Thursday, October 9, 2008

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Just a note, the original logo is on the top, and the newer one is on the bottom. All logos are (C) their respective companies.

Starting off with the Stop & Shop logo.The original logo was and still is very iconic with this popular grocery store. The red and green "traffic lights" fit the name very well, attract the eye, and has served the company well over the years. By today's standards it may be a little outdated in the text department with the "Star Wars" style "ST" and "SH" and the general shape of the letters do look a bit 70's, but like I said, it is an image that people know and are familiar with. If you wanted to update this logo and still keep it iconic, I would look into changing just the font, something similar, yet more modern looking. However, the designers over at Stop & Shop feel that the way to update an iconic image is to completely start from scratch. With the new purple, yellow, red, and green logo I don't see "Stop" & Shop any more, and I really do not see how the wedges represent a grocery store or the name of the company.



Next up is D'angelo, a popular deli famous for it's grinders.
The original logo was and is very retro 1967, eye catching, and that is what I like about it. I guess the designers at D'angelo though it was time for an update. What they did was, like in the Stop & Shop case, was completely redo the logo and not keep anything about it that makes you recognize the brand. They got rid of the grinder "L" and used one of the most boring type faces around -- Copperplate Gothic set in bold -- and make it look more like a bakery than a deli. I guess this new logo could be fine, maybe throw some imagery of cheese and lettuce under the roll on the top and make it look sandwich like.



This logo has probably had the rounds in your inbox along with other funny and wrong images.
The original logo for the Arlington Pediatric Center contains an unintentional subliminal message... I understand that it is supposed to be a parent, or a doctor caring for a child, but it doesn't really look that way. I don't think I really need to explain what it looks like here, I hope you all are adults and can add 2 & 2. The serif text next to the icon is appropriate for a medical center, very clean and professional looking. Over all, it is a pretty good logo for a doctor office, they just need to change the image on the left.
I guess they finally looked at the logo again after reading about it all over the net and decided to update it. When I checked the site earlier today they have this new one all over it. While it is more appropriate I sadly feel that it is a down grade. They took a very simple idea and went with it. Now personally, I feel that they did not execute this well. I see where they added "bathroom sign" children holding a teddy bear in the letters to add the visual of a pediatrician, but to me it just seems very cluttered and busy.



The original Wal-Mart logo has always been simple, bold and noticeable. The new logo is also simple but not as bold. I can sort of see why they changed it... it looks like they are trying to class things up a bit. I'm not sure how well this is going to go over because the classic navy blue logo has become iconic with Wal-Mart's low prices.
On the other side I kind of like the newer logo. It is much more modern looking and follows many of the current trends in graphic and logo design. However, it doesn't carry the same message as the original.

Labels:

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Word to my People

(Click to Enlarge)

This is the banner for one guy's blog about computer graphics. In his bio on the blog he states that he has been studying and researching computer graphics for 15 years and he will never stop learning. The blog is full of different effects that you can do for images, bitmaps, and text. Now what I gather is that he is in the process of designing software that can perform these effects. Some comments he has gotten say things like "Big deal, Photoshop can do this in 2 seconds", but I think I'll cut him some slack. He has the patients to develop and program software for image editing, props to him.

Sadly, based on the banner, it doesn't look like he has looked much into design end of computer graphics. The logo I think is great. I like the idea of the cursor with a brush and pen for fingers and the RGB swatches fit perfectly. One thing that I would try is to try and make it so the cursor is holding a pencil...

The composition of the banner is in need of some help. The "Picture To People" text is very hard to read. The spacing is very awkward and there is way too much white space. I would suggust to keep number of fonts to a minimum. I would use one font for the main title, something very easy to read and understand, and use a second for the sub text, this can be serif. Three different fonts would be the absolute maximum that I would use, but the less the better. If you want something in the subtext to stand out, I suggust making it a little bigger, bolder, add and underline or changing the color.

Labels: ,

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Logo-no-no

Here is a logo for a small and relatively local printing and copying company.

The image doesn't enlarge much more

One of the things this company offers is "Graphic Design" which is headed by a "21 year employee of the company" and offers technical skills in PhotoShop, Illustrator and InDesign.

Well... If this logo, which is supposed to represent the company, does what it is supposed to, we can tell that the designer has mastered the solid brush tool, paint bucket fill tool and render clouds effect.

It looks like they need to brush up on their Illustrator and pen tool a bit. I know it will sound cliche, but maybe splash a CMYK color swatch across the sails or as an underline of the last line of text to bring in some of the feel that they do printing...

One last thing, on their website (I won't link it to protect them) when you click on certain links on the splash, the frame set pages of content show up as "Untitled Document". Not getting a lot of points there either.

---------

On a side, there is a billboard near my work that I would LOVE to snap a picture of and blog about! Maybe next time I am stuck in traffic next to it I'll snap a shot with my cell.

Labels: