Page 93 - DLIS402_INFORMATION_ANALYSIS_AND_REPACKAGING

Information Analysis and Repackaging

Notes the trend reached a tipping point. Designers’ fascination with the social culture characters has lead to
the adorable personification of the logo design industry’s output.
Society has become comfortable with the endorsement of anything bearing a smile. Gaming
characters, Twitter birds, manga literature—all inundate a new generation. At every on screen pop-
up, there is an opportunity to have your own mug shot translated into a two-dimensional avatar.
These aren’t just the cereal box advertising characters that coaxed a generation to the breakfast
table. These logos are simple, often geometric and mono weight in line. Anticipate their audience to
be tech savvy and relatively new to a pay check.

Vibrate
What was a mark of poor printing craftsmanship for generations is now rearing it head to remind us
of the medium. That slight misregister that caused visual vibration that could blind a reader halfway
through a paragraph is now a confusing part of some logo specifications. Registration was once
considered a CMYK printing issue only. Now the issue of focus is a part of the 3D movie experience
when a patron removes his or her special glasses to wipe them clean of hot buttered fingerprints.
Either of these experiences reminds the consumer that there is a technical reason that great work
looks great. These logos pull back the curtain to reveal the magic pre-primetime. There is no contesting
their confrontational aspect. Much like an optical illusion demands, the consumer must give them a
second look. But will the audience get the inside joke? The question may be, is the design mishap
blatant enough to keep the consumer from simply believing that the designer was inept.
1. Cricket Design Works, Momentum 2. PUSH Branding and Design, Blur MediaWorks 3. Corporate
Movement, Waterfunk LLC 4. Judson Design, Cradle Robbers.
O Yes, it’s an O! A veritable avalanche of full 360-degree, non-elliptical but very perfected, and
thick as a cross-section of a suspect coronary artery logos are upon us. Kudos to each for finding
some graphic differentiation through modification to its surface or supporting cast of shadows,
bars, dot, stars, and stripes, and so on. As clean as these are, I am starting to miss a nice Bodoni O
with a bit of line variance or maybe a forward-leaning italic O: With those, I know I’m looking at a
letter and not just a vacuous circle. The difference between an O standing for something and a zero
standing for nothing is slight indeed.
You would have to assume the Obama logo that was rightfully acclaimed for breaking ground and
tradition in the realm of politics must share in the responsibility for this trend. As fresh as that mark
was, its ubiquitous presence may end up accelerating the expiration date on followers. Consumers
may well identify these similarities, leading you to ask: Will they believe there is an implied affinity
between them, and will this influence their opinion of this entity?

Earth

This is the solution for the client who wants to see his logo include everything on the Earth. Literally.
Stylistically, this could certainly be broken into two categories: worlds with a perimeter populated by
topical detail or worlds built out of topical detail. Since both variations have emerged simultaneously,
we’ll treat them as the sustainability solution du jour. There is a certain whimsy about these logos,
with their silhouette characters populating the orb like Gullivers in the land of the Lilliputians.
Part of the charm here is the dense amount of detail in a limited space. It starts to address the
importance of our cohabitation and mutual respect as this big green cargo van is hurled round the
sun. No attempt is made to define land mass or prime meridians, just a loosely round object with an
exaggerated gravitational pull to keep its passengers on board. Minutia on a logo is generally avoided
as it can vanish when scaled down, but this group seems to transcend this tenet by inviting the
viewer to enter, magnifying glass in hand.

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