INFORMATION DESIGN FINDS PROFITS

Finally a way to make money from information design. A big problem in the field has been financing since the private sector has largely ignored the value of data visualizations. But now a company called Column Five Media has injected PR into the mix so as to position information design as an asset since it comes with press and guaranteed brand impressions. So now companies like TurboTax are using good design as a way of advertising by giving consumers valuable information. Pretty fucking smart.

ANOTHER CEO GOT BORED

Well. It is usually the case that bringing simplification to a company's visual identity is a good thing. The new Starbucks logo might be the exception.

Of all the Starbucks logos above the nicest is the first one on the far left. It is in an earthy coffee brown color in a friendly, imprecise, stamp-style print with a unique image (nude sea nymph/siren) that communicates authenticity and a tie to soil. But alas, this is too authentic for what is now a 16,858-store chain. So let's go with the next best thing. Give it a slick, solid type treatment for the brand name with a slick, solid icon. The most recent version did just that and so settled in to a strong brand positioning in our commercial landscape.

Uh-oh. The CEO got bored. The company now wishes to "expand their business" and so nixed the name in lieu of what Starbucks executives are probably now mistakenly lauding as a cleaner, modern, and more visually-appealing design. Wrong.

The nymph alone doesn't communicate a "starbuck." This new design vaguely references the sea (Starbucks originated in Seattle and the name refers to a character in Moby Dick). And it references previous iterations of itself. Not the product. I don't see any beans, steam, cups etc.

Final verdict: the new logo is too pared down. And they're going to need to write their name out on something at some point.

YORK NEW KNICKS

Top: current version; Bottom: Editor's suggestion

The York New Knicks got a new logo. Yay? There have been conflicting uses of the new logo. There is currently a subway ad campaign that features the logo in desaturated colors (closer to the bottom, edited version here, but much lighter). And there is the web presence that gives us blaring blue and orange (top). Sure, sports is, well, sports and so having robust colors imparts feelings of action and intensity, which works for a basketball team. But this comes at the price of a horrendous blue and orange combination. Perhaps the color discrepancy is an indication of this conflict: wanting a non-hideous logo, but at the same not not a dull, lifeless logo. Another problem is that the vertical balance is off because of the negative space surrounding the Y, which is the price of having the N and K balance each other out. Since the Y is so prominent, it screams above "New" and "Knicks." But on the hand it gives an emphasis to a crowd chant and is in linear order.

__________________

Better late than never. Axing Arial is always a good idea. One day it will join BrushScript, Mistral, and Papyrus in the heavens.

The new MySpace logo is a success and failure. What do we see here? No color. Two letters and a horizontal bracket (in balanced alignment). No .com. No icons. Just a visual pun.

The clarity and simplicity is surprising to see in light of the cluttered and complicated design of their current web site (which will also be redesigned by the end of the year). Eliminating the clutter and tightening up the interface was probably high up on the design brief. As was differentiating itself from Facebook, which also uses a blue color palette. Check and check. There is also an interactive element that has the potential to be amusing. (Screen shots here.) The interactivity seems to be akin to some of the Google Doodles.

Let's consider a bigger question. What does this new logo stand for and how does it affect the MySpace brand identity? Over the past several years MySpace has been sinking as Facebook innovated and implemented design thinking. But we're getting to a point where the social networks can diverge. Facebook is an expanded rolodex that enables people to communicate and learn about their contacts' lives. It started by being restrictive to college students with .edu email addresses and still remains a "closed" network. MySpace began as an "open" network—a wild west of sorts. Anything went: fake profiles, spam, porn, bad html. You could search for and "friend" (verb) anyone. But it got too big and unwieldy. The layout of the web site became cluttered and confusing with very intrusive banner ads. MySpace turned to garbage. But then they ramped up efforts in the music artists section, which gave up-and-coming musicians a platform to showcase their work. Now that's different. MySpace can survive by realizing what it isn't (Facebook) and working what it is... a way for people to discover new media: musicians, comedians, and filmmakers. These are people you do not have to personally know in order to connect with interactively.

Returning to the logo design, it seems more like an advertising and promotional tool than a brand identity. For example, the MySpace business card with the logo enables employees to draw in their own personal doodles for customization. The brand identity conveyed by the logo, however, speaks to the vast openness and "anything goes" attitude that makes MySpace stand for any thing. Such a position is too broad and generic. Its home page looks like Yahoo! or any other token entertainment web portal. Not having a color palette fits with their [insert here] brand positioning, but at the same time it sacrifices distinction.

The simplicity of logo design is a big step forward, though, and MySpace is coming into an identity independent of an interpersonal social network model like that of Facebook.

BOYLAN'S BIRCH BEER

Boylan's Birch Beer is the original drink developed by the Boylan soda company back in 1891. Their sales increased during the silly prohibition era, as the company decided to package their soda in unused beer bottles. Now, in a time where so many companies change their visual and/or packaging identities every few years when the CEO gets bored, Boylan's still uses the design inspired by their original bottles. No paper labels here. Just two colors and glass molding. The result is a solid brand that has a permanent seat in your mind as the vintage soda.

HOW TO FIX MAGAZINES: CENTRALIZE AND SIMPLIFY

Magazines and newspapers are continuing to lament their dwindling circulations and inevitable deaths. Their web sites may or may not charge for content. They are losing money. It's a problem. Want to know how to fix it?

Part of the problem with media today is that it is incredibly disorganized and all over the place. Many people have subscriptions to an assortment of media such as: The Wall Street Journal online, Financial Times newspaper, The Economist magazine, on-demand pay-per-view movies, etc. The problem is that a consumer must go directly to each medium they want access to and pay for each separately. In other words, it is not easy for consumers to consume media. If there was one central place in which one could subscribe to everything all at once, perhaps consumers would subscribe to more media. That is why I propose centralizing all media subscriptions in one spot to make things fast and easy for consumers who largely have no time to leisurely shop for and subscribe to magazines, online access, newspapers, movies, internet, tv, etc. Since cable tv/internet providers are ubiquitous in being common to almost all households, the easiest thing would be to throw subscriptions onto the provider's bill. Not only does it make it easy for consumers, but it also keeps tabs on which subscriptions are due to expire and when. In fact, Time Warner already has online bill pay so adding this would not be a monumental endeavor.

Media could be sorted by category for consumers to simply check boxes:

Cable TV
☒ All Channel plan
☐ 100 Channels plus HBO, Showtime

Internet
☐ Earthlink high-speed
☒ Roadrunner high-speed

Telephone (landline and/or wireless)
☐ Unlimited calling plan
☐ Wireless plan

Magazines
☐ Wallpaper
☒ Dwell
☐ The Economist
☒ The Week
...etc.

Magazines Online
☐ dwell.com
☒ economist.com
☐ cosmopolitan.com
☐ theweek.com
...etc.

Newspapers
☒ The New York Times
☐ The Wall Street Journal
☐ Le Figaro
...etc.

Newspapers Online
☐ www.wsj.com
☒ www.nytimes.com
...etc.

BRINKS BECOMES BROADVIEW

Brinks Home Security has changed their name to Broadview Security. It was because in deciding to spin off the home security unit, part of the contract stipulated that they had to change their name otherwise hefty royalty fees would have to be paid to Brinks.

The decision to change the name and re-do the brand identity came at a good time. It is relatively smart to get consumers to process the name change before the housing market turns around and people are more likely to purchase alarm systems for their homes. Although if a product is good and is marketed well then it should not matter, but why not take advantage of the state of our markets right now. Why not? Because in hustling a new visual identity out the door, brand equity was sacrificed.

Consumers have the images of armored trucks and hefty armed men in their minds when they think of "Brinks." As such, it is great for a home security system to piggyback on that association. It creates the feeling of intense security for your home when applied to Brinks Home Security, albeit many consumers just think of "Brinks" and drop the "Home Security" from their minds when they think of this company. This is great. For this company to intentionally dissolve that great connection and go with a name like "Broadview Security" is just a shame. Even if you had to pay royalties, to ditch the Brinks name you better spend a lot of time developing an even better name that doesn't rely on piggybacking on such a strong brand. Broadview just isn't it.

Okay, I get it. The view is broad. They see everything. They know what is happening in your home and can respond appropriately. They are omniscient. Alright, that is applicable. But the name itself is broad. Broadview Optics. Broadview Networks. Broadview Nursing. The meaning of "seeing all" is too broad to be uniquely applicable to home security. And I actually would like my security company to have a narrow view; that is, a view focused in on my home rather than a big, broad view that looks at everything.

The use of Gotham is also broad since that typeface is used heavily in the design world, especially now after President Obama's acclaimed use of it. Gotham is a great typeface; Hoefler & Frere-Jones knows what they're doing. I'm just saying they could have searched deeper for a better fit that is not so prevalent and unassuming. The kerning is tight on this logo, which is good, but the leading between Broadview and Security is too spacious and distances the two words. The typography, however, is the least of this logo's problems. In accordance with the broad idea that the company "sees all" we have two parentheses encapsulating "view" to symbolize the eye. The designer could at least have experimented a lot more with creating shapes rather than simply rotating a parenthesis ninety degrees.

BECOME A CARTOON

What is so appealing about turning yourself into a cartoon? Or rather, turning your photo into a cartoon.

What would compel someone to click through on this advertisement? It's not as simple as wanting to have an image of yourself in a different and vectorized form. The desire to do this stems from one's interest in one's image. There is no investment in the self here since you are taking something that is already an image of you -- your photo -- and getting another image of you. It's ultimately a representation of you that you want others to see. Cartoon-izing yourself also has another function: to confirm an attractive image. You're not going to submit an unflattering photo for this service; you're going to submit a photo that you believe is attractive. Then when you get back an image of a big-eyed, well-proportioned, perfect-haired cartoon, you will smile and like yourself more because of an image. This ad is contributing to the societal problem of people having a preoccupation with images of their selves rather than just being themselves. Don't click through.

BREYERS ICE CREAM

I scream, you scream for a package redesign. This is a great time for ice cream package design make-overs. It is summer and the economy has gone to hell, which means that consumers are turning to quick comforts: vodka, mac and cheese and ice cream.

Breyers' redesign reflects a modern aesthetic that sheds superfluous graphic elements and embellishments. For instance, the "Real Ice Cream" line has been dropped. The trend now is not to emphasize real versus fake as it had been in the 1970s and 1980s, but rather to draw attention to the natural or organic quality of food. (I predict the next movement will be "Locally Natural".)

The shot of the ice cream is the same in terms of shape, but there is now attention to the texture of the ice cream. It was a smart idea to let the product shot dominate about 60% of the label; it also provides balance against the logo and flavour name. Again underscoring the natural is the removal of the fake spearmint leaf in lieu of a real one in the proper shade of green. Much of the mature look of the new design is derived from this overall simplification. Instead of there being two shades of green, red, and the colour of the flavour bar there is now just white and green along with the flavour colour. It's clean and appealing.

SMARTER THAN GATES AND CRISPIN

I know how to make Microsoft take down Apple to become a market leader both in brand perception and sales. It's easy. You merely have to position Microsoft as what it is: non-intuitive. Therefore, one needs to be smart in order to use a PC. And since macs are intuitive and easy, you can be as dumb as a child to use it. It's a matter of simply capitalizing on people's inherent desire to be intelligent.

AT THE CORNER OF DUANE AND READE

Duane Reade desperately needed a face lift, but this new visual identity is more of a sag. The kind of sag that comes when you find a great new moisturizer that promises to uplift, vitalize and energize but after a few weeks, you aren't feeling anymore like a model than you do a broomstick.

Considering that two of Duane Reade's main competitors have red logos (CVS, Walgreens), it was a good idea to move away from the red and blue and embrace black and white. The latter combination is a solid way to imply "luxury," however I'm not so sure how a place that sells everything from toilet paper to $2.99 mascara can even be considered luxurious. I think it may have been better for Duane Reade to use black and white as a way of saying Duane Reade = New York City and thus fit in with every New Yorker's visual dictionary that defines "nyc" as Woody Allen films, grit and dirt, Gotham City, and toughness. This would foster a sense of consumer pride about being connected to their city, and emotion is the way to really connect people with brands.

The type treatment and design of the logo belies this would-be New York synonymity by shoving a thick sans serif "D" into a refined and classic serif "R" within an unappealing disfigured circle. There's a pupil-painful disconnect that arises from the "D" seeming to be vertically squished to be at the same height as the "R" so that they both fit between the base line and the cap line, which underscores how much the negative space has largely been ignored. And why do these letters even need to be contained in a circle? New York is city of hard lines, squares, and ninety-degree angles, not soft and rounded circles. Even the "R" seems to want to break out of this horrendous design with its leg extending out on the right. And the "D" -- its corners are cut off all for the sake of fitting these letters inside a circle. The human eye is naturally drawn to circular objects and we find them visually harmonious and pleasing, however our eyes are struggling to complete and round out the circle in this goofy logo, yet we cannot and so it feels wrong and unsettling.

The one thing I do like is keeping the "DR" to maintain an association with doctor and medicine, but the type is more reminiscent of a Fashion Bug or 99¢ store logo than a respected New York pharmaceutical institution; this new logo is inconsistent and flimsy, not concrete and stolid.

Command+W it.

THE NOW NETWORK

I want what I want when I want it. Right. Now. I love how Sprint is positioning itself as the all-knowing power above amongst wireless carriers. It knows everything. Eggs. Tweets. Bicycle sales. Sprint's voice is not centered on the individual like VZW and T-Mobile, but rather the collective and the ability to harness the collective because of their awesome omnipotence.

Visually, Sprint's site opens with this command center that is a collection of boxes, graphs, gauges and more. Everything is organized and fits together. The silver of the boxes has just a tasteful glimmer of gradient and the use of colour is sparing and simple. The logo is not overbearing and politely lets the content rule, thank goodness, so that content and brand become one. Although the actual information is seemingly random, it is nonetheless useful as a quick digest to grasp the goings on of the world easily and quickly. By showcasing their network's power Sprint lets me assume some of that control and power, which of course taps in to my inner information-seeking alpha male.

So much better than a pin drop.

METROPCS: THE PURPLE ONE

Unlimited. Open. Free. Liberated. Those are the sentiments seemingly sweeping our nation as of late and they are dovetailing nicely with the brand positioning of mobile provider newcomer, MetroPCS. For years consumers have gotten used to the idea that all mobile network providers are evil because they nickel and dime you with fees. In the past five or so years, however, we've become accustomed to the freedoms of the internet: free tv shows, free music, free socialization, and free information. MetroPCS has successfully capitalized on this consumer expectation in positioning their company as unlimited.

The only thing that is squelching their development: their name and visual identity. Verizon. Sprint. AT&T. T-Mobile. Easy and recognizable names. MetroPCS consists of a much too broad and mobile-unrelated word forced together with an unimpressive acronym resulting in five syllable meaninglessness.

I can deal with the tagline. And I even like the colour palette: it holds its own position against red, yellow, blue and pink despite its limited swatches of purple, lavender and white. But the logo really needs some help. The lightweight type of the PCS makes it stand out as an unmatching addition that you want to cut off from "metro." What is its purpose, anyway? I can't even find out what it stands for -- pretty cheap sh!t? personal communication service? In an already crowded field they really need to refine their brand.

LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME

Pepsi billboard. Near Astor Place in New York, 2009.

Enough with the criticism of Arnell's Pepsi re-branding. First of all, the logo itself is a nice contemporary update of the old early 2000s trend of making logos 3-D with elaborate gradients. This 2-D logo not only stands out from all of the gradient junk out there, but it also seems illustrated as opposed to photographed, which lends it more artistic worth. Moreover, it is very economical in that it does not require different versions for different materials (e.g. an embroidered logo can't be 3-D; it would need a flat vector version). The "pepsi" type treatment, however? Well that's a different story. The type is far too feminine and delicate and so does not fit with the inherent in-your-face caffeinated energetic fizzy nature of soda, which creates a disconnect in the mind of the consumer. I'm hoping they phase it out once the logo proliferates society. OOH was a great choice to start this new campaign since it attains millions of impressions in a short period of time.

NYC billboards are everywhere and are clutter within a city of clutter. Many of them might get a second or two of a passerby's attention, but these Pepsi billboards are impossible to not notice. They're clean, simple and direct. And they're innovative. While most billboards make sure to jam in a logo, an image, and seven words of copy, Pepsi's ad trims the fat so well that it includes the logo within the copy all while establishing a new colour palette that, due to the billboard's scale, makes it easier to associate the colours with the brand itself as opposed to just the ad. Refreshing.

A VISCERAL EXPERIENCE, PUNK

This web site promoting the movie Crank: High Voltage (2009) caught my attention because I had similar idea last year for Verizon when they had The Dark Knight (2008) promotion: a Facebook application that "Jokerizes" your profile without you knowing how it alters the content of your page. Crank's site is a really good example of an interactive experience done right. It promotes the movie, offers connectivity to the social big three (facebook, myspace and twitter), integrates phygital (iphone), and offers a very deep user experience through the contest's Facebook application. The application promotes mayhem by bringing fourteen days of "high voltage" chaos to your page in the form of shocking videos, status updates, etc. that capitalize on the target's attraction to extreme visceral experiences.

The design of the site plays into this desire for the extreme by using bold, in-your-face colours (yellow and red) along with chunky large type on a sinister black background. The use of black and white photography emphasizes the grittiness and drama of the movie while the layout and pop-up windows are reminiscent of a power plant or some other dangerous locale.

www.crank2.com/mayhemcontest

THE ATE-TRAIN IS RUNNING LATE

So TBWA/Chiat Day has decided to evolve the Snickers campaign into a series of made-up words that resemble the logo of the product. While it's nice to see OOH advertisements that do not have 100+ words of body copy or layouts that were done in Powerpoint, the concept here is very weak. The brief probably went a little something like this: Objective: Remind people that Snickers exists and is a food. Strategy: Hunger-related words that look like the snickers logo. Target: A1-120. The minimalist look -- recently employed by pepsi's OOOPTIMISM campaign -- is completely nice and breaks through in media space that is otherwise littered by fifth tier colleges and mta safety announcements. But the idea? The concept? Come on now. "Transfer to the ATE-TRAIN" "HUNGERECTOMY" -- there is nothing here. It's like the eyes are open, but the brain is closed.