Advice on Your Current Project

I've been at this teaching design thing for around 30 years. I've been studying design for almost 40 years, and during that time, I've seen some really great logos and some really awful ones. Not to boast, but I've designed some logos, that if not great, are pretty good. And, I've designed logos that could easily fall into the awful category. Out in the wild, it's easy to spot both kinds, you just have to look.

However, what's awful to some, may be great to others and vice versa. When we talk about design, we often get back to taste, and taste is very subjective. But, even given that the aesthetics of logo design can be individualistic, there are logos that come to mind that almost everyone agrees are great design. You might not say they're pretty, but they're pretty great. What makes them great?

One great logo that comes to mind is the FedEx logo. The "hidden" arrow between the E and the x in Helvetica, was a stroke (pun intended) of genius. Lindon Leader designed this logo, which Rolling Stone Magazine has ranked as the eighth best logo of the past 35 years.

Another logo designer of note was Paul Rand, who designed logos for ABC Television,  IBM, Next Computers, and others that you will undoubtedly recognize.

Then there's the logo that is arguably one of the most famous and one of the most parodied and copied logos ever. This the logo created by Milton Glaser for the I love New York campaign.

One of my favorite designers is Herb Lubalin, who is noted more for his type designs than for logos. But, he was no slouch at logo design, as these show:

Saul Bass not only designed logos that became famous and are still in use, but designed the posters for several Alfred Hitchcock movies, including Psycho. According to legend, Bass was art director on the film Psycho and directed the famous shower scene. Here's some of his legendary work:

Note how many of the logos above, although designed, in some cases, decades ago, are still in use. So, one characteristic of a great logo is that they stand the test of time.

Another characteristic comes to mind when looking at what many of these logos share and that's simplicity. Look at the AT&T, United Airlines, and United Way logos above: they're all simple in concept, but still befit the organization that they represent.

A web site I discovered while researching logos and their designers for this post is LogoDesignLove, which I strongly encourage visiting and bookmarking. I invite you, especially, to check out this article on negative space in logos. Good stuff, great examples.

This is a pretty good (and short) article on the anatomy of logos--more helpful information.

Dr. P

You'll appreciate this later.

Maybe not so much now, because chances are, you're not looking ahead to an assignment a couple of months away when you have to design a web site prototype. But, so you know about them, there are five landing page mistakes that you should know how to avoid. It also explains what a landing page is, in case you didn't know.

Now Hear This!

A pretty good story on NPR about how advertising is changing. Read and/or listen to it.

Connections

Because I follow the Graphic Design & Publishing Center blog over there ---->, I discovered Scott Berkun, who writes about innovation, although he makes a point of not using that word much at all because it has lost a lot of its original impact. And, because I discovered Scott Berkun, bought his book The Myths of Innovations (for the Kindle app on my iPad), and Googled for his web site, I now also follow his blog. Because I follow his blog, I'm highly recommending that you also follow it, also.

What Berkun has to say about creativity (innovation) has been said before, but his approach is different in that he talks about the myth of the Eureka! moment when some outside force hits and the idea is born. His point is, that even if the idea comes in a flash of blinding insight, it comes after a, sometimes, long process. Sometimes, very long. Which is creative way of saying that creativity is hard work. Or, as I heard a long time ago: "Creativity is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration."

Now, it isn't fair to Berkun to leave it at that. I'm sure he has a lot more to say, but I just quick-read the first chapter where he lays out his thesis. But, the first chapter was so interesting and insightful, that I had to stop and recommend the book even before finishing it. Not to mention that I felt I needed to promote the links to the left that I just added on behalf of the book.

Happy reading!

Dr. P

It Has Been Awhile

I just looked at the date of my last post and noted that it was October 7.

Blogging, I've discovered, is a discipline that must be practiced more often than that, if it's going to be worthwhile. And, worthwhile is one of the goals of this blog.

For my Spring 2011 Ad Techniques students: Welcome! I promise hope to do better with this blog this next semester because the audience for this blog is you. With this blog, I hope to provide you with timely and instructional news and information that might help you accomplish your assignments. If I run across an article for instance that I think will be informative or thought-provoking, like this one, or this one, I'll link to it. As I come across web sites that I think might be worth a visit from you on a regular basis (such as this one that I just linked to twice), I'll put a permanent link to it on the left there <--------.

Likewise, if you come across something that you think I or the class will benefit from, use the comments section, below, to give us the link.

Dr. P