The logo is dead, long live the logo

On Tuesday I picked up a copy of The Metro, which was running an article about how logos are ‘dead’. But whats wrong with a good well designed logo?

A logo is broadly defined as a graphic mark or emblem used by organisations to promote and assist public recognition.

Before the modern contemporary logo people were using watermarks, coats of arms and cylinder wax seals all of them could be broadly defined as logos. They assist the viewer in instantly understanding an organisation or society.

“They are a hangover from old-school thinking about branding. There is no desire by the public for a new logo. They are simply an old-fashioned approach to differentiating products or services.” Simon Manchipp, SomeOne

Logos now face increasing pressure there are now a plethora of logos representing brands, bands, voluntary organizations, websites the list is potentially endless. There is only a brief time for the brand impact to be made before we move on to the next one.

“Each of us now encounters a staggering 30,000 commercial
messages every single day, and the vast majority of them are visual.” Julian Treasure

Viewers of logos and branding have also become increasingly critical and often the suggestion of the term ‘logo’ itself is a very negative one. After all as a designer your coercing the viewer into a particular state of mind, in essence you are intentionally trying to manipulate someone.

Theres no better example than the UK Olympic 2012 logo for creating mixed opinions. It was a design by committee and that approach is notorious for producing poor results. Almost everyone I’ve talked to hates the logo.

Logos traditionally represent huge faceless corporations who hide behind wholesome images attempting to brand our lives, our natural instinct is suspicion highlighted in the book ‘no logo’ by Naomi Klein.

“Your brand is more than your logo, website and advertising. It’s also what you say, what you do, how you act, and how you treat people.” Peter, SEO Blog

In addition to the volume of logos now on display they also have to compete on ever changing platforms from mobile phones, PDA’s, laptops, and even in traditional print. Its these pressures that the cover of the latest Metallica album ‘Death Magnetic’ attempted to avoid.

“And I think the vernacular for the band and heavy metal is a simple, iconic world, and that translates fantastically well to small icons that go on your phone or iPod. So it boils down to a simple iconic graphic.” Bruce Duckworth

The coffin iconography for Death Magnetic helped to cement its position on shop shelves, magazines and on ipods thanks to ifs flexible branding.

So maybe rather than considering logos ‘dead’ they just need to work smarter rather than harder.

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