BY Armin

Less Pipe, More Shading for CNET

One of the bastions of Web 1.0, 13-year-old CNET is getting a significant makeover. While the workings under the hood of the new web site like a “new API that is helping to deliver pages 40 to 50 percent faster” means nothing to me, we can certainly focus on the front-end changes, specifically the logo. Originally named and written c/net (for Computer Network) it is now an all caps CNET, making the logo in all lowercase a little contradicting, but who can argue against the friendliness of lowercase? The new logo is being referred to as the “pipeless” logo, so I’m guessing that the vertical line in the old one was meant to signify a, um, pipe — but like no one should call New York “The Big Apple” I’m going out on a limb and say that no one refers to the internet delivery system as a “Pipe”. But I digress. [Update: See Patrick Foster’s comment]. The typography in the old logo was peculiar and quirky, with the weird “n” and tight letterspacing making it somewhat engaging and memorable, while the new one is painfully generic and forgettable. And while everybody knows that this is pronounced see-net, the lack of a visual divider certainly renders the new logo as knet. Oh, yes, it now has a shadow to make it look like a sphere. Yay.

Thanks to Moeed Mohammad, Fred Sotherland and Greg for the tip.

BY Christian Palino

Episode VII: Return of the Double-Ds

Update July 8, 2008: Roberto Landazuri, Corporate Archivist for Dolby was kind enough to contact us and provide some corrections and further insights into the background information we received about this logo from Turner Duckworth. Landazuri noted that the original logo was created in 1967 or 1968 by the graphic design partner of a two-man advertising shop in Surrey. The designer is quoted as saying “[Dr. Dolby] explained in simple terms that sounds were directed down a funnel and emerged from an inverted funnel as a cleaner, clearer sound. It was then that the initial idea of the Double ‘D’ came to me, thus making two double funnels. I returned to my studio and finally submitted three designs on my original idea. He immediately chose my first idea, saying ‘That says it all.’” According to Ray Dolby, this is the specific conceptual underpinning for the original logo: the complementary nature of the Dolby noise reduction process. We were also informed by Landazuri that Ray mentioned that there is, coincidentally, a secondary significance to the double Ds: The two Dolby brothers, Ray and Dale, who cofounded the company in 1965.

Having grown up around media that included the presence of the Dolby logo — as I’m sure many of us have — I now recall that my impression of the double-d logo lead me to believe they had something to do with general tape and reel-to-reel technology, given the cassette-like look of the logo. My impression was likely not rooted in corporate intention as the original logo was designed by the founder, Ray Dolby, and had no specific conceptual underpinning. Either way the double-d has become a rather ubiquitous fixture in modern media environments, having successfully made the recent transition into the digital world. While we continue to see the presence of “Dolby Digital” in and around the movies, their brand presence with the stroked rectangle around “DOLBY” and uncomfortably justified “DIGITAL” has seemed a bit stale for a company that is trying to continue to define high-quality and audio surround sound. Enter Turner Duckworth, with their experienced touch and attention to brand and collateral details we have a refined update to the logo and respective visual identity system that retains the brand equity Dolby has established.

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BY Armin

Big G Little g, What Begins with Favicon?

Not even a mysterious J.J. Abrams movie trailer can create this much speculation and bemusement. Last week, for no apparent reason whatsoever, Google changed its favicon from the uppercase “G” of its logo to its lowercase “g”. And the blogs have gone crazy. Which is probably the whole point of the change: Demonstrating how a minute change for the most ubiquitous web site can have enormous ripples. It’s like the ultimate chest thumping. They didn’t change the logo, they didn’t change the home page, they didn’t change the results page, they didn’t change the ooooooo’s. They just changed a sixteen-pixel square and created a stir. Now that’s branding.

BY Armin

A New Angle on Data

Unfortunately I have nothing to reference or go by for this redesign. (According to this blog post, it’s feasible that Chicago-based VSA Partners did the work — given that First Data has been a client of them since 2001, and the logo is indeed VSA-ish, I would jump on board and agree.) Fortunately, it’s great enough on its own that we can talk about it. First Data is one of those complex companies that make things behind the scenes work flawlessly through mind-bending systems, fancy computers and, surely, some type of mathematical equations. Or, in their words, “First Data processes transaction data of all kinds, harnesses the power of that data, and delivers innovations in secure infrastructure, intelligence and insight for its customers.” What it boils down to is technology, data, and getting it from one place to another — the new logo manages to convey all this and more. The interlocked “F” and “d” signal connectivity and interaction, while the hard-angled shapes convey that this is a technologically astute company that — instead of softening its image like the rest of the rounded identities (xerox, docomo, kodak) — isn’t afraid to communicate that it’s authoritative and hard-nosed. The old logo was a heartwarming play on visuals and language, but felt decidedly vintage. If there is one major complaint I have about the new logo is the annihilation of the dot over the “i.” Sure, it solves the boinking of it against the “F” but I just find this continued practice of de-dotting to be wrong. Nonetheless, In contrast to the remarkable new modern-day monogram introduced by First Data, it’s a small quibble. First Data could transfer my data any day of the week.

Thanks to Joe Szczepaniak and Rachid Molinary for the tip.

BY Armin

Two Heads are Better than One

I can’t stand the thought of taxes or administrative tasks — it’s not that I’m above it or that I am too creative to be bothered by them, I just get confused easily — but it is with fond memory that I remember Intuit’s TurboTax software that allowed me to file my very first 1040EZ form for my 1999 taxes when I originally moved to the U.S., a daunting task made significantly easy, even with that old android dude of a logo sticking its pixelated head out of the side of the box. Earlier this month, Intuit unveiled (internally) a new logo that replaces the android with a more broadly humanized representation of, well, humans.

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BY Christian Palino

SanDisk through a Q&A with Brett Wickens

Brett Wickens, Vice President and Executive Creative Director at MetaDesign (and of former Ceramic Hello fame) has been kind enough to provide us with some valuable insights into their recent redesign of SanDisk, the world’s leading supplier of innovative flash memory data storage products.

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BY Armin

Spam Attack

Apologies for any inconvenience the insane amount of spam may be causing. These attacks usually last two or three days, but this one has been going on for over two weeks now. I try to clean it up as efficiently as possible. If I pump up the volume on my spam filters some of your comments will get banned, so unfortunately I can’t be harsher in that respect. I appreciate your patience and I hope this goes away soon.

BY Christian Palino

LodgeNet Punts its Football

Jerry Kuyper (of recent Cisco redesign fame), alongwith brand strategy firm Group 1066, has created a new graphic identity for LodgeNet Interactive Corp. — best for you to read what they do as it’s impossible to condense in a simple sentence. As this is an example of an effective corporate redesign by one of the field’s most talented designers, I asked Jerry if he would share some of his first-hand insights into the project and its respective process — and he kindly accepted.

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BY Armin

Xerox, The Very, Very, Very Shiny Company

Whatever you do, whether it’s today or 1994, please do not call Xerox “the copier company”. Actually, don’t call it “The Document Company” anymore either. While you are at it, don’t confuse Fuji with Xerox, or wonder if the two merged. And, finally, please forget about that pixelated X that became one of the best known and widely recognized icons. All that is a thing of the past. Yes, just the past four decades. Poor Xerox, so misunderstood, so verbalized — “Can you xerox this for me? Thanks intern” — so outdated. Yet, if you worked anywhere with one of those multi-tasking, short of coffee-making machines, you know that Xerox can do more (way more) than make black and white copies of your spreadsheets. Yet, apparently, few people realize this. And nothing cures ailments like these better than a rebranding. Unveiled today, the new identity, designed by Interbrand, for Xerox may signal a new era for the company but, as far as we designers are concerned, it merely signals the full embrace of the senseless threedimensionalization of the corporate world.

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BY Armin

New PayPal Logo, in 7 Easy Steps!

Update / 09.14.07: It has been brought up to everyone’s attention, through the comments, that I used the wrong logo as the “After” image, rendering the rest of the post somewhat moot. I explain how I ended up with the “After” image in the comments. Even though I could change the whole post so that future visitors would not see the mistake, I would rather embrace the actual events and leave as is. The correct logo is in the comments as well. Apologies to our beloved readers for the oversight.

Web 1.0, if you will, left an indelible mark in the field of identity design: Google, eBay, Yahoo, and, of course PayPal. Logos that are more used, seen and interacted with than Nike, Apple and Starbucks’. A world (wide web) without any of these in their current design state would likely cause an implosion of confusion. Yes, I am afraid these logos will never change. PayPal, however has recently tiptoed into a new identity. Not that anyone would notice. According to this “behind the scenes” blog entry, hundreds of designs were reviewed, but ultimately, and after testing with customers, the internal brand team decided to stick with something painfully close to home. And now, with a new logo in place, the hard part begins, as “there are millions of logos that need to be updated”. So as a service to the millions of users out there that have a PayPal logo on their web site, I have put together a handy guide for how to make a smooth transition into the new logo. Experience with horizontal and vertical scaling of type is necessary; please do not attempt if you have never fidgeted with the proportions of a carefully designed typeface.

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