with creating a new logo for the New York Knicks. Here is the story of how his ideas were scaled back to create the logo the team uses to this day.

Radiohead - Comet, Crying, Vivarium, Ten

The Whelk — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 11:46:34 -0800

Something Awful.com - Design The Worst Band T-Shirt Ever.

The Comic Sans Project

blue_beetle — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 19:05:03 -0800

WE ARE THE COMIC SANS DEFENDERS. WE FEAR NO FONTS AND WE WILL MAKE THE WHOLE WORLD COMIC SANS. BECAUSE HELVETICA IS SOOO 2011

Marlin jumps shark something something

brappi — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 15:35:45 -0800

The Miami Marlins have a new logo. Reaction is less than favorable. But the new identity pales in comparison to the homerun feature that will play in the stadium. Reaction.

Hell, Rebranded

JimBennett — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 11:45:53 -0800

"With the help of Chris Herron Design, the Hell Office of Travel & Tourism has created a friendly and welcoming voice for destination Hell, and in so doing, has reaffirmed its mission to create an environment in which local businesses can succeed and flourish." Hell presents their new identity: Simply Heavenly ™ . Take a look at the brand new website. See Chris Herron's breakdown of the redesign process, along with dozens of logo explorations. Related: Logos for the moon. (via Brand New)

Orange you glad you got your Nickelodeon?

Rhaomi — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:33:49 -0800

Two and a half years ago, we explored the early history of Cartoon Network... but it wasn't the only player in the youth television game. As a matter of fact, Fred Seibert -- the man responsible for the most inventive projects discussed in that post -- first stretched his creative legs at the network's truly venerable forerunner: Nickelodeon. Founded as Pinwheel, a six-hour block on Warner Cable's innovative QUBE system, this humble channel struggled for years before Seibert's innovative branding work transformed it into a national icon and capstone of a media empire. Much has changed since then, from the mascots and game shows to the versatile orange "splat." But starting tonight in response to popular demand, the network is looking back with a summer programming block dedicated to the greatest hits of the 1990s, including Hey Arnold!, Rocko's Modern Life, The Adventures of Pete & Pete, The Ren & Stimpy Show, Double Dare, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Legends of the Hidden Temple, and All That. To celebrate, look inside for the complete story of the early days of the network that incensed the religious right, brought doo-wop to television, and slimed a million fans -- the golden age of Nickelodeon. (warning: monster post inside) PART 1: The Early Years Nick started out as a young children's program called Pinwheel that mixed puppetry and live action with animated shorts from overseas. Only a few bootlegs survive from this era, making video hard to track down. As the nascent channel struggled to find an audience, it started rerunning episodes of the Canadian comedy show You Can't Do That On Television!, which proved to be a big hit and laid the groundwork for future variety shows like it once the network found its legs. The show also introduced the infamous green slime that would characterize the network's later game show programs. Semi-active fansite YCDTOTV.com provides official recipes, and is positively overflowing with other content about this era. PART 2: "From Worst to First" Fred Seibert arrived at Nickelodeon fresh from success at MTV, where he and colleague Alan Goodman had developed the iconic "Man on the Moon" sequence that launched the channel in 1981. The Fred/Alan team found Nickelodeon floundering, hemorrhaging millions of dollars and dead last in the ratings. Their solution: a complete re-branding, starting with the logo. Out went the clunky silver balloon, in came The Splat. Inspired by MTV's shifting psychedelic design, The Splat was an all-purpose wonder, an amorphous blob of bright orange gunk that could be anything and everything. Using fun style guides, producers applied the Nick name to bones, rocket ships, dinosaurs, and dozens of other forms across hundreds of products over the next few decades. The logo was so versatile, in fact, that it went through only one major revision (blog post; guide) before Viacom, in the way of all corporate giants, dispensed with The Splat in 2009 for a new unified brand -- one very similar, ironically enough, to the logo that saddled the network in its infancy. To introduce Nick's new brand, Seibert and Goodman contracted with dozens of artists to create a series of striking and innovative "bumpers" all showcasing the bright orange Splat. Perhaps the most fortuitous hire was a capella band The Jive Five. As Seibert explains in his article "The Doo-Wopping of Television":

Alan's former colleague, writer and producer Marty Pekar, had started Ambient Sound to capture contemporary recordings of classic doo-wop groups from the 50s and 60s. He introduced them to the leader of The Jive 5, Eugene Pitt, as "not only a great singer, but a smart man." They found Eugene to be, as Rock and Roll Hall of Fame CEO Terry Stewart said, "the most underrated soul singer in America," and a wonderful collaborator. When the opportunity to work with Nickelodeon presented itself, Fred, Alan, and producer Tom Pomposello immediately knew the Jive 5 would be the perfect underpinning for defining the vocabulary of the network. Convincing Nickelodeon was another story. [...] Fred/Alan tried a lot of arguments to bring them around to a doo-wop sound, but they fell on deaf ears. "Doo-wop's 30 years old, no kid has ever heard of it." We won the day on two grounds. Fred played on the executives' liberal backgrounds. "We love all forms of African-American music, and using doo-wop will be a great way to educate American kids without anyone being the wiser." Alan's worked even better. He opened his mouth and, quoting The Marcels' arrangement of chestnut "Blue Moon," sang: "Bom-ma-bom, a-bom-bom-a-bom, ba-ba-bom-bom-a-bomp, b-dang-a-dang-dang, b-ding-a-dong-ding." "What kid isn’t going to relate to that right away?" Alan asked. Case closed.

The Jive Five proceeded to record a number of joyful and infectiously catchy doo-wop melodies for the artists to animate in a wide variety of styles, spots that went on to form the core of the channel's new identity (and the first of which became the its enduring theme song):

N-Nick Nick Nick N-Nick Nick Nick... Nickelodeon! (Main Theme) - Hon De Laud Hup Hivvel Up Nick (Calling Cades MasterMix) - Orange you glad you got your Nickelodeon? (Fruit variant) - Bulldog Crew (Jungle) - Tweedley Dum (Space Beans) - Shoo Be Doo (Worms) - It's Time, It's Time (Haircut) - Say Hey Say Hi Say Ho (Skating) - Better Off By Far (Space) - Waiting for You (Fish) - Dino Bop - Doo-Wop-a-Saurus - Your TV Network (Jive Five) - Top of the Hour - Easy Groove - Alligator and Frog - Dragon and Frog - Full Montage

The campaign was a tremendous, CLIO award-winning success -- within six months Nickelodeon had rocketed to the number one slot on the ratings chart. And the doo-wop was just the beginning -- that first batch inspired a wider range of spots in later years, from the cute to the bizarre:

Pinchface - Bone - Picnic Ants - Big Beast Quintet - Nicktoons Blob - Scissors Man - Opera - Reggae - Toothbrush Morph - Monkey Balloon - Dancing Dogs - Monster Disco - Banner - Around the World - Waiter - Laundry - Rock Dance - Teacup - What You Want claymation - Doug - Spelling - Barnyard - Comet - Flying Chair - Origami - Asian ID - Sea Monster - Box Face - Stage - Cave Paintings - Octopus - Tractor - Head on Chair - Windshield - Lockers - Rugrats - Gymnastics - Nick Takes Over Your School - Compilation (with lots more) - Shorts: Inside-Out Boy and Angela Anaconda

A Maine summer camp was even invited to submit student-created bumpers, which turned into a fun campaign of its own. PART 3: Nickelodeon Studios Years of sustained success led to the 1990 foundation of Nickelodeon Studios, a combination film studio, animation mecca, and theme park at Universal Studios in Orlando. The studio, with its colorful facade and infamous Slime Geyser, would become the nerve center of the company and a backdrop for many programs throughout the next decade, especially game shows like Double Dare, the notoriously difficult Legends of the Hidden Temple obstacle course (which you can attempt yourself!), and Global GUTS with its imposing Aggro Crag. The network also developed spin-offs and sister channels, such as Nick Jr. (full of colorful fare like Face and Gullah Gullah Island for the toddler set) and Nick at Nite, which featured reruns of popular sitcoms from decades past (which, if you think about it, is basically what this '90s programming block is doing right now -- oh noes!). Sadly, the studios closed its doors in 2005 in the face of flagging attendance, storm damage, and staff relocations to other offices. The building still stands, but all has been stripped away, including the Geyser and the studio time capsule (reburied at a company resort talked about previously). Gone, but not forgotten, though -- enjoy this thorough behind-the-scenes guided tour of the facility from before the closure by a former employee. PART 4: Live Action The Nick Studio was home to many live action programs, from sitcoms to horror to variety shows (and Stick Stickly!): Two early sitcoms, Hey Dude and Clarissa Explains it All, have been given full retrospectives by the AV Club, while fan favorite The Adventures of Pete & Pete is getting an episode-by-episode review. Speaking of which, don't miss the full version of "Hey Sandy," the great theme song by Polaris that carried some surprisingly dark undertones, or this original short uploaded by Fred Seibert. As for the cast, where are they now? Horror series Are You Afraid of the Dark? went through several incarnations, many episodes of which can be found online. Brave the list of scariest episodes (or TVTropes' High Octane Nightmare Fuel page for the show) ...if you dare. And of course there were the two big variety shows, both the work of Dan Schneider ("the Norman Lear of children’s television"). Each were modeled on the earlier YCDTOT -- the SNL-lite All That and spin-off Kenan & Kel (both of which helped propel star Kenan Thompson to actual SNL stardom). The nature of the shows makes video more scattered, but there's plenty to take in; this 100+ video playlist is a good start, as is the TVTropes page. (And lest we forget: Camp Anawanna, Alex Mack, Cousin Skee-- well, you can probably forget that one.) For the cynics out there: The Nostalgia Critic's skeptical 18-minute mocking of the above (except for Pete & Pete, which he loves unconditionally). PART 5: Nicktoons Of course, the most well-known Nick properties were their many original animated series, or Nicktoons. A ToonZone member explains their genesis:

Sometime in 1989, at the Montclair, New Jersey house of Nick president Geraldine Laybourne, Laybourne, her husband Kit, Herb Scannell, Fred Seibert, and others had a meeting where they watched TV shows currently running at the time and compared them to classic shorts such as the Looney Tunes. They came to the conclusion that then-current animation from studios such as DIC and Hanna-Barbera was formulaic and had no unique style. Geraldine Laybourne believed that the best characters, such as Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, and Kermit the Frog, were those characters who were linked to their creator. Laybourne and the team decided that the creator should be the one who was the center of the production, just as it was in the old days. Also, having a library of animated shows that they owned would allow them to both prevent having to license other animation and make money for the network- and also eventually make back the high cost of producing original animation, since animation is costly to produce, but has a long shelf life. It was an expensive and laborious project- around $12 million in total ($1 to $2 million per pilot) to commission eight pilots, of which they hoped four would be able to air as an animated block with a target date of August 1991.

Only three of the eight made made it through to production: Doug, Rugrats, and the wonderfully edgy Ren & Stimpy. The success of these inspired others throughout the next decade, including:

Rocko's Modern Life, whose first season is on review at AV Club Hey Arnold!, whose main voice actress (for Helga) recently did an informative Q&A over at Reddit Kablam!, the comics-inspired variety animation show with one catchy theme song ("Two Tone Army" by The Toasters) The ongoing Spongebob Squarepants juggernaut, whose first few seasons could be pretty twisted Invader Zim (lots of episodes here), whose twistedness was a little more obvious And of course plenty of Mefites are familiar with the artistry and good storytelling of Avatar (no, not the 3D one)

One notable project was Seibert's Oh Yeah! Cartoons, an innovative series of one-off creator-driven shorts that would inspire later work on Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toons series (which in turn led to programs like Dexter's Lab and Powerpuff Girls, discussed here). There's a full list of shorts to peruse on Wikipedia -- many are on YouTube, but far to many to post here. Seibert himself has put a lot of media from the show on the web, like multiple 100+ page books of art from his Frederator Studios, which helmed the project and now makes series like Adventure Time. Don't miss the ongoing 16-part history of the studio (full table of contents are only in that last post). Also interesting, if unrelated, is Seibert's collection of media from his time at Hanna-Barbera in the early '90s. If you want more (lots more), check out Jerry Beck's Not Just Toons: Nicktoons! or Heather Hendershot's more scholarly Nickelodeon Nation. (The Nostalgia Critic is slightly more tolerant of the 'toons) PART 6: Nickelodeon Magazine For years, Nick promoted subscriptions to Nickelodeon Magazine, its flagship print product with a peak circulation of more than seven million. Interestingly, while the magazine was largely concerned with pranks and jokes and celebrity interviews, it was also a haven for the underground comix scene, featuring work from cartooning luminaries like Kim Deitch and Craig Thompson, whose works were popular enough to justify periodic all-comic specials and support award programs and convention events. As cartoonist Rod McKie described his first read through an issue:

So, having heard good things about Nickelodeon Magazine (US), I decided to get a hold of the thing and go over it with a fine tooth-comb, and try to think my way into the thing. The thing was, I had no idea what to expect, it was a kids magazine after all. Well, I was astonished when I saw it, really astonished. I'm not kidding, I was really bowled over by the magazine, I had never seen a publication more visually literate, more cartoon and illustration friendly, it was a cartoonist's delight. [...] I found myself responding to it with the same levels of wonder and delight as a cartoonist, as a parent, and as a teacher. I had never seen anything like this, and I had never seen such a range of mainstream and indie cartoonists all gathered together in one publication.

Though the magazine unfortunately folded in 2009, information and art from its many features can still be found on the web: Fiona of the Felines by Terry LaBan - Grampa and Julie: Shark Hunters by Jef Czekaj - Impy & Wormer by James Kochalka - Juanita and Clem by Craig Thompson - Mervin the Magnificent by Richard Sala - Patty-Cake by Scott Roberts - Sam Hill & Ray-9 by Mark Martin - Scene But Not Heard by Sam Henderson - Southern Fried Fugitives by Simon and Kim Deitch - Teeny Weeny, the Tiniest Hot Dog in the World by Mark Martin - The Uncredibly Confabulated Tales of Lucinda Ziggles by Andy Ristaino - Underpants-On-His-Head Man by Michael Kupperman - Yam by Corey Barba Lots more material in the unofficial Nickmag-Comics LiveJournal site, or browse an old issue at Archive.org. PART 7: Nick News In 1992, the channel hired respected journalist Linda Ellerbee to helm Nick News, a new educational program meant to air periodically in classrooms and in primetime. The show gained renown (and eventually won a Peabody and an Edward R. Murrow Award) for tackling difficult and complex issues like AIDS and global warming in a frank way, taking its young audience seriously and relying heavily on interviews with kids and teens to explore their problems and concerns. Politically aware, the program's regular "Kids Pick the President" mock election correctly called five of the last six winners (save Kerry in 2004). Perhaps the most notable episode of the show was the controversial 2002 special report "My Family is Different" (discussed previously), which dealt with same-sex parentage and attendant issues such as sexual harassment and hate crimes. In a time when homosexuality enjoyed far weaker public support in America, Ellerbee's earnest and nonjudgmental take on the subject provoked bitter outrage from conservative groups, who pledged to boycott Nickelodeon in retaliation. The episode, the show's highest-rated, went on to win a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Television Journalism. The show's still going strong, most recently covering the long-term consequences of the Haiti earthquake. PART 8: Nick Movies In its heyday, the company produced original live-action movies, such as Harriet the Spy (1996) and Good Burger (1997), in addition to adaptations of its animated stable. It later branched out into producing big screen versions of other works, from A Series of Unfortunate Events and Nacho Libre to Rango and the terrible M. Night Shyamalan version of beloved Nicktoon Avatar (The Last Airbender). PART 9: SPECIAL MUSICAL BONUS!! An official "Best of Nicktoons" CD featuring a random assortment of earwormy tunes from across the network; available for download here or with selected tracks on YouTube: Nick Nick Nick (Main Theme) - 3D Laughing Boy Open - Rugrats Theme - Nick Video Open - Kablam! Theme - Thunder Girl - Nick-o-Las Tell Underture - Ren & Stimpy Theme - Happy Happy Joy Joy - Log Commercial - Calling Cades - Aaahh!! Real Monsters Theme - Artman Open - Angry Beavers Theme - I Think I Like You - Hey Arnold! Theme - Haunted Train Blues - Darling You Left My Heart - Look Up! - Simple Things - Rocko's Modern Life Theme - Orange You Glad? - CatDog Theme And what musical bonus is complete without a little amateur a capella? PART 10: It all comes back For the foreseeable future, rotating blocks of the old shows are now set to air weeknights at midnight EST on sister network TeenNick, starting with All That, Kenan & Kel, Clarissa Explains It All, and Doug. If you're not a fan of those, changes will be made to the schedule in response to feedback online through Facebook, Twitter, and other social media channels. Also, regular marathons of the old animated shows run overnight on fellow sister network Nicktoons at the same time, offering some variety for anybody who wants it.

Introducing Scanimate

joelf — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:45:18 -0800

Introducing Scanimate. It was an analogue computer that was programmed by turning knobs, directing beams of light and using animation cells as input. It was one of the first computers ever used to make visual graphics on TV. Scanimate excelled at making flying logos. The logos that they created freaked out a generation of kids. So many people developed a phobia of these logos, there's a short movie out that documents the the fear these kids experienced, and relates to the scariest logo of them all: the dreaded Screen Gems bumper. The movie is called The S From Hell.

Honest Logos

Memo — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 06:37:18 -0800

Logos + Truth Sunglasses: Honest Logos

Hail, Kabletown!

schmod — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 08:47:49 -0800

On the heels of the Comcast/NBC merger, NBCUniversal have unveiled their new logo. Astute viewers will note that there's something missing from it.

That's gonna leave a (trade) mark.

oneswellfoop — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 14:08:27 -0800

Comedy Central introduces its new logo! In the words of Jay Sherman (whose show used to be on CC) it sucks. Its simplicity and stupidity will get it compared to other classic logo disasters (previously on MeFi: Gap, SyFy, UK Space Agency, aol, 2008 GOP Convention, 2012 London Olympics twice, Quark, other logos to laugh at and not found on MeFi: Tropicana). But seriously, is the logo's similarity to a Copyright Symbol (©) part of an anti-piracy campaign? And its new branding material makes use of "cc:" A sign of abandoment of originality, or just acknowledging its copious rerun content? The long version of the video also uses a word the channel usually bleeps out of most of its cablecast content (@1:46). Checkitout. Checkitout. Checkitout. Checkitout. Checkitout. Checkitout. Checkitout. Checkitout.

Pushing the boundaries of logo manufacturing for lots of years.

Terminal Verbosity — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 06:39:27 -0800

When you receive your Logonom logo, you’re not just opening a symbol, a brand or a small representation of you, you’re also opening peace of mind. And that’s something we’ve worked hard for 113 years to pack into each and every box.

Imagine Later

Artw — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:33:42 -0800

The Sci Fi/SyFy rebrand (previously) - was it a success? Yes and No.

Stuck in Logo Limbo

spiderskull — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 09:51:07 -0800

How Low Can Your Logo? "We are testing your capacity to willingly create that which you spend your entire life trying not to create: the worst logo ever." Read the brief or jump straight to the gallery.

swissair

Combustible Edison Lighthouse — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 09:13:51 -0800

Evolution of the Swissair logo and Swissair posters. Many more logos and posters at the Swissair fan site. (logos/posters are direct links to frames at the fan site)

Give me some more....okay!

MaryDellamorte — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 13:39:49 -0800

Ice Cream Truck, the newest video from Cazwell. You maybe have seen his work, which focuses on gay and bisexual urban themes, on Logo. Other videos include: I Buy My Socks On 14th Street, I Seen Beyonce At Burger King, Watch My Mouth, and All Over Your Face. Official website here.

Pepsi Blue Square

naju — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 08:50:29 -0800

Introducing the new Gap logo.

Who isn’t familiar with that wonderful yellow frame?

desjardins — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 16:05:15 -0800

The Timeless Beauty of National Geographic (and it's not about the photographs!)

And now, a choice of viewing

Electric Dragon — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 06:11:23 -0800

TV idents provide a bridge between programmes, remind the viewer of the channel they're watching and give the announcer something to talk over about what's on next and later. YouTube is a veritable treasure trove of idents, especially British ones, including
Classic BBC2 idents of the 90's, The current Channel 4 ones BBC1 idents from 1953-2008* One of BBC2's current idents: "Zoetrope" The original Channel 4 ident from 1982 (featuring the Fourscore sting) The individual identities of the various ITV regions.* BBC Sport's ident (with bonus Grandstand theme tune). * recreations rather than recordings. Special occasions often require special idents. BBC1 always has a different set for Christmas, and 2009's were no exception, to publicise David Tennant's swan song in the TARDIS. BBC2 introduced ones for its Dr Who and Star Trek theme nights and Channel 4 commissioned a Simpsons themed one when they obtained the terrestrial rights to that cartoon. And, of course, this post wouldn't be complete without Monty Python's parodies of the continuity junctions. (Idents have been featured previously on Metafilter.) [thanks to schmod for prompting me to put this together]

Anywhere, TM

emilyd22222 — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 20:23:37 -0800

A new project called CitID is attempting to collect logos and/or typefaces representing every city in the world. So far, they have over 150 submissions, including Berlin, Kiev, Portland, Bogota, Tokyo, and Cape Town. See also: Neighborhood flags Typographic Japanese town logos using Kanji

Redesigned BP logos

nthdegx — Wed, 26 May 2010 09:05:44 -0800

Greenpeace invite redesigns of the BP logo. A few interesting ones. Some of the ones I've picked out borrow conceptually from older entries where perhaps the actual execution was not as strong.

Zik Zak Zoom

Blazecock Pileon — Thu, 13 May 2010 12:19:02 -0800

Halation can interfere with your brain making out the shapes of distorted words, such as on passing highway signs. Banned from advertising in F1 racing, a major tobacco company that sponsors a team came up with a novel design solution that may play on this visual effect to an opposite, suggestive effect, depending on the observer. European officials were not amused, going so far as to call the design "subliminal". Ferrari responded by removing traces of the design from its cars. Judas Priest could not be reached for comment. [via]

Meet the new Aol. It's not your mom's AOL. Wait, maybe it is.

ardgedee — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:56:57 -0800

Remember AOL Time Warner, the poster child of dotcom corporate hubris? It's still around, if only for a few more days. On December 9, the current media megacorp will fraction off former computer network behemoth AOL as a web portal firm and online brand. And what will that brand be? It will be a stock photo superimposed with a white Helvetica "Aol." And, well, that's it. So when you think AOL, think getting kicked in the face and the back of the head at the same time and participate in the Aol. IPO.

Design Do's and Don'ts

netbros — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 11:16:27 -0800

The Design Cubicle articles focus on design tips and resources on all subjects of design; ranging from print, web, logo, branding, advertising and marketing. Popular articles include 10 Common Typography Mistakes and understanding the importance of good type skills; and 12 Common Photoshop Mistakes and Malpractice. The strategies behind designing a successful and memorable logo involve a process which progresses through various stages of listening, research, development, feedback and changes. 11 Steps of a Successful Logo Design Process.

Splat No More

Servo5678 — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:23:07 -0800

Childrens' cable television mainstay and media brand Nickelodeon is rebranding as "The Nick" with a new splat-less logo. "The decision to streamline the network identities came after [Nickelodeon execs] started putting all of the channels' logos on the same business card--and decided that it looked like a mess." Just kidding about "The Nick", but the rest is true.

FORWARD 100

roll truck roll — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 23:29:45 -0800

The Great Red Herring Chase is like TypeRacer, but with a plot. Greg Wohlwend's other games are addictive, destructive/cute (previously), philosophical, and baffling. Next, he's taking on the exciting world of patent illustrations. But if your childhoood was anything like mine, his homepage will be your biggest productivity killer. (via)