Tag: graphic design

Logos, selective hearing and non-constructive criticism

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

In my humble opinion, a logo should mean something.  That being said, I do in fact believe that the business world is full of hundreds upon hundreds of “meaningless” logos and identities.  If it’s a company’s goal to create a logo that stands out, that’s understandable and justifiable, but when the day is over, there’s still a chance that it’s essentially meaningless; if what’s created doesn’t symbolize anything, then it’s imperfect in my opinion.

Whenever I think about logos out there, that I think are “great logos,” off the top of my head, the featured above ones stand out.  I don’t like the Mets as a team, but damn if I don’t think their logo is a fantastic blend of meaning, symbolism and an aesthetically pleasing color combination.  The skyline features symbols of the five New York boroughs, a bridge overlapping them to symbolize connection between them all, the Mets word mark in classic script, all encapsulated within a fairly subtle baseball silhouette.

FedEx seems like a fairly inconspicuous word mark logo, but when the arrow within the E and X in Ex were explained to me, it was one of those can’t not see it anymore moments, which is subtle genius, because the arrow represents the forward progress of shipping logistics.

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I’m sure The Hateful Eight is going to be a solid flick…

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

But I can’t not hear the similarities in sound between “Hateful Eight” and “Chick-Fil-A.” And when an idea like that permeates my brain, there is absolutely nothing in the world that can stop the need to illustrate what I think.

Sure, it’s shoddy and sucks (mostly) on account of me using the brush tool in Illustrator with a mouse, instead of a tablet, but it gets my point across. My favorite part of making a spoof logo of Chick-Fil-A, is finding out where and how to integrate the eyes, beak and comb into any letter that isn’t a C.

But here we have it, an illustration of what goes through my head whenever I repeatedly hear the title The Hateful Eight.

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Guitar Hero: The Next Generation

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I saw a commercial for the new Guitar Hero game, and when the logo flashed on screen at the end of the spot, I couldn’t help but think that I’ve seen this logo before.  Upon looking at the logo some more, it dawned on me that it was basically the same font as the JJ Abrams rebooted Star Trek franchise’s logo.

Granted, upon putting them directly next to one another for direct comparison reveals that they’re not 100% identical, but at first blush, my designer’s eye is basically seeing “the Star Trek font” when I see the new Guitar Hero’s logo.

For all intents and purposes, Star Trek’s typeface is probably derived from an existing font, with slight modifications made to it to (attempt to) make it their own, but as far back as I can recollect, Star Trek did come first, therefore, I immediately associate it to them when I see any instance of a similar font being used.

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The logos of the SEC, unbiased

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I read this article recently, where a publishing company that produces a ton of annual sporting magazines decided to rank the logos of the SEC. Out of paranoia of sounding like they were full of shit, they turned the reigns over to their in-house graphic designer to compile the list, full of artistic rhetoric and extraneous words to justify ultimately what is a subjective list.

The thing is, the graphic designer went to Ole Miss, and the publication is based out of Tennessee. Both locations are homes to SEC schools, and right then and there, I have no choice but to discount the entire list as garbage due to bias, especially when Tennessee is given the top spot with weak justification; seriously, curled interior angles plus creamsicle orange makes it the best?

So, since I am an ACC guy, don’t really have any vested interest in any SEC football programs, save for the fact that the mythical girlfriend is a South Carolina girl, I think I’m just a little bit more qualified to rank the logos of the SEC. Yes it’s still ultimately a subjective list, but F off, I need something to write about.

From worst to best:

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I’m sure this logo will look great underneath a giant orange THE HOME DEPOT logo

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Long story short: Atlanta’s future Major League Soccer team unveils its team’s logo (above).

Like the vast majority of the newer sports logos coming out, Atlanta United FC (Futbol Club)’s newly unveiled logo, is basically a pog. And why wouldn’t it be? Pogs are perfect circles and perfect circles are safe, sort of versatile, and nothing says “trying to fit in,” like doing what everyone else is doing, when it comes to the notion of branding a professional sports franchise.

Well, it really could have been worse, and frankly, Atlanta United FC is a way safer name than if it were something that were trying to pay too much homage to the city, like one of the various corporations that runs roughshod throughout the rest of the city.

But the reason that I decided to take this story and brog about it, is naturally all the rhetoric that is spewed out to justify a design, because when the day is over, most of it is utter bullshit, and really boils down to the fact that those in charge, AKA those who paid the most money, AKA probably Arthur Blank, co-CEO of Home Depot, decided that something fit their personal aesthetics.

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The Washington Wizards and team logos

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Impetus: The Washington Wizards have changed their official logo, ditching the bearded wizard that has plagued the identity since 1997 and has been gradually phased out.

Halle-fuckin-lujah.

Back in the mid/late-90s, when I was a huge NBA basketball fan, I loved the Washington Bullets. They were my hometown team, and despite the fact that they more or less stunk record-wise, I still loved them. Because my parents didn’t allow me to have cable, aside from the NBA on NBC on weekends, Bullets games were the only regular exposure to watching basketball available.

I watched through the rough days of teams anchored by Tom Gugliotta and Rex Chapman, to the arrivals of Chris Webber and Juwan Howard, to hope to rekindle some of that Michigan Fab Five magic, which actually produced some halfway decent, and entertaining squads. And who could forget loveable 7’7 Gheorghe Muresan, and the perpetually stoned-looking Rod Strickland?

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When creative parodying strikes

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I once saw a meme image that stated “your shirt says UFC but your body says KFC.”  Bahahahaha.

I laughed about it heartily.

There’s a guy at my gym that is an obvious resolutioner, and I’m pretty perceptive and good at recognizing people at places that I go regularly.  To this resolutioner’s credit, he has been coming at least once a week for the last three now, but that is still no indication that he might vanish come February, but the thing is, that there are two things that I noticed about this guy:

  1. 100% of his “working out” is spent in cable crossovers.  Whether anything that can be done with cables, he’s doing with cables.  Sometimes he’ll jump up and grab the cross beam and try to do some pull ups, but literally 100% of his time in the gym is spent amidst the cables.  Naturally, no leg workouts occur here, either.
  2. He always wears this pair of TAPOUT shorts.  Sometimes in conjunction with a TAPOUT shirt.

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