ZLOK Branding Blog

Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce got a logo

Yves — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:19:20 +0000

Some found it dull, other like me appreciate the hip improvement from the older Sterling Cooper logotype. For those of you who missed it, TV series Mad Men just started its fourth season, and the new agency now has an office and an acronymic logo.

Burndownblog researched the font used, and explains how it is not — despite fonts nerds paranoid moans — the overdisgraced Arial.

Phew, what a relief…

Steve Jobs talks about designer Paul Rand

Yves — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 12:37:08 +0000

I asked him if he would come up with a few options. And he said, “No. I will solve your problem for you. And you will pay me. And you don’t have to use the solution. If you want options, go talk to other people. But I’ll solve your problem for you the best way I know how. And you use it or not. That’s up to you. You’re the client. But you pay me.” And there was a clarity about the relationship that was refreshing.

An 1993 interview of Steve Jobs on working with designer Paul Rand on the NeXT logo, by Doug Evans and Alan Pottasch

Branding is a free beer

Yves — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 10:10:18 +0000

New episode in the lost iPhone 4G leak story: the first non-Apple business who jumps in and wins is… Lufthansa.

Let’s sum up the beginning if you missed it: Gray Powell, a 27 year-old Apple engineer has birthday drinks, and updates his Facebook status with “I underestimated how good German beer is” from his iPhone. Not an ordinary iPhone: this one is a secret prototype of the next generation model, which Powell — thanks to German beer? — loses at the bar, then someone finds it and leaks it to a gadget website, creating a huge sudden burst of attention on the device everywhere.

Then comes Lufthansa, posting a message on their Twitter: “If you can help us get in touch with Gray Powell, we’d like to fly him to Munich”, which links to an image of an open letter to Gray Powell from Lufthansa USA’s Director Marketing & Customer Relations.

Funny and sharp, witty but not cruel, this letter is getting Lufthansa a lot of attention today on social media, where it’s being passed along with cheerful comments. A very clever PR move from the airline, putting it at the top of the conversation, and showing that not only they know how to make a stunt, but more importantly they also understand the importance of two-way online communication.

The iPhone 4G leak is a fake

Yves — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 14:29:09 +0000

Apple — and Steve Jobs — is well-known for its big announcements, keeping its secrets until the very end, hunting information leaks, and controlling what the media and developers can know (and tell) before new products are being officially launched. Jobs keynotes are notorious for their “one more thing” addendums, where he unveils a new cool little piece of hardware or software, in a tongue-in-cheek way to finally answer heated speculations that spread on Apple-themed forums and blogs.

When media people were invited to come try the iPad before it was released, the one they could play with was literally chained to a table. That’s how Apple is serious about keeping its secrets and maximizing the power of its announcements.

Victor Broïdo has an interesting theory about the whole leak being a fake, set up to boost interest on the new iPhone, after it got put in the shade by the iPad launch.

Sounds far fetched? In The Art of War, written during the 6th century B.C., Sun Tzu wrote a full chapter on the use of spies, and describes one type, “the doomed spies”, as “doing certain things openly for purposes of deception, and allowing our spies to know of them and report them to the enemy.”

It’s very plausible to me that Apple’s marketing people know about the doomed spies, what do you think?

(Photo credit)

Damage control: Nestle learning how to interact with fans

Yves — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 08:42:54 +0000

As one commenter nicely put it, the chocolate has hit the fan (in this instance, all 92,163 fans) after Nestle wrote on their official Facebook fan page: “We welcome your comments, but please don’t post using an altered version of any of our logos as your profile pic – they will be deleted.”

Of course Nestle needs to protect and keep control of their copyrighted brand(s), but is it worth damaging their overall image publicly in the process?

Read the ensuing thread of snarky 200+ comments here.

What should Nestle have done/said instead? Post your suggestions in the comments below.

(photo credit)

Looking for an iPhone app developer

Yves — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:37:34 +0000

If you are based in/near Geneva, and you do wonders with Xcode, Cocoa, Objective-C, C++, C, we want to hear from you.

We
need someone to build iPhone/iPad apps with online content interaction, geolocation, etc.

You
understand details, and the big picture, and humor. You love precision, and your code is clean and documented. You are comfortable and efficient with C++, and if possible with Xcode, Cocoa, Objective-C. JavaScript a plus. Please provide links to existing iPhone apps you developed, if available.

Full-time, part-time, or freelance OK. Start as soon as possible.

(photo credit)

At the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance, and Democracy

Yves — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:12:46 +0000

Gave a workshop tonight at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance, and Democracy. Generic principles applied to a specific niche field, and discussed with a diverse and interesting audience, who had some mind-opening concerns and questions, e.g., “if our NGO want to make a Facebook page, how can we let our local visitors become fans without putting them in danger?” Also, the real value of encryption on webmail and chat protocol for people in the field.

Interesting conversations, although too short. Looking forward to following up.

My slides can be browsed — and commented — at:
http://www.zlok.net/genevasummit

The Brand Quiz

Yves — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:43:47 +0000

How strongly do you associate colour with brands?

The Brand Quiz takes two colours, a visual hint, and a cryptic verbal clue, they put them together and challenges you to identify all 21 worldwide famous brands.

Logorama – A world of logos

Yves — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:53:13 +0000

Spectacular car chases, an intense hostage crisis, wild animals rampaging through the city… And more clever use of logos than your eyes can see in a single viewing. All taking place in a world made of over 2500 logos, logotypes, and mascots. Logorama took 4 years to be made, and is H5‘s (François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy et Ludovic Houplain) first short film (17 mn). Discovered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, Logorama has since been nominated at the 2010 Oscars in the Animated Short Film category.

The full movie has been popping up on several video sharing websites recently, but keeps getting pulled down, probably for copyright reasons, so don’t wait to watch it:

Two very interesting interviews (in French) of the creators of Logorama:

And a little piece of trivia: The voice of Pringles Original logo is David Fincher‘s.

Cute, Friendly, Lovable. Pit-Pat is (finally) real!

Yves — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 18:16:47 +0000

In 1995, Pit Pat was created in the comedy show “Mr. Show with Bob and David,” as a “magical, pan-sexual, non-threatening, spokesthing”, for the fictional GloboChem multinational company. A parody of how those huge and faceless conglomerates work on their branding to appear a bit more human and friendly, Pit Pat was the incarnation of the universally boring and dull.

To remind you of those communication consultants who came up with Pit Pat, watch the (NSFW) clip below:

Then, there is Cetelem, a subsidiary of BNP Paribas, founded in 1953 and now the number one consumer lender in Western Europe.

Until 2004, it had this logo:

Then, in 2004, this PDF explains (view as HTML), when their ‘brand project’ team examined their current logo, “they quickly realized that it had lost its suggestive power”. So, they created the Arrow, designed and tested by a Cetelem international team of communication professionals and operational managers.

As a sign of clear, dynamic, yet familiar energy, the Arrow exemplifies modernity by virtue of its forward-looking, aerodynamic and conquest-oriented shape. This full-bodied symbol flies Cetelem colours, and features a stable oval of balanced proportions, which bears the statuary Cetelem brand, evoking solidity and professionalism. Its organic design aspect together with its use of green underlines our ethical dimension and the virtues of transparency. As a life-like symbol, rounded in shape, warmly coloured, and easily adapted to local requirements, the Arrow inspires confidence and suggests the closeness of our customer relations. An optimistic sign, ahead of its time. A sign that can truly set the agenda for the future.

And here is the Arrow used until 2008:

But in 2005, they introduced a mascot, Credito, into their marketing.

As explained here (and via machine translation):

“How to sell an intangible?”, That is the question that arose Cetelem with his agency. Very quickly, the idea of representing the credit has become a character. “The small figure carries us and expresses the relational values that we wanted to highlight any injecting the empathy that we previously lacked, explains B. Cizeau. There was also talk that this relatively serious credit charge is translated so enthusiastic with an amusing and humorous. Although he probably surprised at the start, the green man was soon well accepted internally but also externally. “We have registered an approval rate of over 70%,” confirms B. Cizeau. As the reputation and brand image Cetelem, it has jumped significantly since 2005. “We have seen very strong increases in all relational items which accounted for us,” said B. Cizeau. Now this character that appears in all the campaigns TV Cetelem accompanies the client in its approach to credit. It embodies the concepts and advice, service, warranty protection. In short, it reassures the customer physically embodying the concept of responsibility is so important in the context of the French market. Following today’s character Cetelem is recognized by 90% of the people and the reputation that precedes the character of the brand, without suffocating it. The figure moreover been incorporated into the new logo Cetelem. “Four years after his birth, the character shows so far no sign of wear, and we are also very attentive to this.” Even abroad, in the thirty countries where Cetelem is present, the little green character has managed to establish itself as an indispensable reference.

Eventually, Credito became part of the logo itself. And now, Cetelem logo looks like this:

And the marketing visuals with Credito like this:

Remember Pit Pat?

So there you have it: it took 10 years for Pit Pat to go from being an actual joke, to becoming what a world leading financial multinational considers “the embodiment of the concept of responsibility”. They just made it green, and removed the slogan. But no doubt someone will sell the corporate tag-line “Take it from me, I love you!” to some huge conglomerate, one day.

This American Life new logo

Yves — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:07:21 +0000

There is something exciting and mind-grasping about This American Life that makes me want to convince everyone to subscribe and start listening to it too. Perhaps I just enjoy their weekly podcast too much to be objective, but this Chicago Public Radio show has the same effect on me and my listening friends as a watercooler-type TV sitcom. Except that somehow it feels healthier.

Any occasion to talk about This American Life is welcome, and the fact that their logo has changed recently gives me a good excuse to post a note here. It was designed by New York-based studio Number 17, who made logos for Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock, Orbitz, and Colors, and a new website is in in the works following their new graphic identity.

Personally, I like how it looks, although I’m not too convinced how it reflects on who they are. Which is kind of a problem for a logo. Somehow, it’s a bit too rock ‘n roll for my understanding of This American Life’s voice. There is something bold and loud in there, where it should be subtle and quiet. It’s cool, when it should be human.

Some other logos concepts they didn’t choose:

Another clever guerrilla campaign by IKEA

Yves — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:24:37 +0000

Introducing another of IKEA’s clever ideas. Proving not only that they are ubiquitous, and they have balls, but also — and more importantly — that they have a positive image in the collective unconscious.

When the layout of your catalogue’s pages are so familiar that you can almost claim as your own the fact of putting a name and a price on a photo, and when a major blockbuster gets a scene nicknamed after you (see the “Fight Club” IKEA clip, below), you might feel like you’ve earned the right to play around a little, especially if it consolidates your brand further.

Some might rightfully argue that it’s disrespectful and rude, and it is the kind of hijacking performance we would expect more from a disruption artist like Banksy than from IKEA themselves, but it somehow proves that they are perceived as “good guys” by the general public (imagine Microsoft pulling a similar stunt, and everyone would flame them in unison), and ТHAT is excellent branding…

Here is the clip:

Billy photo CC by Molly Bewigged

IKEA artificially yet virally successful Facebook campaign

Yves — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:59:49 +0000

“only using Facebook’s already existing functions”

Branding is more than a logo.

Yves — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:36:49 +0000

Until I write my long overdue “what is branding” post, let’s discuss how a corporate identity is just like everything else in the 21st century: i.e., tied to information, and therefore to communication.

Last May, a young designer named Dustin Curtis sent an open letter to American Airlines via his personal website, by offering a mock-up redesign of their website’s homepage. A couple of days later, he published an unofficial response he received from a American Airlines employee (Mr X), along with some of his own comments. Then, an hour after he posted the response, American Airlines fired Mr X.

(First off, it needs to be strongly stated that Mr X should not have used his company email account to disclose company private information. Full stop. If he doesn’t get that, he has no idea what work ethics or a contract are, and more generally he doesn’t understand how the Internet works. Not good for a designer… When an employee uses company property to breach their contract and asks to stay anonymous, they sound like they’re begging to be fired.)

But back to Dustin Curtis, and his nice bold move which got him so much attention. As Mr X replied, “simply doing a home page redesign is a piece of cake”, which Joshua Blankenship eloquently explains: “it’s easy to “design” when you’re unencumbered by things like metrics, creative direction, business acumen, sales experience, actual functionality, enterprise scale, or any thought about how a site with millions of page views and users has to function.” But let’s not be too hard on Curtis: he’s a young designer who wants to be noticed, and he managed to get more than he hoped for. By “young”, I believe like Carlos Pero that Dustin Curtis may simply be not experienced enough to understand the big picture large companies have to deal with.

But the important point here is not whether American Airlines’ homepage should be redesigned or not.

What matters in this story is that the buzz generated by Curtis is the indicator of a new business world that he understands because it is natural for his “generation”: the world where PR, marketing, CRM, sales, and branding, are all interconnected, and get rooted online.

There are already a lot of Curtises out there, and there will be more and more of them as time goes. Businesses better get used to it.

So, the cliché goes like this: in the days before the Net, everyone could climb on a soapbox and gather crowds, but it would take a while before they get a solid audience to listen to them, and most didn’t. Nowadays, it is even easier to set up the soapbox, and reach a larger audience hungry for more pop-corn content. It doesn’t matter if what the millions people on soapboxes say is true, it doesn’t matter if they even understand what they’re talking about, and it doesn’t matter how smug they are, because they will damage your brand, and it will cost you more if control of the situation escapes you.

Personally, I believe in the “there is no such thing as bad publicity” attitude, but you need to know how to handle such situations. And in this case it would have been so easy to get the same amount of publicity — or more! — from the good kind, if American Airlines had followed a few simple rules, such as (but not limited to):

(a) cultivating a good corporate culture where employees can communicate and get listened to, so that they don’t want to talk to strangers about internal dirty laundry,

(b) learning to listen and paying attention to what people say about you online, so that it is the proper PR representative who responds constructively to Curtis, instead of a designer,

(c) communicating, often, always, before designers send you open letters, and especially before your disgruntled employees (who shouldn’t be disgruntled in the first place) reply to them, and

(d) preparing for crises, and being ready to put out fires before they get out of control, with a friendly smile.

This list is by no mean comprehensive, and I don’t claim to cover all aspects of PR and marketing in this humble post, but you get the jist: the worst that can happen to a company nowadays is to be described as being “run by executives who aren’t concerned about customer experience“. It’s not enough to be big or loud anymore, you have to communicate, and that includes listening, and replying.

Better yet, modern companies who understand the value of this conversation, encourage participation and involvement from their audience, their customers, and even their detractors. Think “how am I driving?” stickers, anonymous suggestion boxes in lobbies, etc. If you encourage and facilitate good and bad comments, and pay attention to it, you will build a reputation of trust and transparency, which can go a long way, as illustrated by Google’s famous “don’t be evil” corporate motto.

But more importantly, you will benefit by learning much more than with expensive focus groups, AND you will be able to reply, address and explain issues, help, and educate your audience, before someone else does.

Because the issue is not that people say things about you, but to understand that this conversation has become an integral part of your brand. People will talk, not only the media, and not only about public issues. So your business is now to listen, and transform the opinions into constructive feedback.

In conclusion, if American Airlines want to terminate Mr X because he breached his contract, they should do what they see fit, according to their business rules. But if they don’t want this internal issue to hurt their business, they should prevent the backlash by addressing it before it creates a (badmouthing) buzz.

Crisis? What crisis? We are hiring…

Yves — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:52:24 +0000

If you are in the Geneva region and you are talented web-wise, we are looking for you.

More specifically, we are looking for some kind of wizard developer with near-magic knowledge of PHP/MySQL. JavaScript and CSS are a plus.

If you understand the big picture and pay attention to detail, by all mean send us your resume/portfolio now.

And if you know someone who would fit the description, forward this ad to them please.

(And by the way, graphic designers and XHTML integrators are welcome to say hi, too.)

Noma Bar – Negative space and associations

Yves — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:16:45 +0000

Noma Bar is not a logo designer, but if you are into capturing and simplifying identities (and/or you enjoyed discovering the hidden arrow in the FedEx logo), you should appreciate his graphic design. Born in 1973, Noma has since then illustrated over sixty magazine covers, published over 550 illustrations and released ‘Guess Who – The Many Faces of Noma Bar‘ in 2008, and just last month his second book ‘Negative Space‘.

Interviews with Noma Bar at the New Yorker, It’s Nice That, and Gym Class Mag.

You can buy limited edition prints here.

Logo Design(ers) on Web Trend Map

Yves — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:26:17 +0000

Logo Design(ers) on Web Trend Map via Twitter

I was lucky to get invited to create an account on iA‘s Web Trend Map. So, I thought I’d share the love and I put together a map of Logo Design(ers) Twitter feeds.

For those of you not yet familiar with Web Trend Map, there is an About page, but in short: it aggregates all the twitter posts of the people on the map, removes the useless posts, and extracts only the links, so that you can get just the useful stuff, and not the noise.

I’m sure this map is not complete, so please leave a comment and tell me who I missed, and I’ll add them asap.

Click here to visit the Logo Design(ers) Web Trend Map

McDonald’s going green (literally)?

Yves — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:09:37 +0000

If you don’t live in France you might have missed it, but since November 2008 McDonald’s have changed their color from red to green there.

Not much official communication about this rebranding since the “Come as you are” EuroRSCG campaign which first used it, but it looks like a simple question of surfing the environment-friendly wave and/or inspiring a higher class of product. This is how Jean-Pierre Petit, CEO of McDonald’s France explains the change:

Our logo (the Golden Arches) stay the same, but the change of background (from red to green) follows the evolution of our restaurants settings redesign strategy, and their integration in their local surroundings. The brand is less visible, but better integrated in the landscape. (source in French)

McDonald’s must have been suffering quite a lot from their image in France to make such a change. Even when they tested McDonald’s Dining in Japan back in 2003, offering a nicer menu and nicer settings, they darkened the red as their main color and changed the yellow to white.

Their choice of such a dark green makes me think they wanted to piggyback on the powerful Starbucks brand. Instead, it look like the old logo of British Petroleum.

Personally, I would have advised a brighter, more saturated, and friendlier summer leaf color. Something like:

648 Corporate Identities

Yves — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:29:13 +0000

From ABB to Zurich, this little minimalist website details hundreds of logos, designs, typefaces, and colors of brand identities. Simply named “A Website about Corporate Identity“, it offers a very impressive list of companies, as well as some universities and (Netherlands’) ministries.

The logos themselves can be downloaded but they are protected by password, so if you want to study them you might as well get them from the usual sources. But what’s more interesting and useful is that the author compiled the font and Pantone colors used for each, as well as the firm who designed it, the year of creation, and a little bit of the background.

For example, Adobe‘s logo was designed in 1993 by an internal designer and its red is Pantone 485; Landor‘s version of BP uses the typefaces Univers and ITC Garamond; it was in 1904 that Thorvald Bindesbøll designed the logo for Carlsberg.

Somehow I missed the fact that the France Telecom logo was designed by Landor, and Orange by Wolff Olins.

Fot the typographic nerds, it’s also a good reference on what typefaces were used to design the proprietary ones of Ikea (Futura and New Century Schoolbook) or UBS (Walbaum), for example. Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz uses its proprietary typefaces Corporate A, Corporate S and Corporate E, designed from scratch, and the new Swisscom goes with vanilla typefaces TheSans and TheSerif.

Lastly, because the site is updated but not up-to-date, you can find little gems of the old time, like the classic Air France when it still had stripes and a space, Swissair when it still existed, and before the Tyler Brûlé semi-joke.

And if you read Dutch, there is also a booklet about the general concept of corporate identity.

Photo credit

Dear reader, who are you? (little survey)

Yves — Mon, 18 May 2009 09:00:01 +0000

An informal way of getting everyone to know each other: I thought it would be convenient to have a little questionnaire where readers could introduce themselves and tell a little bit more about what makes them tick. Answer as many or as few questions as you want in the comments below, with as much or little details as you want. And feel free to add your own questions too.

Also, you’re welcome to introduce copy and paste your comment in our logo design Facebook group as well.

Favorite logo design ever (all-time).
Favorite recent rebranding logo design.
Favorite graphic/logo designer.
Favorite non-logo design ever.
(e.g., cartoon/comics character, car/bike, flag…)
Most disliked logo design (if any).
(NOT the brand itself, just the logo)
Product or a brand that you buy mostly because of their logo/mark.
Are you in the graphic/logo design business yourself?
Do you own a logo?
(add a link to it?)
Are you wearing/displaying a logo on you right now?
Where are you from?

Don’t be shy… :)

Thanks and welcome.

Under construction like it’s 1999

Yves — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:16:01 +0000

GREY is a unit of WPP Group and a global advertising and marketing agency, with 432 offices in 96 countries. They provide advertising, direct marketing, public relations, public affairs, brand development, customer relationship management, sales promotion, and interactive marketing services, for such clients as Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, Nokia, BAT, Diageo, Volkswagen, Novartis, Wyeth, Canon, and 3M.

But they’re edgy, so when GREY’s Geneva office is refurbishing its website, they don’t do it the boring way, in the background, and then replace the old site with the new one when it’s ready. No way. Instead, they turn their homepage into an homage to one of those “under construction” pages we loved in the late 90′s.

No content, no info, just a link to their contact email. Some would call it useless and impractical, but we say old skool!

Dear GREY.ch webmaster, don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty and witty, but you really should have used an animated GIF, to make it even clearer. I found these for you in my old Zip disks, that I hope you will like. Let me know if you need some “email us” animated flying envelopes too, ok?

STA Travel gets a rebrand

Yves — Wed, 06 May 2009 02:11:52 +0000

STA Travel, famous worldwide for offering cheap flights to students and teachers (and actually everyone else who’d rather spend less and get great service), is turning 30. To celebrate, they got ~~NYC agency Electric Artists~~ UK based Graphico to design them a new logo and website, which according to their blog, “reflects not only STA, but also their customers”. The new website and logo were released first in the UK site earlier this month, then the US one today.

I won’t critique the new identity because I’m sure Armin will do a much better job than me with it, and also because I don’t feel like writing something bad about a brand (and a business) I use and like.

According to the email we got, STA Travel VP of Marketing and Ecommerce Kristen Celko said of the rebranding initiative that “STA Travel focuses on students and young adults whose lives have been influenced tremendously by technology and collaboration trends in recent years. A primary goal of our branding efforts was to better understand our global consumers and refine our identity and services to support their travel interests and experiences.”

Well, ok then.

Alphabet icons for iPhone

Yves — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:08:45 +0000

I was thinking about those iPhone owners who feel that a wallpaper is just not good enough, and/or want their personalised message to the world to be fully visible at all time, so I quickly designed these alphabet letters which can be used as customised icons on the Home Screen.

I used Helvetica of course, because one can never have enough of that font, especially when it comes to showing off nerdiness on an iPhone. Also, they are all uppercase letters, except for the “i”, which also comes lowercase for all the Mac purists out there.

How to get a letter on your Home Screen:
Using your iPhone, simply click on the link that corresponds to the letter you want. When you are on the page of that letter, touch the “+” at the bottom of your screen, and choose “Add to Home Screen”. Repeat until you have all the letters you need. Then, arrange your letters to display in 4×4 shiny buttons. Yay!

Click here for the alphabet

If you use them, or if you come up with your own version (different font, color, etc.), post links in the comments.

I Invented … the Apple Logo

Yves — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 14:46:55 +0000

A few years ago, Matt Rodbard wrote an article on the invention of the Apple Logo in Sync Magazine. The magazine died, the articles got buried, and Matt was kind enough to let me re-publish it here, so that you can enjoy it and it doesn’t get lost.

- – -

In 1977, Rob Janoff was handed a lousy pro bono assignment … Working for steve jobs.

Name: Rob Janoff
Age: 57
Invention: The Apple Logo

“There were many people who said Apple would go bankrupt if they went ahead with the logo,” says Rob Janoff, the graphic designer credited with thinking up the world-famous emblem. Janoff, 57, first met Jobs while working at Palo Alto, Calif.-based public relations agency Regis McKenna. It was his task to help the sandal-wearing CEO-a good friend of Janoff’s boss-market a makeshift wooden box stuffed with wires, an early prototype of the Apple II. “For inspiration, the first thing I did was go to the supermarket, buy a bag of apples and slice them up. I just stared at the wedges for hours,” recalls Janoff. The fruit of his labor: a simple 2-D monochromatic apple, with a healthy bite taken from the right side. Jobs loved the conceit-only he suggested it be more colorful. Janoff’s boss disagreed, insisting the logo be made all black to save on printing costs. “But Jobs was resolute, arguing that color was the key to humanizing the company,” says Janoff. “So I just put colors where I thought they should be, not even thinking about a prism.” What thanks did Janoff, now the owner of his own Chicago-based graphic design firm, get for all his hard work? “Not even a holiday card.”

Adidas Style logo deja vu (yes we can!)

Yves — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:01:11 +0000

Forget Pepsi, what about this adidas Style shop in Paris?

Some will say it’s a little far fetched, I know. But come on Adidas, a little Obama envy perhaps?

☠

Yves — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:31:08 +0000

☠

When an idea is good…

Yves — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 04:27:45 +0000

Everyone who reads the news — and especially you, who are interested in graphic design and logos — knows that the US government just released the new ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) logo, to be branded on projects associated with the economic stimulus package.

In Obama’s words:

“We’re making it easier for Americans to see what projects are being funded with their money as part of our recovery. So in the weeks to come, the signs denoting these projects are going to bear the new emblem of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, These emblems are symbols of our commitment to you, the American people — a commitment to investing your tax dollars wisely, to put Americans to work doing the work that needs to be done.”

Mode Project, the agency behind the design of the Obama ’08 campaign logo, directed this one too. This time they enrolled designers Aaron Draplin and Chris Glass for the design of this new brand.

No political commentary on my part, as my opinion of Obama and his plan does not matter here. There are haters around, of which I am not, and this post is really just about the graphical aspect of the logo and the conceptual design behind it.

And graphically, I can’t help but notice that what raised the hopes of masses sixty years ago is still perfectly good today too.

A few stars, wheat ears, and a cogwheel or two, and you covered patriotism, industry, and agriculture. Organise them into a circular shape, and it’s easy to make it as a sticker, a badge, or a medal.

In the memorable words of David Brent:

“A good idea is a good idea forever.”

“Zhongguo Gongqingtuan” (中国共青团), the Chinese Communist Party’s Youth League

The national emblem of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

People’s Republic of China’s coat of arms

Symbol of the Communist Party of Canada

Medal for 40th Anniversary of Mongolian People’s Revolution

Coat of arms of the former Socialist Republic of Serbia (part of former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)

Coat of arms of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan between 1980 and 1987

Soviet Union’s Order of the Red Banner of Labour (Орден Трудового Красного Знамени)

North Korea’s Order of Labour (Loyok Hunchang)

TUAW logo design – case study

Yves — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:32:34 +0000

Back in 2005, we designed the logo and overall brand identity for The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW), a blog of the Weblogs, Inc. network, and one of the most successful sites about Apple. As AOL recently rebranded the site and replaced the logo, we thought it might be interesting for some to see how the original logo was actually born, and so we wrote a little case study on where it came from, and how it evolved to its final design. Enjoy its fruity goodness here.

When you’re done, we’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below. And don’t hesitate to digg it too of course. Thanks.

COEXIST: from faith to art, to logo, to business

Yves — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:27:18 +0000

In the beginning there were three of the most ubiquitous and most famous graphic signs used by men today. They were originally made to symbolise a bunch of values and concepts, among which, a certain universality and uniqueness. A star, a cross, a crescent. Classic yet not plain: you got to appreciate the obviousness of these marks and level of success they gathered.

Somehow the origins of branding must be related to how a people differentiated itself from another people, secretly or not, through a simply crafted and easily recognisable sign. And as such, call it brand loyalty if you wish, these signs are unfortunately also often associated with fighting and intolerance, notably in the near east and middle east region where they have been known to be used against one another since pretty much forever.

In 2001, the Museum on the Seam in Jerusalem created The Coexistence exhibition, an outdoor presentation of exhibits by 42 artists, traveling to 24 cities in the world so far. For this project, Polish artist Piotr Mlodozeniec created the CoeXisT symbol, a design which was logically directly relevant to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and as simple as the sum of the three symbols he put together to create it. This straightforwardness brought the logo instant success all the way to the street, where it was adopted by anonymous graffiti artists who made it mainstream.

Coexist original T-shirt, from the Museum on the Seam’s shop

What was as universal as can be in the first place became even more universal when put together, and the combined logo, although a piece of art, was naturally available for anyone to grab and redistribute. Until — as it is often the case — Mike Irving, Joe Sadler, Chris Tierney & Kyle Boyd figured they could call it a brand, claim the trademark’s right, and sell T-shirts to hipsters with a guilty conscience. COEXIST (the fashion label) piggybacked COEXIST (the logo/art/concept) and some charities started receiving the “proceeds of the sales”.

Alternatively, you can buy the original T-shirt instead, pay much less because you don’t have to buy marketing and overhead, support the Museum on the Seam and the artist who came up with the original idea, and take responsibilities for your own actions by giving to charity directly.

I can’t help but wondering where we are going when a business is allowed to claim and exploit not only the symbols of the three biggest monotheistic religions, but a work of art at the same time. And no, I won’t even try to go into the endless depths of the “coexist” part of the story…

Update: You can now support the ☾oe✡is† message by creating and sharing web links (URLs) from this link: ☾oe✡is†.ws URL shortener

Alphabet Truck 2 is asking for your photos

Yves — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 14:21:37 +0000

Alphabet Truck 2, in the making

Eric Tabuchi takes — among others — photos of trailer trucks on empty highways, each one displaying one large letter of the alphabet. His book, Alphabet Truck, published in 2008, took four years in the making, and is about to be joined by a sequel: Alphabet Truck 2.

With this edition of Alphabet Truck, Eric Tabuchi completes a work representing several thousand kilometers traversed over these past four years. The missing link between The back of trucks passed while driving from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara by John Baldessari, and Auchan, the letters of Claude Closky, Eric Tabuchi pushes the burlesque or compulsive logic of his piece in an almost derisory search for what could constitute its Danish and Japanese origins. Through language (Alphabet) and displacement (Trucks), Alphabet Truck therefore questions, beyond its formal aspects and references, the notions of membership, identity and coeducation.

This time, he’s calling for contributions. Asking you to fill the missing letters and participating in what he calls this “highway esperanto”. A few simple rules to follow:
1) Get to the distance where rear view mirrors just disappear;
2) Center the truck, with a proportion of 1/3 – 2/3;
3) Avoid other cars in the frame, and backlighting;
4) Use the highest resolution possible.

thanks swissmiss

Quality vs. Time

Yves — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 17:09:36 +0000

“I have only made this letter longer because I have not had the time to make it shorter.”
— Blaise Pascal

“Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long while to make it short.”
— Henry David Thoreau

“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”
— Marcus T. Cicero

“You know that I write slowly. This is chiefly because I am never satisfied until I have said as much as possible in a few words, and writing briefly takes far more time than writing at length.”
— Karl Friedrich Gauss

“It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book.”
— Nietzsche

“The more you say, the less people remember. The fewer the words, the greater the profit.”
— Felelon

“No one who has read official documents needs to be told how easy it is to conceal the essential truth under the apparently candid and all-disclosing phrases of a voluminous and particularizing report…”
— Woodrow Wilson

“If you want me to give you a two-hour presentation, I am ready today. If you want only a five-minute speech, it will take me two weeks to prepare.”
— Mark Twain

“Perfection is attained, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

“Good things, when short, are twice as good.”
— Baltasar Gracián

Via Saffron Brand Consultants Blog

WOLDA ’09 (Worldwide Logo Design Annual) open for entries

Yves — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 15:32:06 +0000

Wolda, the Worldwide Logo Design Annual, is the innovative graphic design awards scheme that rewards the best logos and trademarks designed throughout the world. This year, WOLDA has added a Facebook group into their marketing mix and are offering a 10% on entry fees and purchase of any of WOLDA annuals.

Check the rules & prices here, and submit your entries here.

Pepsi: The Choice of a New Logo Generation

Yves — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 18:19:29 +0000

Old Pepsi double-dot logo coaster, on sale for $11.99 on Vintage Depot Direct

An interesting thing happened last October, and even though it’s kind of old news already, I keep hearing about it. And every time I see that new Pepsi logo, I think to myself “something’s wrong with this weird shape”. On the other hand, as Chris Glass puts it very eloquently:

The more I thought about how I felt about the new identity, the more ridiculous I felt about having any regard or feelings at all. It’s soda. Headlines declare a financial meltdown threatens the entire planet and here I am considering the choice of thin san-serif.

Yet, as quoted by UnderConsideration from Ad Adge, the rebranding will cost PepsiCo some $1.2 billion over three years (for a bunch of drinks brands, not just Pepsi), as they plan to revamp “every aspect of the brand proposition for our key [carbonated soft drink] brands. How they look, how they’re packaged, how they will be merchandised on the shelves, and how they connect with consumers.” Ad Age estimates that the Arnell Group charged $1M for the Pepsi logo redesign alone.

And so were born the Pepsi “smile”, the Diet Pepsi “grin”, and the Pepsi Max “laugh” — and of course the obligatory “lower case sans-serif à la iPod” wordmark — that got designers all around the web talking and debating.

For the launch, Pepsi sent three packages to 25 “digital and social media influencers”: The first contained five cans with logo designs from 1898 to 1950, the second contained five cans with logo designs from 1962 to 1998, and the third contained six newly designed can full of actual Pepsi.

That last box also contained a DVD with a video highlighting Pepsi’s 110 year history all the way to this new logo.

To me, it doesn’t matter much that I find the idea cute and the execution extremely poor and awkward. It is not important for two reasons:

First, because Pepsi keeps playing the “we’re number 2, and we try hard to be cool” card, instead of hiring the right people and rebrand themselves as a whole, completely, to finally become a brand as “classic” as Coca Cola, rather than “an alternative” to it.

Second, because everyone have been talking about it, and the logo change was primarily an excuse to make people say and write “Pepsi” all the time for a while, since they wouldn’t otherwise. It seems Pepsi (and Coke too, for that matter) make minor changes their logo/brand/image/packaging on a fairly regular basis probably just for that reason. And it works. Better than a traditional ad campaign.

Everyone is talking about it so much, some even see a conspiration theory in these clumsy bézier curves, but judging from the comments, the humor is lost on some (too early to joke about Obama yet?), so I won’t go into it (even though it’s obvious that Pepsi’s creative department must have been disappointed that the slogan “Yes we can” was already taken… It’s a joke, people!)

And for those of you who can’t get enough of these, and want to see even more Pepsi Cola cans from the past, have a look at this impressive collection. More Pepsi Cola bottles too perhaps? (They also have Coca Cola cans and bottles, obviously.)

And for when you had enough of that whole logo design rambling, Michael J. Fox being cucumber-grade cool (as always):

IBM Logo Design History

Yves — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:07:30 +0000

International Time Recording Company (1889-1914)

The International Time Recording Company (ITR) began as the Bundy Manufacturing Company in Auburn, New York. ITR’s main product line were mechanical time recorders invented and patented by Willard L. Bundy in 1888.

An ITR time recorder from about 1918.

ITR was later merged into the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company — the forerunner of IBM — in 1911.

Computing Scale Company (1891-1914)

In 1891, Edward Canby and Orange O. Ozias, two businessmen from Dayton, Ohio, purchased the patents for the newly invented computing scale and incorporated the Computing Scale Company for the production of commercial scales.

A Computing Scale Company scale from the 1890s.

Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (1911-1924)

In 1911, financier Charles R. Flint directed the merger of the International Time Recording Company, the Computing Scale Company and the Tabulating Machine Company to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR). In 1914 Thomas J. Watson, Sr., was named general manager of CTR. Watson emphasized research and engineering, and introduced into the company his famous motto “THINK.”

International Business Machines (1924-1946)

In 1924, the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company adopted the name International Business Machines Corporation. The ornate, rococo letters that formed the “CTR” logo were replaced by the words “Business Machines” in more contemporary sans-sarif type, and in a form intended to suggest a globe, girdled by the word “International.”

Manufacturing worker assembling a key punch machine

IBM in transition (1947-1956)

IBM borrowed on the equities in its brand image and reputation to help carry it through a difficult transition from the punched-card tabulating business to computers. It began with a change to the logotype, the first in 22 years. The new logo appeared on the masthead of the January 1, 1947 issue of Business Machines with surprisingly little fanfare. The familiar “globe” was replaced with the simple letters “IBM” in a typeface called Beton Bold.

“Transition” logo on a IBM 026 Printing Card Punch (1949).

IBM continuity (1956-1972)

In May 1956, shortly before he died, Thomas J. Watson, Sr., presided over the official installation of his son as IBM’s chief executive. Tom Watson, Jr. moved quickly, using both actions and symbols to signify a new era. The first visible expression was a relatively subtle change in the company’s logotype subtle, in part, to communicate that any changes would come within an overall continuity. Created by noted graphic designer Paul Rand, the new logotype replaced the former Beton Bold typography with City Medium, as the letters “IBM” took on a more solid, grounded and balanced appearance.

IBM international recognition (1972-Present)

In 1972, the company introduced a new version of the logotype. Designed by Paul Rand, horizontal stripes now replaced the solid letters to suggest “speed and dynamism.” In the intervening quarter-century, the basic design has remained constant, one of the most recognized logotypes in the world, and a design that has been widely imitated by others.

Source and copyright: IBM.com

“Logo designers” Category on Wikipedia

Yves — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:24:50 +0000

It’s funny how Wikipedia has categories for pretty much everything, such as “1925 births”, “1990 deaths”, “Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)”, “Cancer deaths in California”, “Converts to Judaism”, and “Vaudeville performers” for example (I took these from Sammy Davis, Jr.‘s page. But the other day I realised Paul Rand (the designer behind the IBM logo and NeXT logo, among others) and Rob Janoff (who came up with the Apple Computer logo), were not found in the “Logo Designers” category, simply because there was no such category to begin with. So I quickly created it, and added a few people who came to mind. It should be growing and evolving, and I hope you readers will add more logo designers to it.

If you don’t know how to add categories to Wikipedia articles, just add the names (and links?) of relevant logo designers in the comments below please, and I’ll add them for you. Thanks.

Google announces its new favicon

Yves — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 19:21:40 +0000

When it comes to stand out from the others, branding your identity goes all the way to the smallest spot it can fit. One such example is the favicon. A favicon (short for “favorites icon”), a.k.a. “website icon”, “shortcut icon”, “url icon”, or “bookmark icon” is an little logo associated with a particular website or webpage and displayed by most web browsers in the URL address bar, next to the page’s name in a list of bookmarks, and on the page’s tab, next to the page’s title.

Paradoxically to how important this tiny logo can be, and how often it is displayed, one of the — if not THE — most recognised Internet brand, Google, hadn’t changed their favicon for over eight years. Until last June, when the little white logo with a capital G suddenly became a lower g on a blue background. They thought it wasn’t really perfect as is, and “wanted to develop a set of icons that would scale better to some new platforms like the iPhone and other mobile devices”.

They announced they went through more than 300 designs and finally came up with this one:

In the true spirit of web 2.0 and all that, they left the door open for end users to submit their own design and participate in the process. And yesterday, they rolled out the final icon and thanked the people who submitted the inspirations for the latest design.

Most of the design came from André Resende, who added the four colors of the original logo in the new lower case g design. A little retouching, and placing the colors in the four corners later, the new favicon was born.

Favicon design submission by André Resende

Google’s new favicon, which “integrates all of the original criteria: distinctive in shape, noticeable, colorful, timeless, and scalable to other sizes”.

With this “open source” free labor contest, Google got itself a pretty and efficient logo design, and a nice little marketing buzz. Well done, as usual.

What do you think of the new Google favicon?

Want to make your own favicon? Try these sites:

http://www.favicon.co.uk (upload an image)
http://www.favicon.cc (draw your own image on the site)
http://www.html-kit.com/favicon (upload an image. animated favicon available)

Looking for inspiration? Check out these galleries:

LogoInstant.com

Yves — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 23:26:16 +0000

If you think instant soup and instant coffee tastes just like the real thing, and don’t mind settling for something not original to save a few bucks, LogoInstant.com may be for you. They (claim to) crank out new logos everyday, which can be downloaded and used for free, for personal and commercial use, and come in a layered Adobe Photoshop source file so you can edit them too.

You may not care about using the same logo for your startup as someone else (your competitor or a porn site, for example), but make sure to read the terms of use though: while you are free to use and change the “art” you downloaded, you can’t copyright it or try to make money off of their work without getting in touch with them first. So, if you make the next Youtube, you’ll have to negotiate their cut or hurt your brand just when you’re starting to get famous.

Sites like these (or LogoYes.com for instance) fail to address the basic point of branding: originality of the identity. In the end, everything seems to look the same, and as trends evolve the looks of the logos quickly falls out of fashion (which should never happen to a logo in the first place).

Anyone knows of a successful venture who used such “clipart” for their logo?

Vintage Logos from the 70′s

Yves — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:20:54 +0000

Found via Ubersuper, this very inspiring collection of vintage logos from a mid-70′s out of print edition of World of Logotypes. 120 pages of bold black and white goodness from a time when effective logos did not rely on trendy colors nor gimmicky shadows/gradients/transparencies/it’s-a-ball-that-spins-and-bounces-but-not-really-but-it’s-cool-no? And if you want it on your walls, there’s also a PDF file (23.6 MB) of it on Logoblink.

Terrorist organization logos

Yves — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:18:06 +0000

Controversial topic but a sign of the times, Ironic Sans published a post a little while back on the logos of terrorist organizations, pointing out that they need brand identities, just like any other organization. Call them revolution armies or terrorist groups, if they want their message to get across they need to brand it somehow.

With so many groups claiming credit for terrorist acts, and so many videotapes being put out featuring men in ski masks, it’s hard to keep track of which group committed what violent act. So terrorist organizations have logos. It recently occurred to me that someone had to actually design those logos. But how did they decide who gets to do it? Did the job go to whichever terrorist had a copy of Adobe Illustrator?

He classified the elements composing these logos into 7 categories: Stars, One Gun, Two guns crossed, Other weapons crossed, Crossbones, Animals with multiple heads (which usually comes from the original flag of the place they come from, so it could be argued that it doesn’t count), and Other. I guess we can add one more being Map, as these groups often relate to a piece of land and what is more unique than the shape of that land in the logo? Many images in his article, go have a look.

In the end it goes back to the business of communicating your brand in the most efficient way to identify and memorize. Wasn’t it how the crests and flags who represent current nation-states were born originally anyway?

Update: A few more nice images on the US National Counterterrorism Center website. Collect ‘em all!

Which is the real logo?

Yves — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 04:39:43 +0000

You see these logos almost every day, but how well do you remember them? If you’re into logo design, and you claim you have an eye for the tiniest detail, take the two tests at guessthelogo.com and find out if you really are such a logo expert.

The logos of television

Yves — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:50:21 +0000

The power of a strong brand usually means that the identity of this company or product stands apart from any other affiliation it has with (an)other brand(s). If you want your image to be successful, you should keep the focus on it and what it represents. One big no-no for a logo is to apply it on anything and everything, and recent examples of this rule can be found in Google and Yahoo! products getting/keeping their own logo, name, and overall branding, such as YouTube, Flickr, Gmail, Del.icio.us, etc. (I’ll get back to this in another post someday).

In broadcast media, from television to radio, movie studios to printed press, the same logic principles apply, and although the differences between each title would fool the consumer into thinking they all have their independent voice and that you have a real choice, it shows once again the power of the logo, and overall branding.

Neatorama made a richly illustrated list of who owns what on television, presenting the TV channels owned by six of the largest media companies. They used only their logo. Colorful and convincing.

The Branding of Polaroid

Yves — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:34:41 +0000

Polaroid Corporation was founded in 1937, built a world famous name by making instant film cameras from 1948, and announced in 2008 that it would cease production in favor of digital photography products.

But if you’re interested in branding and logos, the period that you want to know about is 1958 to 1977, when graphic artist, illustrator, and cartoonist Paul Giambara worked on Polaroid’s corporate image development and product identity. He made a blog on his branding years at Polaroid, and how they “beat Eastman Kodak and its little yellow boxes at point of purchase despite a clunky product and an irrelevant corporate name”.

His innovative black packaging successfully subdued the dominance of Kodak yellow at point-of-purchase and spawned a vogue of black packaging within the industry. Creator of the ubiquitous Polaroid color stripes, one of the most widely imitated design devices of the last several decades, he designed and produced hundreds of Polaroid packages and collateral material.

Very entertaining, and with LOTS of photos to illustrate the evolution of the the branding and the logo, all the way from the very beginning when there was none.

Another blogger got inspired and went through his own stuff, and posted a few interesting photos of Polaroid related stuff. And if you’re into the cameras of Polaroid, have a look at this small but neat collection, or simply browse Flickr for more…

Got any other Polaroid packaging / branding / logo site to recommend? Post them in the comments please.

Download logos of famous brands

Yves — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 03:37:22 +0000

There are a few sites offering free downloads of big brand logos, for those who need it. I don’t know how legal it is (and I would assume somewhere near 0%), but I guess you should be happy if your logo is being sought after and distributed as just your logo. Basically, the success of a logo is when it is so strong by itself that your whole brand is represented by it. Again, I don’t really understand why you would want to download the logos of Chrysler, Chupa Chups, ESPN, Esso, Goodyear, Miramax, Mitsubishi, Orange, Puma, Tati, and Tropicana, but they are all there and all logos are in vector (Illustrator EPS) format, meaning it is scalable, editable, and printable.

So, if you are collecting brands, learning how to use Illustrator, or simply into anything illegal no matter what, have a look at www.logotypes.ru and www.brandsoftheworld.com. But these site prove us that having access to a lot of successful logos doesn’t necessarily help you get a good one for yourself.

A blog about logo design

Yves — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:59:08 +0000

Welcome to ZLOK logo design blog, thanks for visiting. The goal is simple: talk about logos and logo design, logotypes and icons, corporate identity and branding in general, with news, links, and whatever is relevant to people who are interested in this type of graphic design. Of course, it will often be biased, being a blog and all, but it also means you can talk back and be as biased as you want too. And if you are interested in writing guest posts, that’s welcome too of course.

The next (real) post is coming soon. In the meantime, subscribe to the RSS.

Photo by jem