One of the amusing facets
of branding is the baloney some graphic design firms use to justify a logo
recommendation.
In my opinion, logos are often overrated. A logo is just an identification badge, it’s not the brand promise.
It also appears that sometimes, the more important a logo project, the bigger the baloney.
For example, according to the New York Times (11/23/09), AOL is preparing to spin itself off from Time-Warner on December 9, 2009. Now I am not against revamping logos if there is good justification. What’s humorous is the hype some design firms use to describe new logos. In the AOL case, they are changing the type face — using upper and lower case, and adding a period — AOL becomes Aol. So far so good.
But, I assume in an effort to strengthen their recommendation, the respected design firm, Wolff Olins of New York, said the period was added to “suggest confidence, completeness” . . . and it signifies that AOL is the best place to go to get the best content period. Really? What happens if Google or Bing catch on and put a period after their name?
The new logo looks fine,
but please, spare us the stories that are phony baloney.
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You're absolutely right. A good logo by itself is of little to no value. Good design coupled with other elements outlined in your Q&A can take a logo to a great design status. Great examples come to mind ... Nike, Target, Apple and so on ...
Posted by: Stevegarrettvpi | January 07, 2010 at 09:52 AM
Hi there,
I was just passing by to this post, and enjoyed reading it. This post is really great and informative thanks for sharing about AOL Logo Design well i like the logo.
Posted by: Logo Design | February 10, 2010 at 12:37 AM
Strange how once you have heard about something you see it everywhere. I am on a course at a university in the UK and I have a guest lecture session tomorrow with none other than Wally Olins. Might bring logo design up and question the hype!
Posted by: claire | March 01, 2011 at 10:18 AM
Interesting, Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: tegaderm | March 20, 2011 at 01:34 AM
Logos are indeed important. It's the most face of every company.
Posted by: website | June 22, 2011 at 02:54 AM