Brand New: Ceci n’est pas une abacus

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Ceci n’est pas une abacus

An abacus is an ancient calculator of sorts. Maybe ancient is too old of a word since many cultures still use abaci today. Although they vary from culture to culture most have beads suspended on metal rods in a frame.

So how do you make an abacus into a logo? Well, as with many other literal word-as-company name, the temptation is to be well, literal. Apple, Shell, Target and others have all done very well with the literal route however for my personal taste, they’re a bit boring. I always want something a bit unexpected. After all, if your company’s name is Key, do you need to show a picture of a key or do you use the opportunity to say something else? Maybe you do need to show a key.

Abacus, “a leading marketing solutions provider” recently changed their logo from abacus beads to more of an abstract representation of an abacus. They say that the new logo “illustrates our dedication to reducing complexity” among other things. I like that. The world could actually use more complexity reduction. Using 42 letters to spell a 6-letter word seems to contradict this but it is very well done.

As far as literal names and logos, I kinda like Orange, the British telecom company. They did use the color, but I always thought it was a bit clever to use a square as the holding shape as opposed to the more obvious circle. When comparing to another British company named Orange, I see the circle as boring.

The abacus also provides obvious imagery for a logo. Here are some abacus logos that are out there, ranging from literal to abstract.

I personally have no idea how they actually work but as a parent, I do know that they share a striking resemblance to the famed beads on a wire toy found in most pediatrician offices. I bet one of those would make good reference for a logo. Felix?

By David Weinberger on Jan.29.2007 in Advertising › Link

Jump to Most Recent Comment

Jeff Stevens’s comment is:

The new mark does feel more corporate - which is abacus' target market. Their original logo feels more geared towards selling ]children's educational products. I can see also how the new mark speaks of creating a cohesive message in a sea of jumbled information. Nice.

On Jan.30.2007 at 10:22 AM

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Paul Riehle’s comment is:

The old logo does seem from a children's toy company, mainly due to the typeface. The new one moves the company towards a corporate feeling but I believe it lack some execution.

Of course I don't know how it will be implemented in their collateral/business system/etc. but as a free standing logo I think it lacks power and focus. Yes the name (the solution) is spelled out in orange, but when I look at the logo my eye jumps constantly and wants to move on quickly. The idea is there but is lost in execution

On Jan.30.2007 at 12:33 PM

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Rett’s comment is:

Like Paul, my eye jumps around and even though there is no "h" and the "s" is in the wrong place I read that first line as "bauhaus." Probably a designer-only issue.

On Jan.30.2007 at 01:57 PM

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Shahla’s comment is:

I don’t like either pipe : )
Both ‘before’ and ‘after,’ this company logo doesn’t level with some of the other abaci-based logos featured here. Now, if the extraneous (letter)forms were abstracted to the point where you couldn’t read bachelor-of-arts, united-states-(of)america and university-(of)california —then you may have something to work with.

On Jan.30.2007 at 05:43 PM

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Mr. One-Hundred’s comment is:

Rett’s comment is exactly what I wanted to say. And, yes, bauhaus is probably only going to be picked up by designers, architects and goth music affacionados.

The ascender of the first lower case b on the top line is like some kind of very powerful eye magnet, so maybe a quick re-arrangement of the first line would do the trick here. And maybe a slightly lighter shade of grey in the other letters and a slightly heavier weight to the word ”abacus”.

Now there’s some micro-management any marketing person could feel right at home with!

On Jan.30.2007 at 07:30 PM

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andrewmartin’s comment is:

I disagree, Mr. One-Hundred.

Considering that there needs to be a "b" character in each line, placing it first in the top line is perfect. It's most optically benign there, as the ascender logically continues the left side of the box. No quick re-arrangement necessary.

If they're in the mood for a re-arrangement, however, I say head back to the drawing board. This is a serviceable logo, not yet a good one.

On Jan.31.2007 at 10:07 AM

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[tom]’s comment is:

I like this logo.
I like the abstraction. I like the orange, I like the type. I really enjoy it's clean structure.

I personally find the b on the top left very distracting and would prefer to see it swapped with the c at the end, but that is my only criticism.

On the other hand, I don't know much of anything.

On Jan.31.2007 at 11:51 AM

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Bryan Wootan’s comment is:

My eye goes right to the orange abacus, but then I start to spend time trying to find other words like in a word search.

This is an interesting approach, but a bit weird for my taste.

On Jan.31.2007 at 02:05 PM

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SBG’s comment is:

Ugh. Terrible. The old one is far from great, but this is way to confusing to look at.

On Feb.01.2007 at 01:20 PM

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Danny Tanner’s comment is:

An improvement. Way more grown-up. The previous mark looked a little more like "a leading gumball solutions provider." I do agree that it is a bit confusing. At first I was just happily surprised, but that just may be a designer by being happy with a fresh take.

On Feb.03.2007 at 01:11 PM

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Seth Aldridge’s comment is:

The only negative thing I see with the logo is if someone doesn't know what Abacus is or who they are it could look like a company that makes crossword puzzles. But other than that I like the logo and font used.

On Feb.04.2007 at 12:59 PM

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felix’s comment is:

kinda like it. not sure exactly what this company does.. "a leading marketing solutions provider"? hmmm, whatever.. i prefer the first abstraction.

Abacus, you had me at "bausauc".

On Feb.05.2007 at 11:14 AM

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Bart’s comment is:

Hmmm... What do scrambled letters have to do with abacuses? I would like this logo better if the letters were colored orange in a more staggered pattern, to at least suggest the movement of the beads:
b a u s u a c
a b a c u s a
c a b c a u s
u c s a b s a
a b u c a s b
s u a b c b a

Or:
a b a c u s
a b a c u s
a b a c u s
a b a c u s
a b a c u s
a b a c u s

On Feb.05.2007 at 05:21 PM

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Shahla’s comment is:

Since Felix chimed in, responding to David’s post, I’m seeing the ascender in b extend up and around the whole matrix, boldly —and each letter except for the company name attaching to it, somehow. By extension along the top of the x-height (or “zed”height) or along a mid(ish)line suggested by the typeface’s other horizontal guidelines, any and all play on the idea that these ‘beads’ need connecting, seems to hold a more refined solution.

Really, Felix, you prefer the first –drop shadow and all?

If a visual alteration of some sort needs to make the physicality of this object, the company is named after, more real —I’d go for the bounding frame and wire rods rather than the shadows.

On Feb.05.2007 at 05:25 PM

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EBrackett’s comment is:

Why are there 7 columns of letters? Having that extra column on the right seems to be adding to the confusion.

On Feb.09.2007 at 12:31 PM

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Shahla’s comment is:

After playing with the rows, kerning, and rotations of the letters on the wire I could not resist the urge to simplify. You’re right Emily, why have seven letters?

On Feb.21.2007 at 06:52 PM

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Derek’s comment is:

I think the problem with this logo is that there is no real heirarchy here...all of the letters look neutral. I think that to call out abacus a little more might help. Someone also commented that their eye jumps around a lot with this logo. I think the reason for this is the way the letters are aligned...it appears that they are all centered in their respective columns. This makes sense, to mock an abacus, but it doesn't help the logo, because with the varying widths of letters, the letters appear to be floating almost randomly rather than locked to a center axis. Perhaps justify all the letters to the left...the letters would then have a sense of stability.

This initially seems a little weird as a logo, but I think that a cool system could be built around this logo if it was tweaked a little.

On Mar.12.2007 at 10:48 AM

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sfumato6’s comment is:

I see this as a lesson in gestalt gone wrong. It's like an Escher drawing that never quite resolves. Because of the similarity effect, my mind keeps trying to find other words in the pattern like a newspaper word search. The association is just too strong.

Their homepage adds even more diffusion to their brand. The language speaks of light bulbs going off and charting new courses; they use worn down pencils in the imagery, a flickering animation of the logo implies computation is involved. So, in this sense the logo maybe is fitting. They have too many ideas and not enough confidence to present a single, unified concept. Their tagline should read "We're in this mess somewhere".

On the positive, I find the combination of grey and orange to be comforting if not familiar.

On Apr.11.2007 at 01:59 PM

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Paul Ducco’s comment is:

I'm not entirely sure whether I like the execution. I like the concept and prefer it over the old, but just feel it's lacking some 'magic'.

and to chime in with some relevant work of mine ... a mark made for a Chinese/American trading company named 9spaces ...

On May.11.2007 at 08:22 PM

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Paul Ducco’s comment is:

sorry, must have borked the code on previous post ...

On May.11.2007 at 08:24 PM

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Mark’s comment is:

Whoohoo! Wordsearch!

lets see I found cabs c-a-b-s

I found abc a-b-c

ohh! I found cub! c-u-b

I found abs a-b-s

and I found sac! s-a-c

seriously, this entire logo has a bunch of other words to be found (but what does this have to do with math??? or abacuses????)

On May.14.2007 at 10:48 PM

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Yqxdu’s comment is:

helloy

On May.20.2007 at 02:53 PM

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Yqxdu’s comment is:

helloy

On May.20.2007 at 02:53 PM

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nitin budhiraja’s comment is:

its funny that the new (Abacus) logo does get a little playful, but doesn't let you play too much. gives it away too soon. It's even funnier what i did here this year for this client is similar.
http://studentpages.scad.edu/~nbudhi20/portfolio_davis.html

Project completed: March 2007

On Jul.09.2007 at 05:14 PM

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Jeff’s comment is:

But how will it look on an ink pen?

On Nov.30.2007 at 01:34 PM

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ccl-onlinetr’s comment is:

On Jan.31.2008 at 07:02 AM

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ccl-onlinetr’s comment is:

On Jan.31.2008 at 07:02 AM

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