For as longs as I can remember logos have fascinated me. I like the idea of a symbol being able to both name and define an idea. Today while sitting around I started to think about what in my past made such a deep impression on me about logos and branding. I started to think about good logos and bad logos, and why I thought a good logo was good and what made a bad logo. Then it dawned on me, I know why I had a deep approval for good logos. 
Back in 1989 K-State changed from their "fuzzy head" wildcat to their current Powercat logo. I bet that the change in logo during my formative childhood years (I was 9 at the time), along with their rise in the reputation of the football team ingrained a scene of success with strong logos, especially compared to other weaker logos that were around since then.
Now the reason that I started thinking about this today is that I found a video on Youtube that is an interview with the lead designer of the Obama logo (see the end of this post). Despite my political feelings about Obama I do admire the way that he ran his campaign. He did a very good job of branding himself and his ideas and his logo was a brilliant step in getting out his name and ideas in an image that did not depend on any words. I can only imagine that from election forward that actual logos (not just word art) and branding will start to take a major role in political elections.It could be argued if working on branding candidates actually gets us closer to getting good people elected however.
Obama logo design video:
7 comments:
i like branding stuff too. just found a neat site that has loads of advertising stuff.
you probably already know this, the arrow embedded into the fed ex logo. learned that from "the sneeze".
thats funny. i've been thinking lately along similar lines concerning branding.
more specifically, ive been thinking of when a brand becomes so popular that its name eclipses what it actually is. Thinks like band-aids, kleenexes, etc. i may actually do a post about it one of these days soon.
Daily Piglet: I did know about the arrow in the Fed Ex logo, have you seen the two sets of arrows in the McLane Company logo? (You might not have them out your way, but around here they have alot of trucks on the road.)
Slyde: What about when a product becomes synonymous with a name but then they don't want it, such as Legos.
dude, can't believe you weren't on the O train. Sadness.
If by bring on the "O Train" means voting for him, that I did. But it was more out of the spite of the Republican Party and the election procedure in Oklahoma.
I do not fall for his "change" ideals one bit. Not that I think he won't change things, it'll just be the wrong things.
After looking at the Iowa Cyclones logo, I realized that what may make or break a logo for me is whether it is anthropomorphized. The K-State Power Cat is not. It is a good representation (really deceptively simple) of a determined cat about ready to pounce and/or defend itself. The Cyclone logo looks like a semi-pissed off bird. Hardly a comparison. Which would you rather tangle with?
I donno, the bird is inside of a tornado...
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