Tag: graphic design

Why change a solid logo?

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Supposedly, there are rumblings that the NBA needs to change its logo.  The Undefeated has made a game of potential silhouettes to replace Jerry West; naturally being The Undefeated, ten of them are black guys, and then Larry Bird, almost like an obligation to option out a non-black guy as to not seem too obvious. But the question I really have is, why??  Why change the NBA logo?  There’s nothing at all wrong with it!

This isn’t like the Cleveland Indians, Washington Redskins, Atlanta Braves or any other sports team name that triggers white guilt and is always in the conversation of needing to be changed because they’re construed as offensive.  This isn’t like the Vietnamese skin care center that uses a logo that’s too infringe-y to an existing copyright and needs to be changed, so people don’t mistake them as manufacturers of zombie serum.  Or this isn’t like, Wendy’s, whose prior wild western-looking type face made their brand look as old as the era in which the font best represents.

The NBA logo is an icon in itself, and has no need for change, especially for no good reason other than the sake of change.  It doesn’t help when Jerry West, the alleged basis of the silhouette in the logo is all white-guilty and is clamoring for a change as well, but thankfully the NBA themselves continues to deny it as to deny leverage to West.

But really, there’s no need for change.  What for?  MLB has never changed their logo, and you better fucking believe that the NFL isn’t going to change their logo.  Stability and longevity is what gives strength to logos, and the NBA would be flushing 70+ years of tradition and history down the toilet because the world feels like change should occur on some basis other than never, for everything, including long standing identities and brands. 

Brands that want to last and thrive know how to commit and stick with something for the long haul.  The NBA changing their logo for no real good reason is a stupid idea, and I hope they never actually do it.

I’m on PayPal’s side

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I never really noticed it, because I’m a human being that has a functional brain and knows how to read things before I press buttons, but apparently, there are actually people out there who get tripped up by the similarities between the PayPal logo and the Pandora logo, and now PayPal is suing Pandora for trademark infringement.

Consumerist accuses PayPal of going a little too far in dragging Pandora’s reputation onto the ground, to which they’re not entirely wrong, but I think you also kind of have to think of if you were PayPal; another well-known entity out there has basically lifted your identity and colors, and dumb people are confusing someone else with you.  That’d piss me off too, and make me say some unpleasant things publicly, if it helps expedite a resolution.

Ultimately, PayPal’s redesign came first, so in my opinion, they have the high ground in this debate.  And I think they do have some ground to stand on, because sure, Pandora is only one P versus two, but it also doesn’t help that the blue gradient within the Pandora P is basically mixed out of the two solid blue swatches that make up both of PayPal’s P’s.

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The adaptation period, I suppose

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Last night, I couldn’t sleep.  Not because I took a nap earlier in the day or because I drank too much caffeine, my brain was simply too actively thinking to the point of where it was compromising my ability to fall asleep.  The selling of my house and the subsequent reconfiguration of life was undoubtedly a substantial change, but with the change has come some new lines of thinking as the result of the murky waters of what new paths lie ahead of me in the course of my life.

The one very particular thing that my brain was wrestling with throughout the evening was, something that I haven’t really given that much thought to in the past, other than cursory ideas that never were taken very seriously, resulting myself to fall back into my content little bubble of routine.  I’m talking about my career, as a graphic designer.  Lately, I feel like I’ve been tapping at the ceiling of my current career path, and unless I want to resign myself to staying dormant and padding years doing what I do, I can do that, but then the result of such a choice leads to a lot of fairly time-consuming and not necessarily very lofty end games, that I’d question if I’d be content with when I’m well into my 40s and 50s.

It’s not so much the career I’ve been feeling some discontent with, it’s also the money that comes along with what I do.  Honestly, I’ve never really been that driven by money; I know what I like to make in order to live comfortably within my means, but I’m also not blind to the working world around me, and that there are plenty of other designers with specializations more attuned to the current creative market, that make noticeably more money than I do, albeit with an equally proportionate higher risk of job security than I have.  But there are plenty of those in the creative marketplace that make more money than I do, and up until recently, I’ve been fine with that.

But I think I’ve been content over the last 13 years living in a household where the combined income was one that was pretty well into the upper-middle class echelon, and now that I’m basically on my own now, such numbers don’t look nearly as promising or conveying potential for loan repayment when it comes to planning for the future, like another house.  Suddenly, I’m feeling like my earning capabilities aren’t just inadequate, but not necessarily conducive to saving at a rate that would make the future not feel like too far away.

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LA Chragers logo talk

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

No, that’s not a typo.  In my circles, they have always and will always be known as the Chragers.

Anyway, if you haven’t heard which is very likely because despite my love of sports, like 10% of the people I associate with actually follow them, but the NFL team once known as the San Diego Chragers have announced that they will be moving to Los Angeles.

Back in 1996, the Cleveland Browns were moved to Baltimore, where they became the Baltimore Ravens; they left the Browns name behind, which was convenient for when the NFL expanded again years later, and the Browns were resurrected into the perennial basement.  Such was not the case in San Diego, and the entire Chragers brand, identity and personnel are all going up I-5 to LA.

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What a creative shocker

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Atlanta United FC unveils their official team uniforms, they turn out to be red with black stripes – almost entirely how I had predicted.

Don’t get me wrong, black and red is a cool color combination.  Very hard, very urban, kind of counter-culture.  Black denotes something a little bad, rebellious, with a dark side.  Everything goes with black.  Black and red is the nWo Wolfpac, the supposed cool nWo, as opposed to the old fogey Hulk Hogan led black and white nWo.

But black and red is also the same color combination used by the University of Georgia and the Atlanta Falcons.  I’m pretty sure the Atlanta Hawks have at least one alternate uniform that’s black and red.  If it were even remotely justifiable, there’s absolutely no doubt that the Atlanta Braves and Georgia Tech would bust out a black and red alternate uni if they could.  If Mitchell & Ness actually make hockey apparel, they’re probably already trying to figure out how to incorporate black and red Thrashers merch as throwbacks to the now-Winnipeg Jets.

Black and red is old hat, played out, overdone, here in Atlanta.  Lining everything in gold trim doesn’t change the fact that all anyone will primarily see are blacks and reds whenever Atlanta United FC is playing.

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New beginnings, circa 2016

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I don’t often brog about my career.  I sparsely use names, unless it’s in the past and has been for a while, and I deliberately keep things kind of vague, because I’m a fairly private person in spite of being a regular brogger, and I’m often paranoid that because the world is a fucked up place full of fucked up psychopaths, keeping things ambiguous might be an effective manner to maintain some privacy.  Furthermore, I have a tendency to keep particular thoughts about work close to the heart, since I don’t imagine there’s much good about venting about the people that pay me so that I can live my life, on the internet.

I’m leaving my job.

I’m starting a new one immediately afterward.  To those of my six readers doing the math, that means that I spent but seven months with my former job before jumping ship and seeking greener pastures.

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Furiously excited for more Fast logos

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Among some of my guiltiest of guilty pleasures is my general love for The Fast and the Furious film franchise. I mean, when I was a wannabe car tuner who thought everything JDM was god-like, and wanted to do a laundry list of things to the cars that I’ve driven, I watched the first film with that “it’s going to suck, but I’m going to watch it, so I can criticize everything wrong with it,” oblivious to the irony that I was forking over my money to feed the machine regardless.

Eventually, the arrogance and false sense of superiority dissipated AKA I began to grow up, and it turned out that I actually enjoyed these terrible films. Yes, I enjoy them, but there’s little denying the fact that they’re really campy, over-the-top films. My mom would watch it and call it an “엉터리 movie,” which translated literally means “nonsense.” Whatever though, I still enjoy them, and I can admit that I have seen every single one.

Needless to say, I was amused by the announcement by Vin Diesel who used social media to drop the news that not only is the FF franchise continuing for an eighth installment, but there are plans to have a ninth, and a tenth installment of the story, so that the franchise can literally boast ten films in twenty years. Also amusing are their tentative April release dates, so I can probably pull out the birthday card and force mythical girlfriend to go see them with me. hue hue.

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